A research on budgetary program selection and evaluation criteria for gender budget statements and gender budget balance sheets
Sun-Joo Cho
Hyo-Joo Kim
Hyo-Seon Kim
Gender Budgeting System has achieved great development in expanding its legal and systematical basis since the system was in effect by the National Finance Act in 2006. However, there have been doubts expressed about the effectiveness of gender budgeting and there has yet been an agreement on the institutional strategy for providing a selection criteria for budgetary programs and its incentive system. In order to overcome such limitations, this research aims to develop both the budgetary program selection and evaluation criteria. Both criteria were applied to gender budget documents and the results are presented in the research. The budgetary program selection criteria were applied to the gender budget statement of fiscal year 2013, and the evaluation criteria were applied to the gender budget statement of fiscal year 2013 and the gender budget balance sheet of fiscal year 2011. The research results suggest the selection criteria and process in three steps. First, internal and external aspects of the budgetary programs should be classified by program sectors and tools, and for those aspects that can be analyzed and reviewed prior to the budgetary program selection should be categorized by following the government’s two-hundred and seventy-six program selection criteria (Step 1). Second, by taking the Mid-Long Term Fiscal Policy and the Annual Budget Compilation Framework into account (Step 2), each government department selects their budgetary programs that they will focus on throughout the fiscal year by considering their gender equality objectives (Step 3). For new budgetary programs, a Gender Impact Assessment and an in-depth analysis by experts are recommended to be conducted in advance. The proposed criteria in the research were applied to budgetary programs in the 2013 Gender Budget Statement. Only eighty-three criteria among the two-hundred and seventy-six criteria were included in the current budgetary program selection, and the gender budget programs appeared to be concentrated in specific program sectors and tools (Welfare, Employment Health - Public Service, Education and Training, Human Resource Management). The evaluation criteria were proposed and the results of their application on central administrative agencies which prepared gender budget documents, and on gender budget programs were demonstrated in the research. According to the evaluation results of the agencies, the following agencies were rated as “Outstanding” or better for their gender budget statements the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism. For the gender budget balance sheets, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism, the Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Agency, Statistics Korea, and the National Police Agency were rated as “Outstanding” or better. According to the results of the evaluation on programs, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (40% of the gender budget statements and 70% of gender budget balance sheets were evaluated as “Outstanding”) was determined to be an exemplary agency for preparing gender budget documents. However, prior to reviewing and developing the validity and applicability of the criteria, an agency for selecting gender budget programs should be institutionalized, and development in evaluation methodologies and the feedback system is necessary.
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