The JRCT Gender Budgeting Project is a multi-disciplinary research project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to support the implementation of gender budgeting in Northern Ireland. This project brings together researchers from across Ulster University, in the Departments of Accounting, Social Policy and Criminology, who are working in partnership with civil society representatives from the Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group

By combining research with grassroots advocacy, the project aims to increase awareness of gender budgeting among civil society, the civil service, public bodies and Government Departments. The project involves empirical research with a range of stakeholders, analysis of policy documents, research on international best practice and economic analysis of specific policy areas to help determine the impact of gender budgeting.

Personnel

Ulster University research team

• Professor Joan Ballantine, Department for Accounting, Finance and Economics
• Dr Michelle Rouse, Lecturer in Criminology
• Professor Ann Marie Gray, School of Applied Social and Policy Studies, and co-director of ARK
• Aoife Mallon, Research and Engagement Associate
• Kellie Turtle, Research and Engagement Associate
• Dr Angela O'Hagan, Scottish Women's Budget Group and WISE Centre for Economic Justice (GCU)

Northern Ireland Women's Budget Group (NIWBG) team

• Lynn Carvill, Chair, NIWBG
• Alexandra Brennan, co-ordinator of NIWBG
• Liz Law, member of NIWBG

Training

Gender Budgeting Training Pilot (May - June 2023)

This training pilot included three gender budgeting training sessions that were delivered to women’s sector organisations. The modules included: Introduction to Gender Budgeting, Demystifying the Budget Process and Gender Budgeting Global Examples

Gender Budgeting general training (2024 - 2026)

After the successful completion of the gender budgeting training pilot, general gender budgeting training was delivered to organisations across the voluntary and community sector (VCS).

Train the Trainer (2024 - 2026)

Those who completed the gender budgeting training were invited to take part in train-the-trainer training, to equip them to deliver their own gender budgeting workshops.

Publications

• Gender Budgeting Working Paper 1: What does the literature tell us? Lessons for Northern Ireland (NI).
• Gender Budgeting Working Paper 2: Case Study: Apprenticeships in Northern Ireland.
• Gender Budgeting Working Paper 3: Gender Audit of the Northern Ireland Programme for Government 2016-21.
• Gender Budgeting Working Paper 4: Developing Gender Budgeting in Northern Ireland: Civil Society Training Pilot Evaluation Report.

Additional resources

Gender Budgeting Series: The Gender Lens in Action (video)

Gender Budgeting Series: An introduction to the 'Gender Lens' (video)

Gender Budgeting leaflet

Engagement

• Northern Ireland’s first Gender Budgeting Pilot
  • The JRCT Gender Budgeting Project has been working closely with Derry City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC) to develop the first gender budgeting pilot in Northern Ireland
• Between 2023-2025, knowledge exchange roundtables on gender budgeting were held with the following organisations:
  • Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY)
  • Equality Commission Northern Ireland (ECNI)
  • Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC)
  • Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI)
  • Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA)
  • Local Government Staffing Commission (LGSC)
  • Commissioner for Older People Northern Ireland (COPNI)

Events

JRCT Gender Budgeting Project: End of Project Conference

• On Wednesday 17th June 2026, the Gender Budgeting Project team held an end-of-project conference in Ulster University to reflect on 7 years of research and impact on gender budgeting in Northern Ireland.
• The Minister of Finance delivered the opening remarks to the conference, followed by a keynote speech from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and closing remarks from the project’s funder, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
• Two panel discussions took place during the conference which included:
  • Panel 1: Gender Budgeting in Local and International Governance (speakers included representatives from the Department of Finance, Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service, Derry City and Strabane District Council and the OECD)
  • Panel 1: Gender Budgeting in the Community (speakers included representatives from the Women’s Resource and Development Agency, Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network, Stroke Association and Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network).
• There were approximately 70 people in attendance and attendees included representatives from the public sector, government Departments, voluntary/ community sector, health Trusts and local government.
• Responses to the post-conference survey showed that 100% of attendees felt that gender budgeting has the potential to improve budgeting in Northern Ireland and 100% of attendees felt that gender budgeting would be useful to their organisation going forward.

Other past events:

• Launch of Working Paper 4: Understanding what, why and how: An Evaluation of the Gender Budgeting Training Pilot. 5 December 2023.
• Launch of Working Paper 3: Gender budgeting in a culture of gender-neutral policy making. Friday 10 March 2023, 9.30-noon, Belfast Campus, Ulster University.
• Tackling Gender Inequalities: The Role of Gender Budgeting. Thursday 25 February 2021, 10.30am-noon, via Zoom.
  • This event focussed on the findings of this gender budgeting project and shared the results of discussions held with a range of stakeholders, analysis of policy documents and economic analysis of specific policy areas. The event also discussed linked ongoing research on gender budgeting in Northern Ireland. Watch a video of the event here.