PENANG, 14 August 2014 - For the first time the Malaysian government included women as a partner in the Sixth Malaysia Plan (1991-1995), Shariza Kamarudin highlighted in her presentation Gender Responsive Participatory Budgeting (GRPB) – Penang Model: Women’s Participation and Empowerment at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) today.

“In the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), the government stated that effective participation of women was needed in the national development with their knowledge and skills,” she said.

Subsequently a pilot project, Gender Responsive Budgeting, was placed under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (MWFCD) which involved five Ministries: Education, Health, Human Resource, and Rural and Regional Development.

“The Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011- 2015) empowered women to enhance their economic contribution by enabling their full potential and effective participation in the economic and social development of the country,” Shariza told the participants of a two-day KANITA Postgraduate International Conference On Gender Studies 2014.

“These, however, are top-down, involving less of women at grassroot level,” she then added.

She then explained about Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), Participatory Budgeting (PB) and later, Gender Responsive Participatory Budgeting (GRPB), how they empower communities as stakeholders and agents of change in Penang.

“A household survey was conducted in Phase One of GRPB before engaging them in focus group discussions in Phase Two,” she said, adding that a vote on budgets and needs of the residents were conducted in Phase Three before the implementation of the projects in Phase Four.

She explained that residents of flats were empowered to decide on what they deemed as priorities for their community and the projects implemented according to their wishes, whereby they take on more responsibilities for their community.

“In this way, the local administration can save money when residents organised themselves in the low cost flats, caring more about maintenance and the disposal of rubbish,” said Shariza.

The GRPB was conducted at council rental flats for urban poor at the Ampangan Flats and Jalan Sungai Flats in Penang.

Shariza is currently attached to the Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC), a state agency which works towards the transformation of Penang into an advanced and progressive society through the promotion of equality among all women and men, girls and boys regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or socioeconomic background. - Text: Mina Seifi & Yong Check Yoon/Photos: Yong Check Yoon