To: Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries Bureau Directors
Directors of Services, Centers and Heads of Units Regional Directors
Schools City/Division Superintendents All Others Concerned

1. With reference to Joint Circular No. 2012-01, Calendar Year (CY) 2012 by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and specific policy guidelines on Gender Mainstreaming and in particular, Executive Order (EO) No. 273 on Approving and Adopting the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development (1995-2025), Magna Carta of Women and the General Appropriations Act (GAA) which require government agencies, state universities and colleges (SUCs), government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units (LGUs) and other government instrumentalities to formulate their annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and Budgets, these guidelines on the utilization of GAD Budget and other requirements would serve as reference to all GAD Program implementers of DepEd.
2. The annual GAD Plans and Budgets (GPBs) shall be guided by the desired outcomes and goals embodied in the Magna Carta of Women and other relevant laws, particularly the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international commitments. The GPBs are to be reflected in the Annual Work and Financial Plan of concerned offices or units and are formulated alongside other programs and projects during the planning and budgeting schedules.
3. Specifically, the GAD program developers and implementers shall observe the following guidelines:
   1. The GAD Plans incorporating programs, projects and activities (PPAs) must be issue-based resulting from gender analysis and research ensuring that different concerns and issues of both women and men are equally addressed in the GPBs. All GAD PPAs shall be subjected to detailed evaluation using the Harmonized GAD Guidelines and PCW’s evaluation criteria for PPAs;
   2. The GAD Focal Point System members or central and field GAD coordinators shall take the lead in the preparation of the GPB; monitor the implementation and the results of the PPAs and submission of accomplishment reports to schools division/city superintendents (SDSs) or regional directors (RDs), copy furnished the Staff Development Division-Human Resource Development Service (SDD-HRDS) which is the GAD Coordinating Unit of the Central Office (CO); and
   3. The existing sex-disaggregated data in the unified information system (UIS) or the Basic Education Information System (BEIS) shall be used as basis for planning, budgeting and policy formulation.
4. The costing or allocating budget for GAD Plans may be in the form of a separate GAD fund to support the PPAs; as integrated in major programs and projects (PPAs); or as counterpart fund from the official development assistance (ODA) for ODA-funded projects. It is understood that the GAD Budget does not constitute an additional budget over an agency’s total budget appropriations nor a separate five percent (5%) taken from the total agency budget is readily available. The approved issue-based programs, projects and activities arising from research and gender analysis, determine the annual GAD Budget.
5. In determining what can or cannot be charged to the GAD Budget, the primary consideration is the gender issue being addressed by a program or activity. If gender issue is clear, the expenses may be charged to the GAD Budget. The following are items which can and cannot be charged to the GAD Budget:
   1. What can be charged to the GAD Budget?
      a.1 Approved PPAs included in the PCW-endorsed DepEd GAD Plan with detailed budgetary expenditure requirements
      a.2 Capacity Development on GAD
      a.3 Activities related to the establishment of enabling mechanisms which support GAD efforts of agencies, e.g. GAD Focal Point System and VAW Desks
      a.4 Salaries of agency personnel assigned to plan, implement and monitor GAD PAPs on a full time basis, following the rules in hiring and creating positions. This provision does not apply to those who were given extra assignment on GAD and are already regular employees. Overtime work rendered in doing GAD PAPs may be compensated through a compensatory time off, following the government accounting rules and regulations
      a.5 Programs to address women’s practical and strategic needs, provided these have been previously approved by DepEd Central Office and the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and are clearly reflected in the annual GAD Plan and Budget
      a.6 Consultation workshops to gather inputs for GAD Plan and other GAD mechanisms and processes
      a.7 Professional fees and honoraria of external GAD experts for trainings and related activities
      a.8 Development, printing and dissemination of information and education campaign materials which support GAD PAPs
      a.9 Women’s Month activities which are clearly aligned to the yearly theme determined by the PCW Board and GAD advocacy
   2. What cannot be charged to the GAD Budget?
      b.1 PPAs which are not in the DepEd GAD Plan and not endorsed by
      PCW
      b.2 Personal services and honoraria of GAD Focal Point System members and other GAD employees assigned to do GAD work
      b.3 Physical, mental and health fitness including purchase of equipment, recreation and social activities, religious and cultural projects, construction expense, supplies and materials for general use, study tour, Christmas and year-end celebrations and meetings, except if these can be justified as clearly addressing specific gender issues.
6. The submission, review, and endorsement of Agency GAD Plans and Budgets shall be guided by the following:
   1. All the GAD units of the Central Office (CO), bureaus, services, offices/units, regions, divisions, districts and schools shall formulate their annual GPBs within the contexts of their mandates and the budget cycle.
      (copy of the Annual GAD Plan and Budget template enclosed). All GAD Program Coordinators/Implementers shall submit the GPBs to the GAD Coordinating Unit, Attention: SDD-HRDS, DepEd Central Office, Pasig City for review, evaluation and consolidation as DepEd National GAD Plan.
      This shall be endorsed by the GAD Focal Point Chairperson or designated Co-Chair to PCW for evaluation and eventually endorsement to the DBM.
   2. Upon receipt of the approved PCW National GAD Plan DepEd shall ensure its incorporation in the Department’s overall work and financial plan and the Annual Project Procurement (APP) Plan.
   3. All approved GAD PPAs for implementation by the proponents shall be endorsed to the CO, regional and division offices. As needed, the DepEd may seek assistance of PCW, national agencies and local government units (LGUs)/other oversight agencies, civil organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs) and other gender experts for implementation, and in tracking key result outputs and outcomes of the GAD PPAs.
   4. Consistent with gender mainstreaming strategies, the GAD indicators shall be integrated in the existing monitoring and evaluation system.
7. The guidelines on the Reporting of GAD PPAs are as follows:
   1. For all GAD PPAs conducted, including those funded from ODA, the GAD Central and Field Focal Points or Coordinators shall submit accomplishment reports to the CO GAD Coordinating Unit. These accomplishment reports shall be part of the annual DepEd accomplishment report and budget request justifications for GAD for the succeeding financial year.
   2. Accomplishment reports shall contain brief summary of the reported programs, projects or activities showing how gender issues are resolved, relevant program statistics; accompanying policy issuances, and actions taken on the Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) or other COA findings, if any. Please refer to Enclosure Nos. 1, 2 and 3 for the sample GAD Plan and Budget, Guide in completing the GAD Accomplishment Report Template and Sample GAD Accomplishment Report, respectively.
   3. The PCW shall assess the actual accomplishments of agencies on GAD and prepare the Annual Integrated GAD Accomplishment Reports for submission to Congress, the Office of the President, copy furnished DBM and Commission on Audit (COA).
8. The foregoing guidelines shall take effect immediately and shall be observed in the current and future planning and budget cycles.
9. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

Encls.: As stated
Reference: None

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
FUNDS
PROGRAMS
PROJECTS
POLICY
REPORTS

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