Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) seeks to ensure that funds are budgeted and spent to
address the diverse needs of women, men, boys, and girls as identified through gender analysis. GRB
involves integrating a gender perspective throughout the budgetary process, which includes
restructuring incomes and expenditures to promote equality between women and men. According to
Kosovo Law No. 05/L-020 on Gender Equality (LGE), GRB involves gender mainstreaming the
budgetary process and “restructuring incomes and expenditures” to promote equality among women
and men.1 Gender mainstreaming is defined as including a gender perspective in “planning, approval,
implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of legislation, policies, programs, and budgets in all
political, economic, and social fields” towards furthering equal opportunities for men and women.2
Failing to implement GRB, as foreseen by this Law, constitutes a legal offense subject to sanctions.
Further, in budget circulars,3 the Ministry of Finance, Labour, and Transfers (MFLT) regularly has
required the inclusion of GRB as an annex in budget allocation requests.

The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) is the foundational document for midterm
budget planning and for informing the drafting of Kosovo’s Annual Budget for 2026. It aims to analyse
thoroughly the country’s macroeconomic environment. The MTEF establishes the grounds for
budgetary decisions by offering a comprehensive understanding of the economic landscape and aligning
budget allocations with government objectives.4 Medium-term priorities for economic reforms derive
from the National Strategy for Development and the Economic Reform Programme 2023-2025, which
emerged from Kosovo’s dialogue with the European Union (EU) on economic governance. For 2025
2027, the Government of Kosovo has prioritised horizontal agendas derived from strategic documents
such as the Government Programme 2021-20255 and the National Development Strategy and Plan
2030.6

Transparent budget processes are essential to ensuring government accountability and fostering
public trust. Programmatic budgeting can increase transparency by enabling more accurate
understanding of resources allocated to furthering gender equality. However, Kosovo uses line-item
budgeting rather than programmatic budgeting, which presents difficulties in determining the amount
of the budget allocated for gender equality as well as for evaluating the contributions expenditures have
made to gender equality. Therefore, in Kosovo the MTEF and the GRB Annex requested by MFLT are
particularly important for communicating to citizens, as taxpayers, which budget lines will contribute
to the Government’s gender equality objectives.