Gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in Tanzania: do plans and budgets match? Findings from a desk review of policies and gender budgeting trends in agriculture and natural resource sectors Edidah Ampaire, Mariola Acosta, Ritah Kigonya, Sylvia Kyomugisha, Perez Muchunguzi, Laurence Jassogne DECEMBER 2016 Key messages  A significant proportion (43%) of the documents reviewed acknowledges the role of women as major actors in agriculture, as natural resource managers and as agents of change. However, the majority of documents portray women as marginalized and vulnerable, with limited access to land and lacking in land ownership.  There is a disconnection in gender integration between the national and district and lower levels of governance. Government should put in place a holistic framework that streamlines gender integration across levels and gives clear steps for gender analysis, integration of identified issues and budgeting for gender responsive actions.  Gender budgeting has not been fully embedded in government planning processes and gaps exist at all governance levels. National level policy implementation strategies do not indicate a gender budget; districts do not budget consistently for gender, some start and stop, while other districts (and wards) do not even try.  There is need to create gender awareness among policy makers and practitioners across levels. This should be accompanied by building capacity of extension personnel and equipping them to appraise and deal with gender issues, and putting incentive structures in place that reward sufficient gender integration in plans and successful implementation. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been ratified by more countries than any other UN convention (Gabizon, 2016). The United Republic of Tanzania is one such country that hopes to fully utilize its human resources, both men and women, for socio-economic development. It is recognized that the continued marginalization of women constitutes a major obstacle to rapid socio-economic development of the country (MCDGC, 2005). The United Republic of Tanzania–through the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children–has prioritized gender equality through different instruments: the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania was amended in 2005 to increase women’s participation in the National Parliament and Local Authorities; the Women and Gender Development Policy of 2000 puts more emphasis on women in development, and the National Strategy for Gender Development was intended to promote gender equality and equity. Despite these developments, challenges still remain, as demonstrated by Tanzania’s low ranking (123rd out of 149 countries) on the 2013 Gender Inequality Index (UNDP, 2015). Gender imbalances are perceived to be perpetuated by patriarchal systems and traditions that discriminate women (Kombo and Minungu, 2012). To address these constraints, a World Bank Strategic Country Gender Assessment of 2004 recommended incorporating more gender-oriented objectives into government poverty- reduction programs and advised more gender budgeting (Blackden and Rwebangira, 2004). Over a decade later, Acosta et al. (2016) still find the presence of gender blind policies, inadequate integration of gender and limited enforcement of gender integrated policies, which constrain gender equality and equity in the country. This study further analyzes policy documents and budgets from the different levels of governance to ascertain (i) the extent to which gender is integrated, (ii) characterization of men and women, and (iii) existent structural constraints and how they have been addressed in agri-food policies. An analysis of budgeting for gender to enable implementation is also included. The analysis involves qualitative reviews of 29 national, 32 district and 14 ward level documents and primary quantitative budget data at the district level. Qualitative reviews included C C A F S I N F O N O T E 2 grading the documents for gender integration, while quantitative analysis included computing gender budget proportions at district level starting from 2012/13 to 2015/16. Gender policy framework in Tanzania Tanzania’s agri-food policies and strategies have attempted to integrate gender, with 71% of national and 52% of the district documents portraying some level of gender integration based on a grading framework developed by Gumucio and Tafur-Rueda (2015) to rate the degree of gender integration in climate change, agriculture and food security policies. There has been no gender integration in all the documents at the ward level. Few of the documents that integrate gender try to characterize women (16%) and men (3%). The disadvantaged nature of the women portrayed by the findings from Acosta et al. (2016), were evidenced as the documents largely portrayed them as marginalized and vulnerable without control over productive resources. However, roles in natural resource management and socio-economic development, including being the major actors in agriculture, natural resource managers and agents of change, were recognized by 43% of the documents. On the other hand, men’s dominance in access to and ownership of productive resources, especially land and forests, are emphasized. The customary laws in Tanzania have been acknowledged to harbor the leading gender structural constraint, which is precluding women from ownership and access to land and other productive resources. However, no document addresses this challenge, and although the Land Act No. 2 of 2002 nullifies such customs and practices that contradict the principle of equality of women, no program has been implemented with a specific focus of addressing this imbalance. Gender integration by theme The documents reviewed at the national level cut across various themes although the diversity reduces as one moves to the lower levels of governance (Figure 1). The majority (46%) of policies and strategies at national level integrate gender sufficiently throughout the document, but they do not have clear implementation plans. For instance, the National Guidelines for Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Related Policies, Plans and Strategies assigns roles to different stakeholders aimed at mainstreaming gender in various sectors and projects but neither guides on how the roles should be implemented nor provides a budget indication. It is noteworthy that 44% of the climate change policies at the national level make no reference to gender despite the widely acknowledged gender differentiated impacts of climate change, and the necessity for gender responsiveness in climate smart agriculture. At the district level, 67% of the agricultural sector policies and strategies integrate gender throughout the documents but lack implementation strategies. Whereas 69% of the annual action plans do not integrate gender, a small proportion (8%) integrates gender sufficiently and provides implementation resources. This means that even when development plans and strategies have integrated gender, the annual action plans do not take forward this integration (Figure 1). This, in part, explains why annual gender budgets are much lower than forward budgets, and the gender activities are not necessarily addressing any inequalities. Figure 1: Gender grades of policies, strategies and plans under different themes and scales 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Agricultural sector policies, strategies Climate change policies Development plans Environment, forestry and water resource policies Agricultural sector policies, strategies Annual action plans Development plans Development plans N at io na l D is tr ic t W a r d Number of documents No reference to gender issues Gender only mentioned in objective or only identified among cross-cutting issues Gender referenced throughout the document but without clear implementation plan Gender mentioned throughout the document, with implementation strategy but lacking allocation of resources Gender mentioned throughout the document, with implementation strategy and allocation of resources C C A F S I N F O N O T E 3 At ward level, only annual action plans exist and these did not make any reference to gender. These findings show a disconnection in gender integration between the national level policy documents and those from the district and lower levels of governance, signifying lack of harmony in policy planning. The disconnection is multiplied at district level where annual action plans are not informed by five-year development plans. There is therefore a need for the government to put in place guidelines and frameworks that can harmonize gender responsive policy planning as well as ensure that implementation happens at all levels of governance. Gender budgeting A total of 17 budgets from Gairo, Singida, Njombe and Lushoto districts were analyzed from financial years 2012/13 to 2015/16. Specific budgets analyzed included: Gairo—full budgets for 2012/2013 and 2013/2014; Lushoto—full budgets for 2012/2013 to 2015/2016, Singida—forward budgets for 2012/2013 and 2013/2014; Njombe—full budgets for 2012/2013 to 2014/2015. National and ward level documents did not have budget indications. Two levels of budget projections are used: forward budget estimates and annual budget estimates. Forward budget estimates are future projections for the subsequent two years, revised each time an annual budget is developed. An annual estimated budget shows a final budget developed for the next year, approved by the district leadership. Figure 2. Percentage of gender budget estimates from financial year 2012/13 to 2015/16 Findings show that the district forward budget estimates portrayed a decrease from 2012/13 to 2013/14, followed by a progressive increase up to 2015/16. On the other hand, the annual budget estimates showed a reverse trend of the forward budget estimates (Figure 2). On average, only 15% of the forward gender budget estimates has been incorporated in the annual gender budget estimates from 2012/13 to 2015/16, indicating a wide budgeting gap. Moreover, some district officials explained that even the approved budgets are often not fully funded. At district level, three categories of gender activities were planned and budgeted for, namely, “Gender mainstreaming” (community development, sitting allowances and food training allowances, tuition fees, per diem domestic and travel); “Support activities” (facilitating provision of loans, identification of vulnerable children and providing support); and “Training and sensitization on gender equality” (Figure 3). The majority of the planned activities are not of transformative nature, doing little to tackle the root causes of gender inequality. Figure 3. Proportion of gender budget allocated to gender activities at district level Conclusions and recommendations This review confirms that the United Republic of Tanzania has made some positive progress in tackling gender as reflected by the documents and budgets reviewed. However, significant gaps still exist and will require the government, at all levels, to make deliberate steps and investments to be able to address gender inequalities.  There is need to harmonize gender integration at national level with district and ward levels. In addition, development plans should be closely linked with annual action plans such that gender priorities can be reflected in both.  Gender analysis and mainstreaming capacities should be built among government officials involved in development planning to ensure appropriate gender budgets, implementation strategies, and a performance framework that enforces planned actions are put in place at the planning stage.  Consistently reducing gender budget estimates at the district level has two major implications. First, it points to lack of political will by the local government to C C A F S I N F O N O T E 4 address the existing gender inequalities. For example, Njombe district does not indicate any gender budget estimates in its medium term expenditure framework plan and budgets from 2012 to 2016. Second, it signifies low capacities of the officials in appraising the gender issues and integrating them in the district and ward action plans. This is further confirmed by the activities to which budgets are committed (Figure 3). To address these gaps, there is need to create gender awareness among policy makers and practitioners at both national, district and local levels of government to foster effective gender equality program planning, budgeting and implementation  In addition to creating awareness, there is need for a guiding framework that supports districts in planning and budgeting for gender. Some districts budget consistently for gender, while others start and stop. This indicates the limited horizontal learning and communication, which, if improved, could help districts to learn from each other as well as scale out best gender integration practices. References  Acosta M, Ampaire E, Jassogne L, Okolo W, Twyman J. 2016. Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management in Tanzania: A Gender Policy Review. CCAFS Info Note. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).  Blackden CM, Rwebangira M. 2004. “Tanzania Strategic Country Gender Assessment” Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network Africa Region. Washington DC: World Bank.  Gabizon S. 2015. Why gender equality will make or break the global goals. https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/09/8-reasons-why- gender-equality-will-make-or-break-the-sdgs/ retrieved 12th December 2016  Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. 1977. The Constitution of the Republic of Tanzania 1977 (amended in 2005).  Gumucio T, Tafur Rueda M. 2015. Influencing Gender-Inclusive Climate Change Policies in Latin America. Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security 1(2): 41–60.  Kombo I, Minungu L. 2012. Gender imbalance in the leadership of local government authorities in Tanzania: The case of Dodoma Municipality. African Journal of Social Sciences 2 (3): 116-123.  Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children. 2005. The National Strategy for Gender and Development. Government of the United Republic of Tanzania.  UNDP. 2015. Briefing note for countries on the 2015 Human Development Report: Tanzania. Edidah Ampaire (e.ampaire@cgiar.org) is a social science researcher at IITA. Mariola Acosta (M.Acosta@cgiar.org) is a research fellow at IITA and PhD candidate at Wageningen University. Ritah Kigonya (kigonyaritah@gmail.com) is a consulting data analyst at IITA. Sylvia Kyomugisha (sylivia2011@gmail.com) is a consulting research assistant at IITA. Perez Muchunguzi (P.Muchungzi@cgiar.org) is a multi-stakeholder Specialist at IITA. Laurence Jassogne (L.Jassogne@cgiar.org) is a systems agronomist at IITA. Research led by As part of the Policy Action for Climate Change Adaptation (PACCA) project, this Info Note summarizes the findings of a policy desk review and gender budget analysis in Tanzania. The views expressed in this brief are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by or representative of CCAFS or of the cosponsoring or supporting organizations.