In partnership with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Serbia, the Women’s Parliamentary Network (WPN) hosted the Third National Conference: Gender Responsive Budgeting, on Nov. 3, 2015, in the Serbian parliament building. The purpose of the conference was the Serbian debut of gender responsive budgeting, to be incorporated in the 2016 Budget Bill, and to encourage and empower female MPs to launch local budgetary initiatives to cater for the needs of men and women alike.
Gender equality is one of the key conditions for the growth of Serbian society, while gender responsive budgeting is an important step towards female economic empowerment – this was one of the key points of the WPN conference, attended by 200 female members of local parliaments across Serbia. 
The attendants noted that it’s a priority to encourage women to expand their role in politics, public life and wherever decisions were made.
In her opening speech, the Serbian speaker, Maja Gojkovic, wished a warm welcome and a creative day to the participants, placing a strong emphasis on the importance of the topic they would be dealing with in working groups and panel debates.
“The National Assembly has recognized the need to strengthen gender equality, which more than two years of the Women Parliamentary Network’s operations amply testify to. In the past 12 months, the female MPs have worked very hard to bring women together, step up cooperation with local self-governments, boost economic empowerment and fight violence. What I believe to be one of the key initiatives in this respect is a regional network of South-East European (SEE) women parliamentarians. Another admirable result of the WPN’s efforts is a women’s network in the Vojvodina assembly, and more than 60 local councilwomen’s networks,” stated the Serbian speaker.
Madam Speaker Maja Gojkovic went on to say that women’s rights constituted an integral part of universal human rights and, under all international treaties, they had to be guaranteed, respected and protected. “It took us a lot of work to involve more women in politics. I need to remind you that in the year 2000 a mere 12,4 percent of the Serbian parliamentarians were women, while now 84 have taken up their seats, accounting for slightly over a third. The ratio has made it possible for Serbia move up to the respectable 26th position on the Women in National Parliaments list,” Gojkovic said. 
She went on to specify that aside from her post of the Serbian speaker, female parliamentarians headed eight out of 20 parliamentary committees. Women are also at the helm of the national delegations to the OSCE and CoE parliamentary assemblies, the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), the Francophonie, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Parliamentary Dimension of the Central European Initiative (CEI). Gojkovic said it was very important that Serbia has created a harmonized legislative and institutional framework in the area of gender equality, and that it’s high on its list of priorities to encourage women to take part in political and public life, wherever decisions are made.
Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Michael Uyehara welcomed the participants, and said it was a pleasure for him to support such an important issue on behalf of the OSCE. The OSCE official was pleased to see the progress Serbia had made in involving women in politics, and stressed that for his organization gender responsive budgeting was a topic of exceptional importance.
Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic also addressed the conference, and an advisor to the Serbian deputy prime minister in charge of gender equality, Branka Draskovic, spoke on behalf of the cabinet.
After the opening and introductions, MP Stefana Miladinovic, a coordinator of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, 
presented an overview of the results her organization had achieved since the last conference. Her peer, also a WPN member, Dubravka Filipovska, listed the goals of the Third National Conference, designed to integrate gender equality into local budgets.
Three panels were organized by the end of the conference for the participants to discuss the following topics in three working groups: Gender responsive budgeting at the local level and the role of local gender-equality mechanisms and councilwomen’s networks; Gender responsive budgeting at the national and provincial levels, and the scrutiny of budget execution in the gender-equality context; and the Role of the Women’s Parliamentary Network in the process.
In order for the attendants to get a grasp of the purpose of the conference, they were handed a leaflet to help them answer the following question: “What is Gender Responsive Budgeting and How to Implement it in Practice?”
Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is the application of a gender analysis on the budget of a state, a province or a local self-government, taking into consideration the effects of budget re-allocations on the lives of men and women in a society. It’s not about separate budgets for men and women, but rather a question of whether the existing re-distribution of resources suits the needs of women and men alike.
Gender Responsive Budgeting is also a strategic approach, where the allocation of resources to specific policies, measures and programs might boost gender equality and multiple potentials of women and men to allow for growth, and improve the quality of everyday life.
Gender Responsive Budgeting makes it possible to answer the question if women and men enjoy equal access to resources, equal roles in decision making and equal benefits from the use of resources.
One of the most efficient ways to implement gender responsive budgeting is to integrate gender perspectives into the entire budget cycle – from the budget planning, through execution to reporting. It is vital to include the GRB into the budget instructions used in the budget planning process, which is why it’s closely linked to the program budgeting.
After the debate, the conclusions made by the working groups were read out, together with the closing remarks presented by MP Marija Obradovic, a member of the Women’s Parliamentary Network of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. 