{"id":18580,"date":"2025-09-01T13:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T11:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/?p=18580"},"modified":"2025-09-03T14:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:47:09","slug":"grb-impact-story-bringing-womens-voices-into-budgets-in-south-mitrovica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/grb-impact-story-bringing-womens-voices-into-budgets-in-south-mitrovica\/","title":{"rendered":"GRB Impact Story: Bringing Women\u2019s Voices into Budgets in South Mitrovica"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The <\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a style=\"color: #800080;\" href=\"https:\/\/mwahr.org\/about-us\/\">Mitrovica Women\u2019s Association for Human Rights (MWAHR)<\/a><\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">,<\/span> a member of the Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN) and a sub-grantee of the project \u201cGender Budgeting as a Transformative Budget Tool for Municipal Institutions\u201d (2023\u20132024), has been at the forefront of promoting gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) in South Mitrovica (Kosovo). Through persistent monitoring, advocacy, and community engagement, MWAHR has helped advance transparency and accountability in municipal budgeting ensuring that women\u2019s voices are heard and reflected in decision-making.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">As part of this project, MWAHR carried out detailed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Raporti-i-monitorimit-final-1-3.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">budget monitoring in the Municipality of South Mitrovica<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, covering six key directorates: Agriculture, Administration, Health, Social Welfare, Finance, and the Employment Agency. This work highlighted both achievements and gaps in integrating gender perspectives into local spending.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>When tradition meets empowerment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">One tangible success has been the organization of fairs showcasing women\u2019s products. These events offered visibility, sales opportunities, and strengthened women\u2019s economic independence. For many local women, a single fair provided crucial income for their families. Over 30 women entrepreneurs benefited significantly, while hundreds of community members connected with women-led businesses. Building on these achievements, MWAHR worked closely with the Municipality of South Mitrovica to ensure that gender equality objectives were, for the first time, incorporated into the Medium-Term Budget Framework (MTBF). Through consultative meetings with the directors of Finance, Agriculture and Rural Development, Public Administration, Social Welfare, and Youth, Sports, and Culture, MWAHR secured commitments to expand scholarships, healthcare support, and cultural and sports programs for women and girls.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To further extend its impact on the public, MWAHR produced a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/mwahr-gender-budgeting-as-a-transformative-budget-tool-for-municipal-institutions\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">documentary video<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, capturing key moments from the consultative meetings and voices from citizens and officials. This documentary, together with the published report, ensures that the lessons and successes of the initiative remain accessible to a wider audience and continue to inspire change.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not just about stats or frameworks\u2014it&#8217;s about mothers, sisters, entrepreneurs, neighbors who dared to speak up and shape their futures. This initiative demonstrates <strong>how real inclusion can transform community life especially when those voices come from women who know their families, their neighborhoods, and their needs. <\/strong>MWAHR shows us how community-rooted advocacy can shift city policy.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-18580-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AQMZJLBM-_tv4AAEhb_j6fn_TYeSiZkA6uBJ82XSXBj7Gvorjc7Z6q-KW2XGUd_F5nN8gZ0Uvnvy6y5G7TYGdIc5-1-1.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AQMZJLBM-_tv4AAEhb_j6fn_TYeSiZkA6uBJ82XSXBj7Gvorjc7Z6q-KW2XGUd_F5nN8gZ0Uvnvy6y5G7TYGdIc5-1-1.mp4\">https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AQMZJLBM-_tv4AAEhb_j6fn_TYeSiZkA6uBJ82XSXBj7Gvorjc7Z6q-KW2XGUd_F5nN8gZ0Uvnvy6y5G7TYGdIc5-1-1.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mitrovica Women\u2019s Association for Human Rights (MWAHR), a member of the Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN) and a sub-grantee of the project \u201cGender Budgeting as a Transformative Budget Tool for Municipal Institutions\u201d (2023\u20132024), has been at the forefront of promoting gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) in South Mitrovica (Kosovo). Through persistent monitoring, advocacy, and community engagement, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":18581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18580"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18630,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18580\/revisions\/18630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbwn.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}