On 26 Aug. 2016, the Initiative for Agriculture Development of Kosovo and Women’s Center ATO organized a meeting with 15 women from different villages of the municipality of Vushtrri to discuss gender responsive budgeting.

     Women had the opportunity to learn what gender responsive budgeting entails, as well as how women from rural areas can contribute to their community’s benefit, by attending public consultations on the budget. All present women had never heard before about municipal public consultations. Nor did they know that they could attend such meetings and present their concerns.

     Participants were motivated to take part in public meetings and their requests were very clear. For example, participants expressed their concern about the lack of control over wastewater, which has covered their fields, thus making them unusable. Another problem is the huge number of stray dogs, which is becoming more dangerous for children.  

      “I need to wake up two hours earlier to take my son to school because he is a little child and I’m afraid that something might happen to him”, said a participant.

     During this meeting, Donjeta Morina, KWN Coordinator for Capacity Building, informed women about the Law on Gender Equality, which guarantees equality between women and men. Municipalities can make progress toward gender equality through expenditures, by ensuring that the use of public resources meets the priority needs of both women and men.

     This is foreseen by the Law on Gender Equality, which requires gender responsive budgeting. Through this initiative, women from villages Skrom, Sllakovc, Novolan, Maxhunaj, and Bukosh, have been offered trainings and got motivated to create their own income, undertake agricultural activities and apply for subsidies to expand their businesses.