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afrol News, 3 January - With the support of Prime Minister Sir Aneerood Jugnauth, Mauritius is ensuring that women's equality is reflected in the national budget and economic policies, the UN development agency UNDP yesterday reported. Mauritius began integrating a gender perspective in the budget process in 2000 through staff training and gender analyses of budgets in several ministries with support from UNDP. Subsequently, the ministry of education and the ministry of social security produced such analyses for the 2001-2002 national budget. - Gender analyses examine the ways that budget allocations affect women as well as men, girls as well as boys, UNDP explains. "Steps can then be taken to ensure equality in areas ranging from training and employment programmes to family policies." Dr. Simel Esim, economist with the Washington-based International Centre for Research on Women and UNDP consultant, highlighted these issues at a recent lecture on engendering macro-economic policies in Balaclava, near Port Louis, the Mauritian capital, attended by government ministers, parliamentarians and representatives from civil society and the private sector. According to UNDP, the Mauritian Prime Minister reiterated his government's commitment to stronger participation by women in the future development of the country in opening remarks. - We are not that happy about the number of women candidates fielded by the main political parties in the last general elections, Prime Minister Sir Aneerood Jugnauth said. The lecture will enable policy-makers "to better understand the need to ensure greater women's empowerment in our society," he said. Mauritius has been one of the first countries in the region to show its commitment to gender-responsive economic policies, he noted. Arianne Navarre-Marie, minister of women's rights, child development and family welfare, said: "Engendering macro-economic policies is a means to adjust the existing inequalities, which should finally lead to a win-win situation for all," UNDP reported. Dr. Esim conducted workshops for senior technical officers from ministries and other government bodies, leading to formation of a consultative group on gender responsive budgeting. The group endorsed a three-year action plan and a common vision: to mainstream gender issues in all sectors of the national budgetary process. The cabinet approved the plan in mid-December, according to the UN agency - The budget is a powerful policy instrument, said Aster Zaoude, senior advisor with the UNDP Gender and Development Programme, pointing out that women are particularly affected by revenue generation policies, fiscal policies, resource allocation, and expenditures, as well issues of debt, trade and the flow of external capital. The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), a UNDP affiliate, is calling on all governments to incorporate gender analysis in their national budget processes by 2015. Efforts to do so, underway in over 40 countries, were discussed at a UNIFEM conference in Brussels in October.
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