US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2008

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002008 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/PPD: MOONEY, MACINNES, GAFFNEY 
DEPT FOR NEA/RA KEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KWMN, PGOV, KDEM, KPAO, KU 
SUBJECT: DEMOCRACY SMALL GRANT PROPOSAL FOR GENDER 
BUDGETING STUDY IN KUWAIT 
 
REF: STATE 91641 
 
1.  Embassy Kuwait requests an NEA Democracy Small Grant of 
$25,000 to sponsor a gender-budgeting study to be carried out 
by the Kuwait Economic Society. 
 
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THE PROBLEM 
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2.  Women, who do not have the right to vote, have little 
opportunity to influence policy in Kuwait, and women's rights 
activists point to overwhelming apathy as one of the greatest 
obstacles in their path to equality.  Many of those who 
oppose women's rights hide behind the high standard of living 
enjoyed by all Kuwaiti citizens; these critics feel Kuwaiti 
women have no need to gain political equality to improve 
their situations because they experience no suffering and 
want for nothing. 
 
3.  Recognizing that a direct push for political rights does 
not appeal to many Kuwaiti women, women's rights activists 
now hope to use the issue of economic inequalities to gather 
support for reforms from conservative women.  They are 
attempting to draw attention to economic inequalities to 
demonstrate to Kuwaiti women that their lack of political 
rights has far reaching consequences.  By highlighting the 
ways in which the disenfranchisement translates into economic 
disadvantages for women and their children, women's rights 
activists hope to raise awareness and interest among more 
conservative women.  Activists hope that presenting women 
with evidence that they are not receiving their fair share of 
economic benefits from the government will energize women to 
agitate for a voice in that government. 
 
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THE PROJECT 
----------- 
 
4.  To help develop this new strategy for gaining support for 
political rights for women, Embassy Kuwait requests an NEA 
Democracy Small Grant (DSG) to sponsor a gender-budgeting 
study to be carried out by the Kuwait Economic Society.  The 
DSG would fund a gender-sensitive analysis of the most recent 
available Kuwaiti budget, and the publication of that 
analysis.  Embassy Kuwait believes the study will bolster 
claims by women's rights activists that lack of a voice in 
politics translates into concrete economic disadvantages for 
women and their children. 
 
5.  Gender-budgeting (GB) is a method of examining the 
government budget to determine its different impacts on men 
and women, and can be used to gender-analyze macroeconomic 
policy.  GB initiatives reflect the growing move toward more 
open, participatory, and responsive systems of governance; 
since 1985, 20 countries have used GB techniques as part of 
their budget development process.  GB initiatives bring the 
issue of gender equity in resource allocation to the 
attention of legislators, and analyze the extent to which 
budgets reflect the different roles that men and women play 
in the economy.  Both women and men contribute to the 
economy, but are neither equally distributed across sectors 
nor equally remunerated for their labor.  For example, 
women's unpaid domestic labor and reproductive work maintains 
the social framework and the future labor force, but is 
rarely formally recognized as a contribution to the economy. 
 Aiming to influence budget decision-making, GB initiatives 
propose resource re-allocations to close gender gaps and to 
address the unmet needs of women and girls.  Women's rights 
activists will share the results of the GB study with 
parliamentarians and use the findings to advocate for gender 
equality in budget allocations. 
 
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THE PLAYERS 
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6.  The Kuwait Economic Society (KES) was established in 1970 
to encourage scientific research to contribute to economic 
development in Kuwait.  The KES cooperates with foreign and 
international organizations to further its objectives of 
economic liberalization.  The KES is a force for much-needed 
reform of the Kuwaiti economy and is one of the Embassy's 
best economic contact organizations.  The KES hosts monthly 
seminars to discuss economic and social developments in 
Kuwait, as well as bi-annual conferences addressing key 
economic issues such as the WTO, privatization, and the oil 
industry.  Most importantly from the perspective of this 
project, the KES regularly participates in the legislative 
process pertaining to the economy; the National Assembly 
consults with the KES on draft laws dealing with economic 
issues. 
 
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THE PLAN 
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7.  The KES estimates it will take 6 months to complete the 
study.  They envision using a nine-person team to perform the 
budget analysis: 1 team leader/coordinator, 1 outside 
consultant (recommended by the World Bank), 6 local analysts 
to gather information and statistics, and 1 administrative 
assistant to provide office support.  The information 
gathering and administrative work will all be done by local 
staff; the outside consultant will spend approximately 1 
month in country gathering and analyzing the data.  The 
consultant will return once the report is completed to 
present the results. 
 
8.  Post requests a grant of $25,000 to cover costs 
associated with this project.  The Kuwait Economic Society 
will provide and pay for the local staff necessary for 
information gathering and support.  The Democracy Small Grant 
will cover the costs of the outside consultant brought in to 
perform the budget analysis.  The cost breakdown is as 
follows: 
 
Initial assessment 
Consultant Fee: $12,600 ($450/day for 28 days) 
Round-trip airline ticket to Kuwait: $1500 
Lodging and M&IE: $6944 ($248/day for 28 days) 
 
Follow-up visit to present results 
Consultant Fee: $2250 ($450/day for 5 days) 
Round-trip airline ticket to Kuwait: $1500 
Lodging and M&IE: $1240 ($248/day for 5 days) 
 
Total estimated cost for the consultant is $26,034.  The 
Kuwait Economic Society has committed to make up the 
difference between the Democracy Small Grant and the cost of 
the project. 
URBANCIC