Introduction:
The Program is part of an overall Pacific regional ADB-funded pilot project entitled Integrating Gender Issues into Government Budgets and Policies, whereby a team of international consultants from the Universities of South Australia, Adelaide and Ireland has been contracted to work with the two Pacific Island countries of Samoa and the Marshall Islands. In the Marshall Islands, the Ministry of Finance with the full involvement of the following Ministries - Education, Health, Internal Affairs, and Resources & Development, spearheads the project. The lead agency also works with the local NGOs, such as WUTMI and the National Youth Council. The primary goal of the pilot project is to develop and apply a methodology that integrates a gender perspective into public expenditure management, which is economically, politically, and culturally appropriate for the Marshall Islands. In the Marshall Islands the project will seek to improve the status of women in the Marshall Islands by fostering budgetary and policy practices that encompass a gendered perspective.

The Mentorship Program:
The program took place in Adelaide, the capitol of SA Government, which was meant to precede a public expenditure/gender responsive budgeting session in Brisbane; however, the Brisbane workshop was cancelled by ADB/Japan donor. Thus, the Adelaide program was revised to include a planning session with ADB rep (12/9-10) following the mentoring segment (12/3-6). The program aimed to sensitize the team leaders from the two governments to the gender responsive budgeting processes of the SA Government, and to mentor the leaders in planning the implementation of gender responsive budgeting. The RMI team had chosen to address the teen pregnancy issue as an area of focus in its implementation scheme.

The sensitization portion of the program included the following activities:

1. a luncheon meeting with the Honorable Stephanie Key MP, the Minister for the following portfolios - Social Justice, Housing, Youth, and the Status of Women;
2. briefing sessions with the Social Inclusion Initiative unit of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the Status of Women unit, and the Youth Office, and with two NGOs - SACOSS (South Australian Council of Social Service) and YACSA (Youth Affairs Council of South Australia);
3. one-on-one briefing sessions with respective mentors from the Premier and Cabinet Dept. (Marie Maddison), the Status of Women unit (Ione deBrum), and the Risk Management and Performance Review unit of the Department of Treasury and Finance (Erma Myazoe).

The planning sessions included joint planning with the UniSA and the Samoan Team leaders, with UniSA mentors and country Team leaders, and with the Team leaders themselves. At these sessions presentations were made by the country teams of first their rough drafts and then their more refined drafts. The refined drafts were in powerpoint presentation format.

The Briefing Sessions:
The first one was with the Social Inclusion Initiative unit (Liz Wilson), a new initiative of the new Government, which is meant to target government budgets toward pressing social issues. The issues identified are Homelessness, School Retention, and Illegal Drug Use. The unit supports a Social Inclusion Board established by the Premier but reports to the Premier through the Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC). The Social Inclusion Board reports to the Social Development Cabinet Committee.

The second one was with the two NGOs - SACOSS (Pam Simmons) and YACSA (Michelle de Cean).

• The SACOSS is the umbrella agency for all NGOs, and it operates under a framework for the relationship agreed upon between the Department of Human Services and NGO community service providers. The Framework addresses the following the theme of Working Together, the Strategy to arrive at the theme, the shared Principles, Distributing of Resources, Contracting, Performance Monitoring, Strengthening Skills, recognition of Peak Bodies (NGOs), and Links to Planning and Advice. SACOSS provides socio-economic analysis and submits revenue and budget recommendations to the Government.
• The YACSA is the umbrella NGO for youth in South Australia and is responsible for liaison and cooperation with government youth services and policy makers, and for advocacy to State and Federal governments on the range of matters which affect the lives of young people in SA. It has its own published Youth Policy Platform which addresses Youth Sector Network Support, Industry Support and Development, Training and Youth Participation Support.

The third visit was with the government's Status of Women Office (Head's name is Carmel O'Loughlin). The Office coordinates the Status of Women Program, which includes the Women's Information Service and the Women's Advisory Council. The Office works with Government offices to ensure the interests of women are taken into account when policies are being developed, and recommends to the Government about the best way to respond to the major concerns of women. The Office is the primary source on women policies and its director reports directly to the Minister for the Status of Women. The 2000-1 Women's Statement addresses the Status of Women Program and addresses the following areas: Women, Education and Lifelong Learning; Women, Employment and Economic Development; Women, Rural and Regional Communities; Women, Culture, Lifestyle and the Environment; Women, Health and Wellbeing; Women, Justice and Safety; Women and Community; Across Government; and Porfolio Contact Officers.

The fourth visit was with the government's Youth Office (Head's name is Stephen Blight), and the youth age ranges from 14-25. The Office aims to challenge, empower, and promote young people, and its stated mission is to initiate, advocate and facilitate policies and strategies that create opportunities for positive outcomes for all young people in South Australia. Mr. Blight focused his presentation on the Active8 Premier's Youth Challenge, a government initiative that aims at providing SA youth with the opportunity of becoming active in their local community life through their participation in a range of challenges that will promote self-reliance, self-confidence and community service. Each program under this Initiative involves a group of 40 young people committing two years for in-school youth or one year for those not in formal education in community service and training opportunities for experiential learning. The program is supported by $4.4 millions budget for 4 years and numerous partnerships from other governmental and non-governmental organizations and agencies.

My One-on-One Mentorship Program:
My mentor was Ms Rosemary Ince, the Director of Cabinet Office, who is located in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Ms Ince introduced me to two other women in the Department - Ms Karen Parr of the government board and committees database unit and Ms Jan ___ of the Office for the Commissioner for Public Employment. I also sat in the second portion of Erma Myazoe's mentoring session, which was with Ms Elizabeth (Libby) Moran of the Department of Treasury and Finance.

The advice of Ms Ince is that focus on one area of improvement is very important and that progress takes time. Practical involvement and integration as in a good database program and a family friendly employment policies and procedures are good strategies for addressing gender related improvements. An effective approach to gender responsive budgeting could be to establish and finance a special initiative that is cross Ministerial and cross-cutting in nature and fully supported by a special unit. A transparent and accountable government can be addressed by a Cabinet Office that promotes a good database and community awareness and outreach. For more details on the work of her office, the related website can be accessed, if requested.

A handbook on Government Board and Committees - Guidelines for Agencies and Board Directors was provided by Ms Parr of the database unit of the Cabinet. Furthermore, a glance of their computerized data with respect to boards, committees, memberships, and related data was very impressive. Percentage of membership with respect to gender can be easily accessed. The terms of members, their status and history can also be accessed easily. The amount of funds allocated annually to boards and committees is around A$8 millions. Thus, auditing of such funds and performance evaluation are facilitated by a good system of policy guidance and good database.

Ms Jan provided a copy of the Strategic Human Resource Management Framework for the south Australian Public Sector of the Commissioner for Public Employment. The framework looks at human resource management within eight "key result areas" which are: A Planned Workforce, Quality Staffing, Responsive and Safe Employment Conditions, Managed Performance, Planned Human Resource Development, Protection of Merit and Equity, Continuous Improvement, Monitoring and Reporting. Under Responsive and Safe Employment, the following were discussed - family friendly employment and flexible working arrangements. Such arrangements support women in employment.

My mentorship with Ms. Ince is well appreciated. It is understood that this relationship will continue via emailing, as time allows.

Planning Sessions:
There were three planning levels - an internal or country planning sessions, regional planning with the University, and a regional one with ADB. The results of these sessions are reflected in the proposed continuation of the pilot project in a second phase for next year, and in the planned activities for the two respective countries for the rest of this initial pilot phase or year 1

Submitted by Marie L Maddison