Strengthening Financial Resources to Advance Gender Equality in Viet Nam

This activity is jointly held by UN Women in collaboration with the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the LIGHT Institute for Development & Community Health (LIGHT Institute). It is part of the UN Joint Program on “Supporting Viet Nam towards the 2030 Integrated Finance Strategy for Accelerating the Achievement of the SDGs” led by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, with technical support from the United Nations agencies in Viet Nam. The Program is funded by the SDG Fund.

Over the years, Viet Nam has obtained significant achievements in advancing gender equality and empowering women. However, one of the biggest challenges currently affecting the implementation of Viet Nam's gender equality commitments and SDGs  has been the shortage of financial resources.

“Against the backdrop where Viet Nam is a middle-income country, and a great number of  donors have cut down on financial support for gender equality, it is extremely urgent to secure and mobilize domestic financial resources. Over the years, UN Women has advocated and introduced tools to incorporate gender equality issues into national planning and financial policies during the implementation of the SDGs to ensure that gender equality commitments will be realized,” said Ms. Elisa Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Country Representative in Viet Nam.

Although the 2015 revised State Budget Law has demonstrated progressive changes when introducing the principle of promoting gender equality in state budget expenditure, so far, the implementation has faced numerous challenges. At the workshop, the participants discussed the role of various stakeholders, including the private sector, CSOs and raised the major difficulties in strengthening financial resources for gender equality in the country, such as the lack of planning and budgeting processes, shortage of tools and guidelines, limited understanding of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) approach, the absence of sex-disaggregated data, and lack of tracking and labeling of expenditures aimed for gender equality in financial statements.

The participants also discussed the roles of relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, CSOs, the private sector, etc., meanwhile putting forward initiatives and solutions to increase financing for gender equality. In particular, the highlight is how to apply gender-responsive budgeting (GRB), how to ensure that needs of women, men and other group are fully taken into account throughout the entire budget cycle.

“All of us – no matter which organization we come from or where we live… - share the same desire, the same one goal – that is contributing to the successful realization of gender equality and national development objectives”, said Ms. Nguyen Thu Giang, Deputy Director of LIGHT Institute.