Gender-Responsive Budgeting Across the National Budget

Since 2012, Albania's Council of Ministers has formalised gender-responsive budgeting (GRB), requiring ministries to analyse and report budget allocations through a gender lens, with technical support from UN Women. Gender-disaggregated budget data and monitoring reports are published quarterly on the Ministry of Finance and Economy's website.

Ministries analyse and report on budget allocations through a gender lens across sectors including social protection, education, health, agriculture and justice, with quarterly public monitoring reports.

Coverage has expanded substantially: the number of gender-equality programmes tracked in Albania's central government budget grew from 9 to 77, and associated public investment rose from roughly $90 million (2017–2019) to over $803 million (2025–2027). Albania's approach has since been used as a reference model for gender-responsive budgeting initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Most published evidence documents budget allocation and programme counts rather than independently verified outcome changes for women and girls; the IMF's 2023 review and Albania's Open Government Partnership commitments both point to continuing gaps in systematic outcome-level evaluation. Albania has committed to having 90% of ministries and municipalities applying GRB by 2030, which will require stronger outcome monitoring.