Morocco has done commendable work in gender-responsive budgeting, and the UN and UN-Women are sharing these actions with the world as “an example of GRB,” she said at the opening of an International Conference on Sustainable and Inclusive Financing for Gender Equality.
She also stressed that Morocco remains among the strongest and most powerful partners in gender-responsive budgeting. “Morocco has made history,” she said, praising the Central People’s Bank (BCP) for its commitment to gender finance.
In this sense, Bhatia said that through some innovative instruments, such as microfinance which occupies an important place in the Moroccan financial system, “we can indeed find new ways to include women in the economy.
“Today, we need bold actions, high visibility and concrete and measurable initiatives that will allow us to increase the participation rate of women in the economy to 30% by 2030.”
The inclusion of women through sustainable financing will also lead to stronger human development, which is a priority for both the Moroccan government and the UN, she said, highlighting the need to establish public-private partnerships to anchor human development and economic empowerment of women.
The UN official also noted that over the past three years, the world has witnessed a great regression in gender equality due to the crisis of COVID-19, climate change and conflicts, calling on governments to ensure that women are truly recovering from this situation in order to build stronger and more resilient economies.