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Engendering EU Budget Support? The Case of EU Development Cooperation with Botswana

Africa
Development
European Union
Gender
Petra Debusscher
Ghent University
Petra Debusscher
Ghent University

Abstract

Budget support is an increasingly important aid instrument in the EU’s development assistance. It encompasses the transfer of financial resources from the EU directly to the partner country’s National Treasury, following compliance with an agreed set of conditions for payment. As an aid modality, budget support responds to the principles of the Aid Effectiveness Agenda, promoting alignment, harmonization, country ownership and accountability. However, approached from a gender perspective the concepts of ownership and accountability take on new complexities. The question arises whether the EU can achieve ownership with genuine accountability to women in partner countries. Budget support is controversial, as feminist advocates have expressed fears that it de-prioritises gender equality. While there is agreement on the opportunities and risks that budget support entails for gender equality, there is less evidence of what actually happens on the ground. In this paper I engage with this debate as I focus on the case of EU development cooperation with Botswana 2008-13. First I analyze if and how gender equality and women’s rights are included in EU budget support to Botswana. Next I examine women’s formal and informal accountability as well as their participation in government and administration. I conclude that gender equality objectives are barely included in budget support. The weak participation of women in decision-making and the low degree of (in)formal accountability are put forward as explanations. By predominantly using budget support as an aid modality as well as strict bureaucratic criteria for civil society funding in the context of a masculine state apparatus - the voices of women and their movements are being structurally marginalized in EU development cooperation. For a real ownership to be effective it is vital to increase resources that directly target women’s participation in the policy process as well as strengthen women’s organizations.