Strategy Paper 7 2. Background: Building on the GRB Journey of Nepal Nepal’s GRB journey began with the government’s announcement, in its budget speech for financial year(FY) 2005/06, of its political commitment to adopt GRB in the budget preparation process and system. The Gender-Responsive Budgeting Committee(GRBC) was formed under the chair of the joint secretary and head of the Budget and Program Division of the Ministry of Finance(MOF) to coordinate and speed up the GRB adoption process. It took two years to prepare guidelines, software, forms and a format to apply GRB in the budget preparation process and the budget system. With the active role of the GRBC, the budget was critically analysed on the basis of GRB indicators and criteria. The gender-responsive budget classification is sub-divided into direct responsive, indirect responsive and neutral budget allocations. The budget of FY 2007/08 was announced with these classifications. The GRB tool has been considered as a strategy for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the 12th periodic plan. Since then, GRB has been considered as a strategy for promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. After four years of experience, a GRB guideline was reviewed and refined into the GRB directive in 2011, in application since that year, and which has more details in the indicators, sub-indicators and corresponding scores. In 2012, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration endorsed a GRB localization strategy to apply GRB tools in districts and municipalities(local governments). To institutionalise GRB tools, in 2012 GRBCs were established in all sectoral ministries, districts and municipalities, and focal persons were nominated for GRB and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). Different layers of knowledge and skills were provided to the GRB and GESI focal persons to enable them to take the lead in promoting GRB in the planning and budgetary processes. The GRB system of budget classification was added to all software systems in government planning, budgeting and expenditure tracking, namely: the MOF’s Budget Management Information System; the Line Ministries Budgetary Information System; the Provincial Line Ministries Budgetary Information System; the Sub-national Treasury Regulatory Application(local government); and the Financial Management Information System. In 2020, model GRB guidelines for the provincial and local governments were prepared, and they are currently in the process of implementation. After the declaration of a federal structure and democratic state through the 2015 Constitution, there has been a decentralization of government. This has seen much of the governance system, structural architecture, authority, responsibility and accountability shifted away from central management, and redistributed between federal, provincial and local governments. With these changes, there have been shifts in budgetary priorities connected to the requirements of physical infrastructure and the need to establish federal structures and systems. Nonetheless, GRB tools have been integrated into the budgetary