When did you start working in agriculture?

OLIVERA STANIŠIĆ: I started my small business about fifteen years ago as a tourist accommodation rental offer because I had an extra living space. Agriculture followed after that, because, once again, I had a surplus of fruits and vegetables. That’s how I started processing and marketing products. For the last ten years, I have been putting special emphasis on ajvar, which is now my trademark, and in addition there are different kinds of juices, jams, sweets and salads.

How would you describe the state of women’s agriculture in your community?

OLIVERA STANIŠIĆ: The state of women’s agriculture is never great, but the women in my  community manage to resist the challenges. They try to use all the opportunities provided and to be involved in all the processes related to their status. We can boast that as women farmers in Vlasenica Municipality, we now have the full support of the local administration, which is the result of the advocacy efforts of organizations from this region, in particular of the Gender Budget Watchdog Network members. Through my Association, we try to familiarize women with the rights, obligations and opportunities they have and should use. We also emphasize the importance of registering agricultural farms, and above all, that women should be the official owners of these farms or agribusinesses, because they are that, de facto, even when they are not registered as such.

The Vlasenica Municipality recently adopted a new Rulebook on the allocation of funds for agriculture, does it contribute to improving the status of women farmers?

OLIVERA STANIŠIĆ: By adopting the Rulebook, the Municipality of Vlasenica only confirmed and made official the efforts and modes of supporting women engaged in agriculture and entrepreneurship. All projects and public calls at the level of the Municipality, as well as those the Municipality participates in, now give priority to women, as owners of agricultural farms, women entrepreneurs up to 35 years of age, mothers with more than one child, and marginalized women. This really contributes to a gender-responsive environment, but also shows how advocacy for better and more inclusive policies actually has an effect.

How important is agriculture for the development of the local community and society?

OLIVERA STANIŠIĆ: As a woman who is engaged in agriculture and agricultural production, but also a woman who lives in a rural area with most opportunities lying in tourism and agriculture, I think that agriculture is high on the scale of importance for local development. It might even be the most important. Agriculture makes us think of nature and food, which present the basis of each community. The COVID-19 pandemic made us quite aware of the importance of domestic production and brought us closer to agriculture, nature and healthy food, but also closer to understanding that resilience lies in and relies on local communities, domestic production, and domestic consumption.

The successful advocacy for more inclusive and gender-responsive policies in Vlasenica Municipality was conducted as a part of the “Increasing the Accountability of Local Governments for Gender Equality of Rural Women” project supported through the GBWN sub-granting in Bosnia and Herzegovina and implemented by UŽ Maja from Bratunac. 

Supported by Austrian Development Agency and Sida-The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Project: STRENGTHENING TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN WESTERN BALKANS AND MOLDOVA (GENDER BUDGET WATCHDOG NETWORK,PHASE II)

Financed by: Austrian Development Agency and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Implementing partners: Center for Research and Policy Making, Gender Alliance for Development Centre; Centre for Civil Society Promotion; Kosovo Women’s Network; Women Action; Gender Knowledge Hub, Keystone Moldova

The Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN) announces a public Call for Applications for Capacity Building and Sub-Granting in Gender and Climate Change Financing by the Gender Budget Watchdog Network from N. Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Moldova.

Guidelines and required documents:

1. Public Call for Applications for Capacity Building and Sub-Granting in Gender and Climate Change Financing
2. Annex 1: Application form and Concept note
3. Q&A

The Conference brought together GBWN partners, presenters from the region as well as well-known experts on GRB from all around Europe.

The Conference kicked off with an introduction by our Dr. Marija Risteska and Ms. Irena Ivanova, CSOs and Gender Focal Point from Delegation of the European Union, Skopje who stated that:

“ The work of civil society on research analysis of the impact of policy and budgets on gender of it’s very important. Gender-responsive budgeting is one of the tools for implementing the EU Gender Action Plan, which is the “bible” of designing European development programs. The links between local level practitioners, media and CSOs are important ingredients for transforming the civil society in the Western Balkans.”

Mr. David Muckenhuber, Counsellor, Head of Office, Österreichische Botschaft Skopje/Austrian Embassy Skopje was also part of the opening panel and he stated:

“CSOs work needs to be more connected with the work of the academics and public sector practitioners. This opportunity for synergies creating the community of practice is an excellent instrument that can bring together CSOs, practitioners and academics that use gender responsive budgeting tools.”

The opening was followed by an enlightening keynote speech delivered by Ms. Angela O’Hagen, delving into international development trends on gender-responsive budgeting. It was a thought-provoking session that set the stage for what’s to come.

On the second day of our GRB Community of Practice International Conference we hosted three sessions of amazing scholars and activists.

Here are some of the most relevant statements:

Ljupka Trajanovska: “To bridge the gap between policy and practice and effectively address the specific needs of both men and women, it is essential to start implementing gender-responsive budgeting. This approach ensures that financial planning and resource allocation are conducted with a keen awareness of disparities, allowing local priorities to be aligned with the distinct requirements of all community members.”

Ana Marija Sikiric Simcic from Croatia: “The main challenge lays “inside the system”, because when we train local government officials on the GRB, they mostly participate just because it is part of their job. Additionally, gender equality is not a main priority, there are more important issues and GRB requires a major shift in thinking.”

Daniela Collesi presented a case from Italy that applies analysis of the most important tax policies. The conclusion was that, firstly gender-responsive budget culture should be introduced into the political and social environment, and secondly, using the gender budget lens doesn’t necessarily require more money to be spent instead of not using it.

What does it mean to build infrastructure with a gender perspective? How can we measure the quality of everyday life and well-being? Gloria Alarcón-Garcia, from Spain, not only raised important questions in her presentation, but also presented the data that show how the access to everyday infrastructure affects more women than men.

Similarly, Gulay Gunluk-Senesen elaborated on intertemporal and intergenerational dimensions of public expenditures and their implications for wellbeing of women and girls, illustrated on the examples from Turkey.

The panel concluded with Mersiha Jaksic and Alexandru Gribincea EU’s External Financing emphasizing that for the EU to effectively support GRB initiatives in recipient countries, such as the Western Balkans and the Republic of Moldova, it must lead by example and utilize these practices in its own financial management systems, thus creating opportunity for replicating good practices.