On 27 May 2009, a Public Hearing on Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) took place at the premises of the Parliament of Macedonia. Members of Parliament and representatives of civil society involved in GRB matters throughout Macedonia participated at this hearing.

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Simone Filippini, welcomed this initiative as an important step in the process of strengthening Parliament's role in the field of GRB. "Increasing the possibilities for those who experience inequalities to have access to resources and opportunities has  positive economic effects. This can be applied to women as well as to other sectors of the population that endure inequalities.", said Filippini. "Parliamentarians and members of the legislative bodies have a particularly important role in promoting Gender Responsive Budgeting as representatives of all sectors of society, and in their law-making and budgetary oversight capacity."

The objective of the public hearing was to introduce the concept of GRB to the public and discuss the role of the Parliament in mainstreaming the gender perspective in the budgetary process through consideration of the positive experiences from Austria and the Netherlands. Ms. Elizabeth Klatzer from Austria and Ms. Arthie Schimmel from the Netherlands held presentations about the role of the Parliament and GRB in their respective countries. Being a former Dutch parliamentarian, Ms. Arthie Schimmel explained how the GRB process has evolved in the Netherlands. "We started with pilot projects at few ministries and tackled the GRB issues through changes in the Dutch tax policy which used to be destimulating for women to participate in the labour market. As a result, the participation of women in the labour market increased considerably. Yet, there is still quite some work to do to improve this process further", said Schimmel. 

The public hearing was organised in the framework of the project Gender Responsive Budgeting in Macedonia implemented by UNIFEM and funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the period 2008-2009.

Links:
 http://www.mtsp.gov.mk/