SHAH ALAM, Oct 5 — Community spaces and public toilets are among public facilities that should be assessed based on the Gender-Responsive Budget (GRB) Manual to ensure local councils fulfil resident needs, said Sepang Municipal Council (MPSepang) president Ani Ahmad.
She said the GRB Manual allows local councils to evaluate plans and allocations based on various groups’ needs and user experiences.
“For example, when planning or upgrading parks, bus terminals and public toilets, preparing facilities for senior citizens and building and maintaining pedestrian paths and lighting should be given focus.
“Evaluation can also be done based on data, user experience studies, and community feedback so benefits from allocations may be experienced on a wider scale by women, men, children, senior citizens, and disabled people,” she told Media Selangor.
She added that among challenges in executing a GRB is building understanding in the workforce, ensuring sufficient data availability, and integrating GRB analyses when planning a budget.
She also said MPSepang is looking into upgrading its online portal to allow disabled folk access to digital services in an easier, more user-friendly manner.
Ani said periodic monitoring is also important to allow improvements based on real results from programmes and services.
On September 24, state executive councillor for women empowerment and welfare Anfaal Saari said MPSepang and the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) would use the GRB Manual to ensure gender perspectives are considered in budget planning and distribution and the use of public resources.
She said the manual is among the state government’s efforts to ensure policies and development plans are done more inclusively, with gender perspectives systematically integrated into governance instead of being limited to programmes for women.
