PCW Memorandum Circular No. 2014-04: Preparation and Online Submission of FY 2016 Gender and Development Plans and Budgets

Date	29 September 2014
To	All Heads of Executive Departments, Agencies, Bureaus, Agencies, Offices, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Government Owned and/or Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), Legislative and Judiciary Branches, Constitutional Bodies, and All Others Concerned
Subject	Preparation and Online Submission of FY 2016 Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and Budgets and FY 2014 GAD Accomplishment Reports and Other Matters

A. Preparation and Submission of FY 2016 GAD Plans and Budgets and FY 2014 GAD Accomplishment Reports

In anticipation of the 2016 National Budget Call by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) reminds all concerned government agencies on the early preparation and submission of their FY 2016 GAD Plan and Budget (GPB) and FY 2014 GAD Accomplishment Report (GAD AR) in accordance with the guidelines set under PCW-NEDA-DBM Joint Circular 2012-01.

To facilitate the GAD planning and budgeting process, the PCW shall be implementing the online submission, review and endorsement of GPBs and GAD ARs through the Gender Mainstreaming Monitoring System (GMMS), an online system for managing GAD profiles, GPBs and GAD ARs, as well as for generating GAD-related reports.

As such, in the preparation and submission of the FY 2016 GPB and FY 2014 GAD AR, agencies shall observe the following:

1. The GPB shall be formulated within the context of the agency’s mandates. In relation to this, agencies are urged to consider the relevant provisions of the Magna Carta of Women (MCW), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Women’s Empowerment, Development and Gender Equality (Women’s EDGE) Plan, 2014-2016, and other gender- or women-focused laws and plans of government. For National Steering Committee on Women, Peace and Security (NSCWPS) member agencies and PAMANA-implementing agencies, the preparation of their GPBs and GAD ARs shall also be guided by the PCW-OPAPP Joint Circular 2014-01 on the integration of women, peace and security (WPS) programs, activities and projects (PAPs) in the GPB;

2. GAD Focal Point Systems (GFPS) shall lead the preparation of the annual GPB and GAD AR. In view of the online submission, review and endorsement of GPBs and GAD ARs through the GMMS, agencies shall designate a GFPS member(s) who shall serve as their GMMS focal person(s). Line departments and central agencies required under the Joint Circular 2012-01 to review GPBs and GAD ARs of its constituent or attached units shall also designate a GMMS reviewer(s) and endorser. The review to be conducted by central offices and line departments on the GPBs of their attached agencies, GOCCs, bureaus and regional offices shall focus on the alignment of the GPB with the overall GAD agenda of the department or central agency. Line department and central offices shall be notified by email once a constituent unit submits its GPB and GAD AR through the GMMS so that these can be reviewed immediately by the central office or line department GFPS and then forwarded to PCW for review and endorsement to DBM;

3. SUCs shall observe the same process of submission through the GMMS. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) or its designated regional offices or gender resource centers, which shall also be included in the GMMS registration form to be submitted by CHED to PCW, shall review the submissions of SUCs and forward the same to PCW;

4. GOCCs shall prepare their GPBs and GAD ARs in accordance with their budget cycle and submit the same through the GMMS to their central office or line department for review, or directly to PCW if they are not attached to any line department. The cost of implementing GAD PAPs in the GPB to address the gender issues of the GOCC and its clients/beneficiaries shall be sourced from the GOCC’s corporate operating budget;

5. PCW shall not review GPBs and GAD ARs of government units lower than regional offices (i.e., district and field offices). Regional offices are required to consolidate and integrate the gender issues and corresponding PAPs of such constituent units in their GPBs and GAD ARs to be submitted and reviewed by their central offices following the process outlined in paragraph A.2 above;

6. The PCW-NEDA DBM Joint Circular 2012-01 allows the attribution to the GAD budget of a portion or the whole of the budget of an agency’s major programs using the Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG) tool to gradually increase the gender-responsiveness of government programs and budgets. Agencies that will attribute the cost of implementing major programs and projects to the GAD budget shall submit PDF copies of the results of their HGDG assessment and other supporting documents (e.g project brief, monitoring and evaluation framework or attendance sheets of stakeholder consultations) by uploading such in the GMMS. Agencies are advised to refer to Joint Circular 2012-01 for more details on the process of attribution;

7. Timelines for the preparation and submission of GPBs and GAD ARs:

October 2014	Line departments and central offices, upon receipt of this Joint Memorandum Circular, shall notify their attached agencies, GOCCs, bureaus and regional offices on the GMMS registration and the start of the preparation and deadline of submission of their FY 2016 GPB and FY 2014 GAD AR to the central agency. Agencies submit GMMS registration form to PCW through their line departments or central offices to be given access accounts to the system and begin the preparation of their GPBs and GAD ARs.
November 2014	Attached agencies, bureaus and regional offices submit their annual GPBs and ARs through the GMMS to be reviewed by their respective line departments or central agencies.
November – December 2014	Line departments or central agencies review GPBs and GAD ARs of their constituent units and transmit comments as needed through the GMMS.
January 30, 2015	Deadline of submission of GPBs and GAD ARs to PCW through the GMMS.

8. PCW-reviewed and -endorsed GPBs shall be authenticated by the GMMS with a barcode. Concerned agencies shall print the endorsed GPB for signature of their agency head and submit the signed hard copy to PCW. The PCW-endorsed GPB and reviewed GAD AR shall be included in the agency’s budget submissions to DBM;

9. Agencies are encouraged to read the full text of PCW-NEDA-DBM Joint Circular 2012-01 for additional information on the process of preparation and submission of GPBs and GAD ARs.

B. Agency Requirements for the Online Submission of GPBs and GAD ARs through the Gender Mainstreaming Monitoring System

1. All line departments, attached agencies, GOCCs, SUCs, legislative, judiciary and constitutional bodies, and regional offices shall register to the GMMS for the online submission of FY 2016 GPBs and FY 2014 GAD ARs by submitting the form found in Annex A on or before October 31, 2014. Line departments and central offices shall be responsible for ensuring that their attached agencies, GOCCs, bureaus and regional offices shall register into the system by including the GMMS registration form in the notice they will issue to their constituent units for the preparation of FY 2016 GPBs and F4 2014 GAD ARs, as well as compiling and submitting filled-out forms to PCW.

2. As discussed in paragraph A.2, all agencies and constituent units shall assign a member of their GFPS who is familiar with the GAD planning and budgeting process to serve as their GMMS focal person. He/She shall be responsible for (a) maintaining the agency GAD profile in the GMMS and (b) encoding and submitting the GPB and GAD AR of the agency through the GMMS.

3. In the case of line departments and central offices with constituent units, they shall also assign GFPS member(s) who shall serve as GMMS reviewer(s) and endorser(s) of GPBs and GAD ARs of their constituent units (i.e., attached agency, bureau or regional office). The GMMS reviewer shall receive an e-mail notice from the System once a constituent unit submits its GPB and GAD AR through it. He/She shall be given access to review and input his/her comments to the GPBs and GAD ARs of the agency’s constituent units based on the parameters set in paragraph A.2. The GMMS endorser, on the other hand, is the account user who shall authorize the transmittal of reviewed GPBs and GAD ARs of constituent units for the next level of review in the GMMS. An agency may opt to assign a GFPS member to be the account holder of one or more functions (i.e., as both GMMS reviewer and endorser).

4. In case an agency, bureau or regional office cannot submit their GPB and GAD AR through the GMMS due to exceptional circumstances, they should submit a letter on or before October 31, 2014 to PCW, to be coursed through their line department or central agency, if applicable, stating their reason and their request to submit instead a hard copy of their GPB and GAD AR. PCW shall coordinate with such agencies to ensure the smooth flow of the review process through the GMMS as outlined in item A.2. Agencies or government units that will be allowed by PCW to submit manually shall follow the original process and schedule indicated in item A.7 of this Circular and Sections 7.0 and 8.0 of the PCW-NEDA-DBM Joint Circular 2012-01.

5. GMMS focal persons, reviewers and endorsers must familiarize themselves with the system. GMMS instructional materials may be accessed here starting October 16, 2014.

6. To further clarify the GMMS process, PCW shall conduct a series of GMMS orientation sessions at the PCW office in San Miguel, Manila every Thursday and Friday starting November 6 up to November 28, 2014. November 13 and 14 shall be reserved for participants from agencies without an attached agency, bureau or regional office. Line departments are advised to coordinate with their attached agencies, bureaus and, if possible, regional offices for a cluster orientation on the GMMS. As PCW can only accommodate a maximum of 25 pax per batch at the in-house training in PCW, agencies with larger groups may opt to have their orientation held in their own offices or chosen venue. Agencies may request to have their GMMS orientations outside of PCW on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday from October 16 to November 26, 2014 subject to the availability of PCW resource person(s). Orientation schedules and available slots will be posted at the GMMS page of the PCW website. Please confirm your orientation schedule as PCW will not be accepting walk-in participants.

7. GMMS orientation participants are required to bring a laptop with the latest Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome installed. Agency organizers of orientations outside of PCW must also ensure that an internet connection of at least 2 mbps shall be available in the venue

8. Expenses for the participation to or conduct of the GMMS orientation may be charged against the agency’s GAD budget.

9. For the confirmation of GMMS orientation schedules or other GMMS-related queries, agencies may contact Ms. Gladys Esquibal, Ms. Vicky Atanacio or Mr. Robert Romero at telephone numbers 7351653 or 7354767 loc. 117 or email to sysadmin@pcw.gov.ph.

C. Conduct of the GAD Budget Forum

1. For further clarification on the GAD planning and budgeting guidelines particularly the GMMS process, agencies are reminded and strongly urged to attend the GAD Budget Forum that PCW will conduct in two batches on October 9 and 10, 2014 at the Commission on Audit (COA) Auditorium, Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

2. Advisories on the Forum have been issued earlier. Please visit this page for details.

For guidance and appropriate action.

(Sgd.) REMEDIOS I. RIKKEN
Chairperson

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