Remarks by UNDP Cambodia Country Director Ms. Elena Tischenko at the launch of Five-Year Strategic Plan on Gender Mainstreaming in Public Finance

Remarks by

Ms. Elena Tischenko, Country Director, UNDP Cambodia

at

the Launch of Five-Year Strategic Plan on Gender Mainstreaming in Public Finance: 2008-2012
Phnom Penh, 14 October, 2010

Excellency Keat Chhon, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance
Excellency Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister for Women’s Affairs
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for the honour of being invited to deliver remarks at the launch of this important Strategic Plan.

First of all I would like to congratulate the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Minister of Women’s Affairs and all the staff of MEF and MoWA who have contributed to the development of this strategy.

The country’s National Strategic Development Plan has put a strong focus on promoting gender equality and has mainstreamed gender needs and priorities in many sectors. Gender equality is now a legitimate policy issue for institutions operating in all sectors and at all levels in Cambodia, and there is now increased recognition that gender equality cannot be achieved through women-specific institutions, or women-specific projects alone. To this end, in the NSDP there is a commitment that all line ministries and institutions of the government will have formulated a Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan by 2010. I am pleased to note that 18 ministries have already formulated their Gender Mainstreaming Action Plans.

In addition, I would like to acknowledge the commitment of Excellency Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister for Women’s Affairs, and all the MoWA staff in developing the ministry’s own five-year strategic plan to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, Neary Rattanak III (2009-2013), which follows on from the Ministry’s earlier five-year strategic plan, Neary Rattanak II and which has also been included as a key priority in the NSDP update 2009-2013.

Such commitment is absolutely crucial to achieving the third Millennium Development Goal, which is to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women. Last month, world leaders gathered at the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Summit in New York to review the achievements over the past ten years and look forward to the final five years of this important global commitment. This provided an opportunity to revitalize the commitment of the global community to focus efforts on proven strategies and discuss ways to fast-track progress. Through our monitoring and reporting in Cambodia, we are aware that a lot more needs to be done if each of the nine Cambodian MDGs is to be attained. As reported by the Royal Government of Cambodia through the Ministry of Planning, Cambodia appears likely to achieve most of the targets set for 2015. The government recognizes that without renewed and concerted efforts, Goal 3 is unlikely to be achieved. In addition, this goal is central to the other goals because it is not only important in its own right but its achievement will help to deepen and solidify achievements in all other MDGs.

One of the indicators for CMDG Goal 3 is to promote women’s economic empowerment and to reach parity for women and men in wage employment in all sectors. The current MDG assessment has shown that in Cambodia, the parity of women in wage employment in the agriculture sector has been achieved, although recently there has been a slight downward trend. Parity may also be achieved in services, although the extractive and non-extractive industries sectors require further analysis and more focused action.

Cambodia is not alone in meeting such challenge. UNDP’s Regional Human Development Report on Gender, Power, Voice and Rights which was launched earlier this year shows that despite laws guaranteeing equal pay for equal work in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, women still earn only 54 to 90 per cent of what men earn.

In addition, the report cites the informal economy as one of the greatest challenges to measuring gender parity in terms of women’s empowerment and equal wages as it is a sector where many workers are “statistically invisible”, meaning that little or no data exists on how many women – and men – work in the informal sector. Greater research into this sector would enable us to better respond to their needs, as, particularly in Cambodia, the informal economy provides a critical but vulnerable source of livelihood for women.

The recent global financial crisis impacted seriously on Cambodia’s garment sector, where some 90% of the employees are women. This in turn has highlighted the urgent need to provide skill training that matches market needs; to ensure that women are informed about their rights under Labour Legislation; and are able to access information about new job opportunities. The link between job loss for women and their vulnerability to trafficking, sexual exploitation and employment in the ‘entertainment’ sector cannot be ignored either.

The report also highlights some “best practices” increasingly being applied in the region. For example, about half of all Asia-Pacific countries have adopted gender-responsive budgeting. In India, The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy conducted a comprehensive study of gender budgeting and as a result, the government is now able to assess the benefits of budget allocations and track the link between fiscal policy and gender development. In addition, based on this study, the Indian Ministry of Finance called upon all government ministries and departments to establish gender budget units and prepare benefit analyzes linked to gender.

Excellencies, distinguished national and international guests, ladies and gentlemen

While the challenges are great, they are not insurmountable. Today, the launch of the Five-Year Strategic Plan on Gender Mainstreaming in Public Finance shows the commitment of the senior management and staff of the Ministry of Economy and Finance towards promoting gender equality. The Ministry has the mandate to lead and manage the economic and financial sectors in Cambodia. Effective implementation of this Gender Strategic Plan here will go a long way to addressing gender disparities across all sector government agencies, as well as in the private sector.

The UN General Assembly recently adopted a resolution on system-wide coherence, bringing together the mandates and functions of the four UN gender-specific entities into one body, called UN Women, backed by substantial resources and led by an Under Secretary-General. While this new entity is entrusted a special consolidation and coordination role, other major UN agencies and programmes, including UNDP, are also urged to strengthen their commitment to achieving gender equality as part of their core mandate.

Therefore, in the context of UN reform, renewed commitments to achieving the MDGs, and  the Delivery as One approach, there are new opportunities for expanding effective strategies and practices to assist countries to deliver on gender equality and women's empowerment and to achieve the MDGs.

For UNDP or the UN system as a whole, a more vigorous effort is needed to ensure coordination and coherence at all levels, and especially on the ground, where it matters most.

The strategy that is being launched today provides such guidance and will help to align support efforts behind national priorities and goals in line with the Public Financial Management Reform Programme. Today’s workshop also serves as a platform to reinforce the ‘ownership’ of the Ministry’s Gender Mainstreaming Action Group (GMAG) over gender equality actions in the economic and finance sector, and to coordinate and harmonize external and internal inputs in line with the Public Finance Management Reform approach.
I would like to note with appreciation the commitment embodied in this Strategic Plan to increase awareness about gender equality among macroeconomic policy makers and to recognize the important role that women can play in MEF operations and leadership. I also would like to acknowledge the commitment to make the Public Financial Management Reform Programme gender-responsive through integration of gender equality mechanisms in national budget formulation and reporting processes.

UNDP is now developing its new country programme action plan for 2011-2015. The promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment will be a key priority for us.  UNDP is committed to supporting the government to advance the impressive progress it has already made in transforming national and sector institutions, policies and reform programmes to become gender responsive. In our new programme, we will focus our support on helping the national partners to ensure that policy improvements do translate into measurable progress in political, social and economic empowerment of women. Today’s event marks a significant step forward in this process and I extend my congratulations to MEF for launching this important strategy.

I look forward to a fruitful dialogue and recommendations that will help to put this Strategic Plan into practice and implement it successfully.

Thank you.