CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)—Putting into place effective mechanisms and measures for gender mainstreaming in northern Mindanao, the Regional Development Council (RDC)-10 through the Regional Gender and Development Council (RGADC)-10 together with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) held the first Region 10 GAD Budget Forum to local government units (LGUs), November 15.
To further guide LGUs in making their GAD 2021 accomplishment report, and plan and budget for 2022, Rosena Sanchez, independent GAD consultant of PCW, cited the elements of a gender-responsive program or project.
These include the (1) participation of women and men in problem identification, (2) generation or use of sex-disaggregated data (SDD) in the analysis of the problem, (3) gender analysis to identify gender issues that the proposed project must address, (4) GAD in goals, objectives, outcomes or outputs, (5) strategies and activities match identified gender issues;
(6) Gender analysis of designed project, (7) gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation system that would capture GAD results, (8) requirement of SDD, (9) commitment of resources to address the gender issues, and (10) congruence of project GAD agenda with that of agency.
In empowering women, Sanchez said there should be an improvement in the physical condition of women and girls, and greater access to resources, services and facilities.
There should also be equality as to how females and males are socially constructed, women should also be treated as agents actively involved in the development process, and there should be a balance of power between men and women.
In accomplishing the GAD report, the Project Implementation, Management, Monitoring and Evaluation (PIMME) should be used to identify how much of the total budget of the attributed project or program can be reported.
Sanchez added that the ultimate goal of government agencies and offices is to go beyond 5% of the GAD budget, “making the entire budget gender-responsive.”
On GAD planning and budgeting (GPB), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) National Capital Region (NCR) Cluster Head Alvaro Fabon, Jr., who is also a PCW GAD resource pool member, said LGUs should formulate annual GPBs within the context of their mandates.
It should also be integrated in the regular activities of the LGU. He further added that the development, allocation, and utilization of the GPB should be in accordance with Joint Memorandum Circular 2013-01.
“Gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that can improve, when fiscal policies and administrative procedures are structured to address gender inequality and women’s development needs. When properly dones, one can say that gender budgeting is good budgeting,” Fabon said.
Samples on completing the GAD accomplishment report as well as program or project proposals were also provided during the forum to keep the LGUs on track on the completion of the GAD requirements of their respective offices. (RTP/PIA-10)
