LocationsUNDP Global Dialogue on Public Finance and Tax for Gender Equality
January 17, 2024
Event Details
06 - 08 February 2024
UTC + 3
Istanbul, Türkiye
Achieving gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 requires substantive reforms in current economic structures. Taxation and fiscal policies can perpetuate inequalities and reinforce gender norms, but they can also play a crucial role in shaping gender equality and power dynamics. An increasing number of countries are working to better understand the relationship between the SDGs, gender equality, tax and fiscal policies, and to conduct structural reforms towards gender-equal economies.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is providing support to member countries to achieve these common objectives within its flagship EQUANOMICS: Fiscal Policies work for gender equality and the Tax for SDGs initiative.
It is in this context that UNDP is organizing the first Global Dialogue on Public Finance and Tax for Gender Equality, bringing together more than 150 representatives from Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities, civil society, academia, UNDP staff, thought leaders and partners from around 40 countries across the world.
The Global Dialogue will discuss how fiscal planning can contribute to building more equitable societies, while bringing evidence on how gender equality in turn helps leverage tax revenue.
The main objectives of the Global Dialogue are:
- Generate a shared understanding on the interlinkages between public finance, tax and gender equality and the SDGs, featuring expert perspectives, research evidence and case studies.
- Exchange experience on institutional and policy reforms required to implement tax and fiscal policies that support gender equality and expand domestic resource mobilization.
- Identify concrete actions to initiate policy and institutional reforms in participant countries.
Watch the message from UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner in the opening session of the Global Dialogue:
| Date/time | Session | Participants |
6 FEB 8:30 - 9:00
| Inauguration of the dialogue | Achim Steiner, Administrator, UNDP Cindy Quesada, Minister of Women, Costa Rica Raquel Lagunas, Director of the Gender Team, UNDP Thomas Beloe, Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub OiC, UNDP |
6 FEB 9:00 - 10:30
| Framing the Global Dialogue: Public finance at the centre of shaping economies, fostering gender equality and the SDGs Agenda | Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor at Essex University Abdulkadir Muhammed Basheer, Director, Tax Policy Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigeria Toril-Iren Pedersen, Assistant Director, Department for Partnerships and Shared Prosperity Section for Governance and Transparency, NORAD Raquel Lagunas, Director of the Gender Team, UNDP Thomas Beloe, Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub OiC, UNDP |
6 FEB 11:00 - 13:00
| Gender Inequality in Public Finance and Tax Systems | Caren Grown, Brookings Institution Ceren Ozer, Senior Economist, World Bank Sripriya Srivatsa, gender equality and tax specialist, International Centre for Tax and Development. Lekha Chakraborty, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India. Member of the Governing Board of Management, International Institute of Public Finance, Munich |
6 FEB 14: 00 - 15:00
| Impact and benefits of well-designed fiscal policies and tax systems | Memory Zonde-Kachambwa, Executive Director, FEMNET Veronique Herminie, Lead of the ATAF Women in Tax Network (AWITN) Katherine Gifford, Senior Policy Specialist on Gender-Responsive Budgeting, UN Women Ahtesham Khan, Manager of the Tax4SDGs program, UNDP |
6 FEB 15:30 - 17:00
| Examples from practice & group reflection | Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwali, Commissioner General, Rwanda Revenue Authority Radwa Radwan, Technical assistant to the Deputy Minister of Finance for Tax Policy and Reforms, Egypt Afaf Ebrahim, Assistant to the Head of the Tax Authority for International Taxation and E-Commerce, Egypt Jose Luís Semedo, National Director for Budget and Public Accounting. Ministry of Finance and Business Development, Cape Verde Matilda Dimovska, Resident Representative, UNDP Mongolia |
6 Feb 17:00 - 17:20 | Reflections of the day | Anelize Almeida, Attorney General for National Taxation, Brazil Sam Shivute, Commissioner, Namibia Revenue Agency, Namibia Michelle Harding, Senior Advisor, OECD Centre for Tax Policy, and Administration Raquel Lagunas, Director of the Gender Team, UNDP Thomas Beloe, Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub OiC, UNDP |
7 FEB 9:00 - 10:30
| How to embark and conduct fiscal policy and tax reforms | Aroa Santiago, Team Lead on Gender Equal Economies, UNDP Maria Fernanda Valdes, Vice-Minister of Finance, Colombia Luis Carlos Reyes, Director General of the National Directorate of Taxes and Customs (DIAN), Colombia Ahmed Djaffar, Director General, General Directorate of Taxes, Comoros Fariya Mohiuddin, Senior Program Officer, Tax Equity, International Budget Partnership Caren Grown, Senior Fellow, Sustainable Development Center, Brookings Institution |
7 FEB 13:30 - 15:30
| Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities reform: the driving force of welfare states | Raquel Lagunas, Director of Gender Equality, UNDP Mungunchimeg Sanjaa, Vice Minister of Finance, Mongolia Aysha Ahmad Board, Secretary & Executive Director, Legal Services and the Chairperson of the Implementation Committee of Gender Equality Kaduna Internal Revenue Service, Nigeria Dere Jemilat, Head of HR & ICT at the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service and Chairperson of the Gender Equality Committee, Ondo IRS, Nigeria Ana Landa, Global Coordinator of the Gender Equality Seal, UNDP |
7 FEB 16:15 - 17:00
| Reflection on the way forward: Concrete actions for change | Tchoro Seitov, First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Kyrgysztan Megan O’Donnell, Gates Foundation Alexander Klemm, Chief of the Tax Policy Division 2, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF Thomas Beloe, Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub OiC, UNDP Raquel Lagunas, Director of the Gender Team, UNDP |
8 FEB 8:30 - 12:00
| Parallel events:
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8 FEB 12:00 - 13:00
| Presentation of regional planning and closing |
