Ghana's Gender-Responsive Budgeting — Weak Institutionalisation and 0.1–0.5% of the Budget for Gender Equality and GBV (Cautionary Case)

Ghana's 2015 National Gender Policy acknowledged low political will as a reason for slow implementation of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB). An Oxfam backgrounder (2020) finds that the systems needed for GRB are not fully in place: no formal institutionalisation policies, limited official expertise, and little monitoring and accountability.
A South African Parliament / Commission for Gender Equality report (2023) judges that Ghana has made significant progress in implementing GRB, while noting that the systems needed to implement it successfully are not fully realised.
FIDA Ghana, ActionAid Ghana and AWDF tracked the budget over four years and found gender equality and GBV programmes typically receive only 0.1–0.5% of the national budget. The Domestic Violence Fund has received GH₵1–2 million annually; in 2024 it equalled 0.13% of MoGCSP's goods and services allocation, and only GH₵800,000 (29% of the allocation) was disbursed.
At local level, a USAID analysis reports that district assemblies do not budget sufficient resources for gender-sensitive planning and that gender desk officers have limited capacity and high attrition.
No official Ministry of Finance or MoGCSP evaluation was found, so this is documented as a cautionary case from NGO and research sources rather than as an outcome-evidenced model.

Read the full analysis: https://webassets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/GRB_in_Ghana_-_Final_for_Publication_-_10.26.2020.pdf