was higher there than in other regions and widening, leading to increased support for gender budgeting in the region.293 One year after the support, results were demonstrated in increased financial allocations for women related education and health programs. Although gender budgeting is increasingly being adopted in economic many policy frameworks by African states, gender analytical tools, skills and resources are not yet well developed, leading to uneven approaches and results. c) Fight corruption and money laundering Corruption as a theme is designed to cut across all APRM analytical parameters as outlined in the four pillars. Specifically, the APRM emphasises the erosive effect of corruption on effectiveness of policy and programme effectiveness and public trust as well as depletion of scarce resources of the economy. Corruption depletes resources meant to promote reconstruction projects and programmes in the recovery phase, at a time when all resource streams count, affecting women and girls needs for critical services. Corruption has a deleterious effect on economic growth as it depletes much needed resources to develop services and enterprise. War economies rely on corruption as a survival mechanism and post conflict governments may perpetuate this practice. Corruption is a structural issue that is at the heart of dissension and combined with factors such as poverty, inequality and division in social groups, can trigger or retrigger violence. Corruption robs a government of its legitimacy and can affect its ability to manage critical phases of state building and provision of services in crucial social sectors, risking fragile peace agreements and arrangements.294 293 294 Stotsky J et al ‘Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts’ IMF Working Paper 2016 World Bank, Anticorruption in Transition: A Contribution to the Policy Debate, Washington, D.C, 2000. 95