A capacity building event on gender equality and fiscal policy was conducted in Bishkek from 2-3 February which brought together senior officers from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the Ministry of Finance and Tax Services and the Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Migration. The event was organized in partnership with UNDP under the Equanomics initiative, a global program to make public finance and taxation deliver for gender equality. The agenda included sessions on gender equality and SDG 5, the interlinkages between public finance, taxation and gender equality, and UNDP´s Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions. The event marked the kick-off of Equanomics in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan is one of eight countries currently receiving support under the Equanomics initiative through UNDP’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Funding Window (GEWE) thanks to pooled contributions from the Republic of Korea and Luxembourg. Under this initiative, relevant public institutions in Kyrgyzstan are committed to developing a roadmap for institutional reforms towards gender equality using the Gender Equality Seal as a compass, and to undertake research on gender equality and public finance with a focus on the budget process.
Using the Seal as a blueprint and conversation starter
During the event, the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions was presented as a tool to help institutions approach the topic of gender equality in their work. By discovering each of the Seal´s five dimensions, officers from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and the Ministry of Finance and Tax Services gained a deeper understanding of how gender equality relates to different institutional functions, ranging from human resources and the working environment to how gender equality can be promoted in the programs, policies and services that the Ministries is responsible for. The Ministry of Economy and Commerce now aims to leverage the Seal and its accompanying resources to develop a plan of action for institutional and policy reforms towards gender equality.
This is a great example of how the Seal can be used as a conversation starter and a resource for public institutions to reflect and discover how gender equality relates to their policy and service delivery mandate. Indeed, a growing number of public institutions around the world are leveraging the Seal methodology to organize their institutional and policy reform agenda towards gender equality and inclusive governance in line with the principles reflected in Agenda 2030.
