Almost every day, incidents of domestic violence appear in the media, where the victims in almost 100% of cases are women and girls. Painful stories that happen not only in deep villages or suburbs, but also in the middle of big cities. Some of these events can be prevented if citizens are made aware and if equal access is ensured for women and men in services and the public sphere. In other words, if the police and the prosecutor's office acted quickly in every case of reporting violence by women and girls, regardless of origin, age or any other type of prejudice against them. Or even simply, the dysfunction of male solidarity in cases of violence and not only.
What is essentially gender equality. The official data of the Ministry of Finance show that there has been increased attention to this issue in recent years. Thus, funding for gender budgeting has been increasing since 2015, when it was at the level of 4.8 billion ALL, while it has reached 38.2 billion ALL at the end of 2021. This figure constitutes about 9% of the total budget expenditures for the last year, being among the highest in the region.
But why are there problems on the ground then? Legally, responsible for the implementation of gender budgeting and policies for gender equality is not only the government, but also the municipalities. Approval of Law No. 68/2017 "On the finances of local self-government" has created opportunities for the effective inclusion of Gender Responsive Budgeting in all phases of the local financial management cycle (annual and medium-term budget programming, monitoring and reporting, assessment and audit) by the units of local government.
Article 2
Purpose of the law
8. To ensure that in the creation and distribution of local financial resources of local self-government units, gender equality is accelerated and realized.
Article 36
Local Medium-Term Budget Program
c) Program policy goals, program policy objectives, public investment projects, program products and their respective costs. At least one of the policy objectives of the programs must address issues of gender inequality or the full respect of gender equality, clearly identifying the products
This means that all municipalities, when drafting their annual budgets or medium-term budgets, must plan funds for gender equality and assistance to women and girls. Also, all citizens should be informed about the planning of these funds and the directions of their use. But does this happen?
From an observation on the official websites of the municipalities, it turns out that there is no complete, clear and easily identifiable and understandable information. In most local websites, information on gender budgeting and the role of the municipality is completely missing. While on some other pages, there is sporadic information, part of some project, which is mainly reflected in the form of some writing.
Local affairs expert Merita Toska explains that municipalities do not plan their budgets with gender equality in mind. "Municipalities do not budget based on gender in their annual practice. If we look at the standard formats they fill in for drafting the mid-term and annual budget program, this is not expected to happen. An exception is made in cases where projects are implemented in certain municipalities and a document on gender-based budgeting is drawn up (Elbasan municipality is an example). To the best of my knowledge, no such information is found on the websites of the municipalities (except for the cases of any municipality that may have produced such a document with the help of projects). "Gender-based budgeting is not a widespread practice and widely implemented by the 61 municipalities in the country", says Toska.
Even the local government expert, Agron Haxhimali, evidences the lack of transparency on the part of the municipalities regarding issues of gender equality and gender budgeting. According to him, almost all the information that is on their official pages is not updated and does not serve to inform the citizens.
"Regarding the transparency of municipalities, unfortunately we have to say that and because most municipalities are present online, the information on their pages is old and not updated regularly. Publications for certain activities are published rarely or when requested by the donor. This should become institutional culture and normality. But the issue here is more related to reality than transparency. How realistically the Municipal Councils address and support gender issues with instruments and financial policies. Municipalities draw up action plans for gender equality, which mainly contain measures for gender equality in administration, fiscal incentives for women and protection against violence. These plans usually come at a cost. The municipalities, which do not have this plan, include such measures in their social plans, which mainly address women in difficulty. But all this is better to be prepared with the interest groups and made public on the websites of the municipalities or other communication channels", explains Haxhimali.
Meanwhile, informing citizens about equality issues is a legal obligation. This is based on decision No. 400, dated 30.6.2021 "On the approval of the National Strategy for Gender Equality, 2021-2030 and its action plan", which forces municipalities to build local strategies based on this strategy.
"But it should be noted that some of the municipalities have signed the European Charter for the Equality of Women and Men in Local Life, prepared in 2006 by the Council of Municipalities and Regions of Europe. These municipalities have subsequently prepared Action Plans for Gender Equality, where they describe local measures and actions. These plans are accompanied by costs or funds necessary for their implementation. The main measures are the implementation of administrative policies in support of gender equality, community and business awareness, facilities for women's businesses, safe local infrastructure and protection from violence", explains Haxhimali.
But while the legal framework and international conventions sanction the obligation of local governments to draw up plans and determine funds for gender equality and to make their transparency online for citizens, today this does not happen. Lack of will or real impossibility in the face of other priorities that the municipalities themselves determine, this is a dilemma that remains unanswered. What is known for sure is that the municipalities are not implementing the laws: neither that of guaranteeing the conditions for equality between men and women nor that of informing the citizens, even though their online pages with the respective logos and photos of the mayors exist on the Internet.
This article was produced under ICEDA project, co-financed by the European Union and implemented by Metamorphosis Foundation (North Macedonia), e-Governance Academy (Estonia), Partners Serbia (Serbia), NGO 35mm (Montenegro), Open Data Kosovo (Kosovo) and MJAFT! Movement (Albania).
This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of MJAFT! Movement and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.