With the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA) and the Regional Women Empowerment Agency, the Centre for Regional Studies and Information (PATTIRO) have held trainings for Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting (PPRG) in eight provinces: Aceh, North Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, Lampung, Central Kalimantan, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, and West Papua.

PATTIRO Executive Director Maya Rostanty stated that the training was intended to realize gender justice in the society. “The creation of an equal condition for women and men through policies and activities and cultural processes that eliminate obstacles to access, role, control and benefits for women and men,” said Maya in Gorontalo, Thursday 1 December.

The purpose of this activity, Maya continued, was to improve the quality of gender responsive planning and budgeting at economic sector SKPDs in 8 partner provinces, as well as to increase the capacity of human resource planners, in conducting gender analysis and developing GBS (Gender Budget Statement) and TOR (Terms of Reference). According to Maya, inequality was still occurring, not only in politics, but also in the economic aspect. “In wages, there is still inequality in that women’s wages are lower than men’s,” she explained.

Therefore, the main component of the PPRG training was to create equality between women and men in the aspects of employment and wages, “This is in accordance to the KPPPA’s policy of Three Ends Plus, including Ending Economic Equality,” Maya stated.

The event, which began on 28 November and ended on 14 December, invited PPRG champions in the regions, including from the Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda), Inspectorates, Women Empowerment Agencies, and BPKAD, as well as personnel from working units (SKPD) in the economic sector such as the Office of Agriculture and Horticulture, Office of Labor and Transmigration, Office of Trade and Industry, and others.

One of the participants, Ismail from the Office of Cooperatives, SMEs, Trade and Industry of Gorontalo Province, welcomed the implementation of PPRG Mentoring Workshop in his province, and expected that the activity would be followed by others in order to realize gender equality and justice. “We will try to incorporate PPRG into the budget changes in 2017,” he said.

This event is the follow up to the Joint Circular between the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior, as well as KPPPA on the National Strategy to Encourage the Acceleration of Gender Mainstreaming. This activity is one way to minimize the disparity in participation and utilization of development results between women and men, through carrying out PPRG. Through the implementation of Gender Responsive Budget (ARG), it is expected that planning and budgeting will be more effective and efficient because it observes the mapping of the roles of men and women, conditions, needs and problems of men and women. In addition, ARG is also expected to reduce the gap between beneficiaries of development that can identify different problems and needs of women and men.