Making national budgets responsive to child and gender equality needs and rights

Permanent secretaries, directors of finance and senior social protection officers from the OECS and British Overseas territories engaged in the UN and OECS Commission child and gender responsive budgeting responsive workshop. Photo: UN Women/Sharon Carter-Burke

Antigua and Barbuda: Caribbean governments have and continue to make significant investment in social development in particular to ensure there are social protection schemes to support the most vulnerable in their population. 

Under a joint UN programme, UN Women, UNICEF and the OECS Commission are supporting national budget directors and finance officers from the Eastern Caribbean in conducting the gender analysis to design and cost measures, the outcome of which are budgets that are child and gender responsive.

Why focus on child and gender responsive needs? Children will need different and specific support from adults. Women will have different needs from men. Services therefore should be designed with these differences in mind and budgetary allocations and expenditures should reflect these differences.

These needs and rights are being explored at a regional workshop for senior public officers from the Ministries of Finance and Social Protection from within the OECS sub-region and British Overseas Territories in Antigua and Barbuda, 7-8^th May, 2015.

Antigua and Barbuda Honourable Minister of Social Transformation, Samantha Marshall delivered the feature address and officially opened the workshop. 

Agenda – Regional Workshop: Child and Gender Responsive Budgeting.

Opening Remarks - UN Women Programme Specialist Economic Empowerment, Isiuwa Iyahen.

Opening remarks of the Head Social Development Unit, OECS Commission – David Popo.

Workshop feature address delivered by Antigua and Barbuda Honourable Minister of Social Transformation, Samantha Marshall