Regional expertise in Gender Responsive Budgeting enhanced through a training hosted by UN Women North Macedonia

In April 2022, UN Women North Macedonia hosted a three-day regional Training of Trainers (ToT) on Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) for experts from the Western Balkans and Turkey in the capital of North Macedonia, Skopje.

Public Finance Management (PFM) Experts, Gender Equality Experts and gender advocates, as well as members of academia with finance and economic research background from the Western Balkans and Turkey attended the training. With this, regional experts are now equipped with GRB knowledge and resources, which will help build a pool of gender advocates equipped with knowledge and resources for adult trainings and facilitate future learning opportunities in the countries of Western Balkans and broader Europe and Central Asia region.

The GRB training of trainers will not only enhance capacities of key Gender-Responsive Budgeting experts in academia and policymaking, but it is intended to empower practitioners in the Western Balkans. One of the participants, Marija Stankovic, has highlighted the direct benefit and replicability of GRB skills in the everyday work in the field; “I work for women’s civil society organizations that are trying to make great change in their communities. Therefore, I believe that knowledge transfer regarding GRB will contribute to their initiatives and it will foster the implementation of gender policies.”

This training was organised as a follow-up activity to an initial regional ToT organised back in July 2021. Direct feedback from 34 participants from the Western Balkans and Turkey received after the first training, helped to shape the content for the follow-up session, embedding a wide array of hands-on activities, practical simulations and groupworks.   

In addition to serving as a capacity building activity, this regional training of trainers serves as a valuable network for knowledge exchange and peer learning among experts from the region and beyond. Elisabeth Klatzer, one of the trainers and a Public Finance Management (PFM) and GRB Expert emphasizes the importance and value of the training: “I feel grateful for being part of this experience of building a group of GRB trainers with so many high knowledgeable and skillful people. They will plant seeds, water them and we will see a flourishing community building a common future equal for all.”

The training was delivered under the “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” regional programme, implemented by UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – Sida.



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