Abstract
Since the turn of the century, a shift has taken place from project to more programme-oriented development assistance to low-income, aid-dependent countries. A sweeping reform agenda, outlined most clearly in the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, is today imposed upon donors and recipients alike. This article reviews ongoing changes through a gender lens. It provides an overview of opportunities for and challenges to gender equality in the context of a changing aid architecture, and it discusses the extent to which those opportunities and challenges have been acted upon by recipients and donors. Finally, it proposes ways of increasing gender sensitivity, drawing on examples from the case of Mozambique.
Depuis le tournant du siècle, l’aide aux pays à faibles revenus, dépendant de l’aide a évoluée d’une aide-projet vers une aide-programme. L’imposant agenda des réformes, décrit clairement dans la déclaration de Paris de 2005 et dans l’agenda pour l’action d’Accra de 2008, s’impose désormais aussi bien aux donateurs qu’aux récipiendaires. Cet article examine les changements en cours du point de vue de la problématique du genre. Il fournit une vue d’ensemble des opportunités et des défis concernant l’égalité des genres dans le contexte de l’évolution de l’architecture de l’aide. Il cherche également à voir dans quelle mesure les donateurs et récipiendaires ont pris en compte ces opportunités et défis. Finalement, il propose d’améliorer la perception des questions de genre en s’appuyant sur le cas du Mozambique.
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Notes
See Bangura (1997) for a discussion of the inherently problematic issue of dealing with cross-cutting issues in structures which are predominantly organised along vertical lines.
See among others Bell (2003), Collinson et al (2008), Dahl-Ostergaard and Taylor (2006); IANWGE/OECD(DAC) (2006), Gaynor (2006, 2007), OECD/DAC (2007), Subrahmanian (2004); UNIFEM (2006); Van Reisen and Uttar (2005); Whitehead (2003), Whitehead and Lockwood (1999), World Bank (2001a), Zuckerman (2002), Zuckerman and Garrett (2003).
The PARPA (Plano de Acção para a Redução da Probeza Absoluta) is the Government of Mozambique's Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty.
See Moser (1993) for an overview of different policy approaches.
Previous research (see Booth and Benneth, 2002) has illustrated that one of the weaknesses of gender mainstreaming is its inadequate translation in terms of budgets and indicators.
See, for example, Budlender et al (1998), UNIFEM (2002) and www.gender-budgets.org for more detailed information on GRB, see March et al (1999) for an overview of various gender analysis frameworks.
See www.gender-budgets.org for examples of gender budget statements.
PARPA II includes the following ‘gender’ indicators: ‘Gender Development Index improved according to established goals’, ‘gender mainstreamed into the planning process’ (Republic of Mozambique, 2006).
In a context of budget support donors have access to central-level data but less to local level information which might be brought in by civil society organisations.
The PAF of 2006-2008 includes ‘Approval and implementation of the National Gender Policy and Strategy for Implementation (GPSI)’ as well as a number of disaggregated health and education indicators and targets (see Republic of Mozambique and Programme Aid Partners, 2005).
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Acknowledgements
I thank the two anonymous referees as well as the participants at the EADI WG ‘Gender and Development’ of the 2008 Geneva Conference for their valuable comments and suggestions. Data related to the Mozambique case study were collected in the framework of the UNIFEM/EC multi-country study on gender and aid effectiveness. I would like to acknowledge in particular the valuable research inputs from my colleague Liesbeth Inberg and the helpful comments of Debbie Budlender and Ondina da Barca Vieira on the Mozambique case study report. All remaining errors are the sole responsibility of the author.
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This article has been developed from a paper originally presented at the Development Studies Association (DSA) 2008 conference: ‘Development’s Invisible Hands’, London, 8 November, 2008
This field study was done in the context of the EC/UNIFEM multi-country study on aid effectiveness and gender responsive budgeting (see Holvoet and Inberg, 2008).
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Holvoet, N. Gender Equality and New Aid Modalities: Is Love Really in the Air?. Eur J Dev Res 22, 97–117 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.50
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.50