Bureaucratic Compliance or Technocratic Rigor? Determinants of Gender-Responsive Budget Prioritization in the Local Governments of Nepal

Abstract

Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) has been widely institutionalized in Nepal through constitutional commitments and policies. However, at the local level, gender priorities are often weakly reflected in actual budget allocations. This gap between formal adoption and fiscal practice raises a critical question: What determines whether gender issues receive substantive priority in local budgets? Using survey data from 1,011 elected representatives and administrative officials across 61 local governments in Nepal, this study examines the influence of bureaucratic compliance mechanisms, such as the existence of GRB guidelines and participation in training programs, and technocratic rigor, including the use of sex and caste-disaggregated data and ex post Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) audits on gender-responsive budget prioritization. The results show that technocratic rigor is a stronger predictor of gender issue prioritization than bureaucratic compliance. Local governments that use disaggregated data and conduct GESI audits are more likely to prioritize gender issues in their budget allocations. In contrast, the presence of GESI guidelines and participation in GRB related training did not translate into higher levels of gender issue prioritization. These results indicate that the prioritization of gender issues in local budgeting depends less on formal policy provisions and training and more on the use of evidence and accountability mechanisms within routine public financial management practices.