REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA COMBINED SECOND PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE`S RIGHTS and INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA to ensure that where possible, resources are deployed as a positive measure to equalize opportunities between men and women. As a result, a substantial portion of the budget is increasingly being invested in services that advance women. 54. In 1995, the Gender and Economic Policy Group of the Joint Standing Committee on Finance was established to produce, in conjunction with NGOs, annual women’s budgets. Since then, the Policy Group has issued research reports that have informed budgeting for women. 55. The South African Women’s Budget Initiative has from its inception been an alliance forged among those parliamentarians who, entering parliament for the first time in 1994, were eager to continue their work on gender and other forms of discrimination. Parliamentarians and members of the Joint Standing Committee on Finance came together with two NGOs who had the expertise and time necessary to collect information, undertake the research and produce the analysis. For their part, the parliamentarians were able to provide access to information, focus in terms of key political issues and a strong advocacy voice.292 The initial goals of the South African Women’s Budget Initiative, were to develop an alternative set of values and principles which begin to prioritise the socio-economic needs of poor women, to provide a critical tool to monitor spending, to empower the Standing Committee to oversee government spending, to empower government to take responsibility for drawing up gender sensitive budgets and to empower civil society.293 56. The Fiscal and Financial Commission is tasked to make recommendations to Parliament, provincial legislatures, organised local government and other organs of state on financial and fiscal matters as envisaged in the Constitution and other national legislation. In 2012, the Fiscal Commission had also undertaken an analysis of gender responsive budgeting at the local government level.294 The Commission examined gender budgeting in the South African local government sector. The Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of 30 municipalities were reviewed for their gender sensitivity. In addition, the gender responsiveness of local government budgets was evaluated using case studies of seven selected municipalities. The findings indicated that gender budgeting in the local government sector is limited. There must be a committed implementation for women’s advancement, development and gender equality at this level, where most sustainable effects in this regard can be felt by women on the ground. 57. While many challenges were experienced with respect to the full implementation of gender responsive budgeting in South Africa over the years, the initiative has found renewed energy in the country. Under the stewardship of the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, the country is consolidating gender-responsive budgeting interventions and processes which began in 1995. One of the envisaged tasks is that of forging an alliance with the Department of Finance to ensure integration of the principles of gender responsive budgeting in Government’s planning and budgeting cycle. 292 Budlender, D, 2000 “Gender Budgets Make Cents” Budlender et al, 2002 294 “Gender Budgeting: Translating Government Gender Equality Commitments into Reality,” October 2012 293 151