On April 30, 2025, FIDA Ghana hosted a stakeholder meeting at Tomriek Hotel to analyze the 2025 budget allocation for the Domestic Violence (DV) Fund. Discussions focused on ensuring adequate funding for material support and medical care for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.”

Analysis shows the budgetary allocation and disbursement patterns of the Domestic Violence (DV) Fund under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), with a particular focus on the 2025 budget.

2. Key Findings

2.1 Budget Allocation – 2025

• The DV Fund received only 0.01% of the total Goods and Services allocation of GHC 2,778,046,033 to MoGCSP in 2025.
• The DV Secretariat did not benefit from the GHC 1,600,000 capital expenditure allocation, indicating that no shelters will be constructed in 2025.

2.2 Historical Allocation Trends (2021–2024)

• Budget allocations to the DV Fund have been consistent annually, without interruption.
• However, increments in allocations have been irregular, culminating in a severe budgetary cut of 87.34% in 2025 compared to previous years.

2.3 Disbursement Patterns

• 2021: funds allocated but were not released.
• 2022: Full allocated amount was disbursed in bulk, funds not requested for were sent back to Government chest.
• 2023: 68.5% of allocated funds were released.
• 2024: Only GHC 800,000 out of GHC 2,735,743 was released, representing 29.24%.

2.4 Institutional and Strategic Gaps

• No evidence of ring-fencing budget allocations by state implementing partners was found.
• There is no documented resource mobilization strategy to increase funding into the DV Fund.

2.5 Development Partner Support

• While development partner support to the DV Secretariat exists, it remains limited in scale.

3. Conclusion
The Domestic Violence Fund continues to face critical challenges in budget allocation and disbursement. Despite consistent annual budget allocations, the lack of reliable fund releases, absence of capital investment, and weak strategic planning hinder effective operation and impact. The severe reduction in the 2025 allocation marks a particularly concerning development, especially given the unmet needs in domestic violence response infrastructure and services