Moldova is the first country in the region to introduce Gender Responsive Budgeting in academia

Gender responsive budgeting - also called inclusive or social budgeting – means taking into account the needs of women and men when developing state policies and allocating funds for their implementation. Its approach is based on human rights, diversity and social equity.

In Moldova, gender responsive budgeting is still a new area and largely unexplored. From now on, professionals formed at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (ASEM) will be trained on the matter and able to use it to make better policies.

Work to introduce this discipline had in fact started already in 2009 at the initiative of UNIFEM (now UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). It resulted first in an optional “Gender Responsive Budgeting” course. It is only from this year that this course becomes mandatory for the students of two masters: “Public Finance and Taxation” and “Accounting and audit in public institutions”.

“We are the only ones who are introducing GRB in Moldova through academia”

Andrei Petroia, PhD. Associate Professor at the Finance and Insurance Department, Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, has coordinated the initiative. He notes that in recent years a big leap has been made in this area. One initiative that really helped, he says, was when Moldovan professors had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences with peers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Albania, Macedonia, other South-East European countries.

“I can proudly say that in Moldova we are the only ones who are introducing gender responsive budgeting in the academic curriculum, as a way to prepare the future public servants. Our new textbook is of major importance. Compared to the previous edition from 2009, we have now been able to cover in greater depth all that concerns gender equality, women's human rights, and of course gender responsive budgeting”, said Mr Petroia.

“The state will no further allow that the potential of one of the genders is systematically undervalued”

Maria Chitanu is a student at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova who participated in a recent symposium on gender sensitive budgeting where the new mandatory course was presented. Her study concerns the pay gap between women and men in Moldova. According to her research, the most important issues related to gender equality in Moldova are the gap in pensions paid to men and women, unequal distribution of salaries, and maternity or parental leave. Maternity leave should be much shorter than the current three years, she argues, better paid and more equally shared with fathers.

Ms Chitanu notes that the new course will be very useful for master students - and “in time, it will lead “our country to be more competitive internationally, because the state will no further allow that the potential of one of the genders is systematically undervalued". Maria says that to adjust the quality of national education to European standards (following the so-called Bologna system), it is important to integrate the gender dimension in education. She mentions this is now a very sensitive issue in Moldova.

“The publication of the new textbook on gender sensitive budgeting is certainly a welcome addition to other sources of information and best practices we have for preparing professionals in this area. It will contribute to the training of experts and later help them in their work to promote gender sensitive policies. This approach helps ensure Government’s capacity to respect the commitments made by ratifying international treaties in this area – and particularly the new commitments undertaken in the context of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which put a particular accent on gender, including on gender responsive budgeting,” said Lilia Pascal, Head of the Department for Policy on Ensuring Equality Between Women and Men, Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family.

Veronica Vragaleva, Deputy Minister of Finance noted that the new textbook is of interest for civil servants as well. "This textbook on Gender Responsive Budgeting is intended for students, but it certainly will be seen on the desks of civil servants. I am personally very excited by this achievement”, said Ms. Vragaleva.

“With a separate course on Gender Responsive Budgeting and mainstreaming gender in other parts of the academic curriculum, ASEM is creating a new generation of specialists in gender equality and gender responsive budgeting. This will further facilitate the understanding of gender issues by the authorities and the general public, and will also support the Government in implementing its commitments for equality between women and men in Moldova”, said Elena Spinu, local coordinator within the UN Women regional project for promoting gender responsive policies.

The “Gender Responsive Budgeting” textbook and course were developed and included in the ASEM curriculum as result of the ASEM-UN Women partnership within the regional project of UN Women for promoting gender responsive policies in South-East Europe, phase II, implemented in Moldova with the support of Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).