15 August 2025: In partnership with UN Women, TGNP hosted a three-day working session on gender-responsive budgeting in the Kisarawe District, Coast Region. Between August 12 and 14, 2025, Knowledge Centre members, Village Executive Officers, Ward Executive Officers, and Community Development Officers came together to address a critical question: How can local budgets better serve everyone in the community?
The goal of the session was to strengthen the capacity of local leaders to effectively engage in gender-responsive budgeting (GRB). The 23 participants (18 women and 5 men) included members of Knowledge Centres (KCs), Village Executive Officers (VEOs), Ward Executive Officers (WEOs), and Community Development Officers (CDOs). They were equipped with practical knowledge on GRB principles, participatory planning, and inclusive leadership. The training focused on empowering them to identify gender-related issues and integrate them into community development plans and budgets and revising and updating the 2024 action plan by incorporating newly identified gender-related concerns.
Key Issues and Realities
The session created a safe space for participants to share their daily struggles and discuss the solutions offered by GRB. Several important themes emerged from the discussion:
- Unequal Burden of Work: Participants highlighted how patriarchal systems place a heavy burden of unpaid care work on women, limiting their economic participation. As one participant explained:
“Women are still confined to care work and not given equal opportunities to earn income, while decisions about development are made without us.”
Another participant agreed, emphasising that parenting should be a shared responsibility between both parents.
- Lack of Community Participation: Many expressed concerns that citizens are often excluded from budget cycles because they don’t know the process starts at the village level. One participant shared:
“People miss out because they do not know that planning starts with us, at the village. This makes us feel our voices are not represented.”
This lack of awareness and trust in local government contributes to community priorities being left out of final budgets.
- Exclusion of Marginalised Groups: The session underscored how vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, youth, people living with HIV, and pastoralists are often invisible in the budgeting process. Facilitators noted that limited access to meeting venues, a lack of data on their specific needs, and economic barriers make it difficult to include their perspectives.
- Inadequate Infrastructure: A striking example from Sungwi Primary School illustrates the consequences of poor planning. With 330 girls and 220 boys, the school does not have enough toilets, and does not meet the required ratio of 1 latrine for every 20 girls (1:20) and 1 latrine for every 25 boys (1:25). This highlights the urgent need for gender-sensitive infrastructure that considers the specific needs of girls and other vulnerable groups.
Beyond these gender-specific issues, the working session on GRB in Kisarawe district brought to light several other critical community challenges including:
- Health Care: Participants identified inadequate access to health care as a major concern, citing poor roads and limited medical supplies as significant barriers to treatment.
- Financing: The session also highlighted economic and social issues, including limited financial literacy and the subsequent misuse of loans, which hinder individual and community financial stability.
- Youth Unemployment: High youth unemployment was a recurring topic, compounded by the fact that young people are often excluded from decision-making processes, leaving their needs and ideas unaddressed in community planning.
Moving from Awareness to Action
Participants agreed that budgeting is not just a technical exercise but a political and social process that must prioritise equity. Leaders of budgeting processes were encouraged to ask, “How does this allocation of resources respond to the needs of women and marginalised groups in our community?”
Based on the insights gathered during the session, participants developed a clear set of recommendations and actions to move forward:
- Community Education: To increase participation in GRB meetings, launch initiatives that educate communities on gender equality issues and the local budget cycle.
- Data Collection: Institutionalise the collection of gender and disability-disaggregated data to ensure that planning is based on evidence.
- Inclusive Infrastructure: Prioritise the construction of disability-friendly and gender-sensitive facilities, including allocating specific budget lines for menstrual hygiene and maternal health services.
- Economic Empowerment: Provide financial literacy training and support youth to create alternative livelihood opportunities.
- Collaboration: Strengthen partnerships between KCs, local government, NGOs, and the private sector to ensure that marginalised voices are represented during all stages of community development and planning.
This working session was a significant step toward empowering local leaders in Kisarawe district to advocate for more equitable and inclusive budgets. By turning their lived experiences into a shared action plan, participants are now better equipped to ensure that public funds truly benefit every member of their community.
