There has been growing recognition that gender equality promotes stability and fosters growth, including in the economy. Many member states have thus committed to adopting a combination of policies and instruments to help tackle gender inequalities. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a tool that promotes the goal of gender equality by integrating a gender perspective into all budgets and accounting to better support women and men as beneficiaries in projects/programmes.

The purpose of a gender responsive budgeting is to promote accountability and transparency in fiscal planning and management, as well as to increase gender responsive participation in the budget process.

The Action Plan is intended as a voluntary tool to inform and assist member states in drafting their own gender responsive budget. The Action Plan can be used to support national and local governmental initiatives on gender budgeting. It is recommended that the Action Plan is used in parallel with training or workshops on gender budgeting for public officials.