Gender Budgeting Scheme

1. BACKGROUND 

• The achievement of human development is heavily dependent on the development and empowerment of the 496 million women and girls who, according to the 2001 census, account for 48 per cent of the total population of the country. 
•  Women face disparities in access to and control over services and resources 
•  Bulk of the public expenditure and policy concerns are in ‘‘gender neutral sectors” 
•  Implications on women in the above sectors are not recognized or identified 
•  Therefore one of the tools that can be used to promote women’s equality and empowerment is gender-responsive budgeting or gender budgeting as is commonly known in India. 

2. OBJECTIVE 

• To initiate an integrated approach and guide the Gender Budgeting Cells (GBCs) set- up by different Central Ministries/Departments by disseminating the concept, tools and strategy of GB 
• To coordinate and monitor gender budgeting exercises of GBCs and facilitate gender budgeting analysis. 
• To organize workshops to facilitate capacity building and training for various stakeholders including officials of Central and State Governments, PSUs, corporate sector, PRIs and NGOs, etc. 
•  To provide assistance to develop training modules/packages, training material and information booklets and manuals for gender budgeting for all stakeholders 
• To encourage State Governments and PRIs in evolving plans and strategies for undertaking gender budgeting by providing assistance, support and consultancy services for organizing Workshops, Seminars, Training Programmes, etc. 
• To provide assistance to support research studies, surveys, etc to Research Institutes, NGOs, etc for gender budgeting. 
• To pilot action on gender sensitive review of national policies such as fiscal, monetary, environment, trade etc 
•  To pilot action on gender review and gender audit of important legislations 
•  Guide and undertake collection of gender-disaggregated data. 
• Conduct gender based impact analysis, beneficiary needs assessment and beneficiary incidence analysis 
• Collate and promote best practices on gender budgeting. 

3. ELIGIBILITY OF THE IMPLEMENTING ORGANISATION/AGENCIES

The implementing agencies can be the 

•  Social Welfare Department, State Government 
•  Women and Child Welfare Department, State Government 
•  Women’s Development Corporations 
•  State Commissions for Women 
•  Women’s Development Centres 
•  Rural (Panchayati Raj Institutions) & Urban Local Bodies 
•  Voluntary Organizations with three years experience after registration 
•  Universities & UGC approved Institutions 
•  Public Sector Undertakings etc. 

The organization must have adequate experience in implementing women and child related projects and programmes etc. It should have facilities, resources and personnel to implement the project for which assistance is sought. 

4. COMPONENTS  FOR  FINANCIAL  ASSISTANCE 

In order to achieve the objectives of the scheme, financial assistance will be extended to undertake the following activities. The following list is illustrative and not comprehensive of all activities and projects for which the grant will be given. 

• (i) Research including action research, surveys, etc to research institutes, NGOs, etc for gender budgeting. 
• (ii) Develop training modules/packages, training material and information booklets and manuals for gender budgeting 
• (iii) To conduct monitoring activities including gender based impact analysis, beneficiary needs assessment and beneficiary incidence analysis 
• (iv) To monitor the financial performance and physical deliverables in a given sector, i.e. to assess whether the money was spent as planned, what was delivered and to whom. 
• (v) To assess the adequacy of budget allocations to implement the gender sensitive policies and program 
• (vi) To assess the impact of the policy/programme/scheme in a given sector and the extent to which the situation for men and women, boys and girls has been changed, in the direction of greater gender equality. 
• (vii) To organize workshops, seminars, training programmes, conferences etc to facilitate capacity building and training for various stakeholders including officials of Central and State Governments, PSUs, corporate sector, PRIs and NGOs, etc. 

Based on the above , Grants under the scheme will include: 

1. Grants for Research & Documentation 

2. Grants for Training 

3. Grants for Sustained and Combined Research and Training Activities 

The detailed rules will be as follows: 

1. Grants for Research & Documentation 

Grant under this category can be made to an institution or a group of institutions for carrying out a specific rese arch project or surveys, or for the customization and preparation of training manuals, booklets with one or more scholars directing it. The eligibility of the institution/organisation should be such as mentioned in para (3) above. 

• 1.1 The project should be in the name of the Project Director, who should submit it through the head of the institution where s/he is working. The head of the institution shall inform (i) whether a similar proposal was submitted to another organization for financial assistance and, if so, the name of the organization and its observations and (ii) particulars of the projects on which the person whose name has been given as Project Director of the proposed project is currently engaged or is likely to be engaged in the near future. 
• 1.2 Proposals for grants will be self-contained and prepared in accordance with the guidelines given later. (Annexure I) 
• 1.3 The Project Director will submit two copies of the project, complete in all respects. 

The Project Director will enclose: 

• (i) his bio-data in the prescribed proforma, and 
• (ii) a detailed note on the work done so far on the subject and the precise contribution which the project is expected to make to the existing body of information. 

S. No.	Components	No.	Expenditure & Justification
1.	Staff
i.	Project Director	1	Honorarium as per GOI norms
ii.	Project Coordinator	1	Consolidated Pay, equivalent to the minimum pay of Deputy Director, GOI
Iii	Research Officer	As per project justification	Consolidated Pay, equivalent to the minimum pay of Assistant Director, GOI
iv.	Research Associates	As per project justification	Consolidated Pay, equivalent to the minimum pay of Investigators, GOI
v.	Secretarial Staff-Typist @ half of the project period	1	Consolidated Pay, equivalent to the minimum pay of Typist, GOI
2.	Travel Cost		As per GOI rules
i.	Research Officer and Below		By Sleeper II Class Rail fare
ii.	Others		By AC III tier
iii.	Project Director		By air in specific cases and only with prior permission of the Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development
3.	DA Rates		As per the concerned organization’s rates or the GOI rates whichever is less, Typist will be eligible for the GOI group ‘C’ lowest DA rates for half the project period
4.	Printing of Schedules and Report		As per requirement and justification
5.	Purchase and hire of Equipments		As per requirement and justification
6.	Data Processing Charges		Actual Cost
7.	Contingency including Books and stationary etc.		5% of the project cost
8.	Overhead charges including rent, cost to the institute, etc		5% of the project cost. However, in case of UGC approved institutions or an institute wholly supported by Union or State Government the rates as applicable in the institutions.
9.	Seed Money for Project Preparation		Rs. 5,000 lumpsum
10.	Expert opinion fees on the project, mid term evaluation or on the final report (Honorarium)	As per project justification	Rs.1000 per opinion. (Honorarium)

2. Grants for Training

Gender Budgeting is a new scheme which encompasses incorporating a gender perspective and sensitivity at all levels and stages of developmental planning and implementation, and is a means for translating gender commitments into budgetary commitments to meet women’s specific needs.
In view of the importance of Gender Budgeting and in  order  to  disseminate  the concept and tools, one of the key objective of the scheme  is  to  organize  workshops  to facilitate capacity building and trai ning for various stakeholders including officials of Central and State Governments, PSUs, corporate sector, PRIs and NGOs, etc. In order to customize the tools and strategies for different stakeholders, varied and innovative training and dissemination techniques are required. For those outside the government, Gender Budgeting can encourage transparency, accountability and participation and facilitate better advocacy.
The eligibility  of the institution/organization  should be such as mentioned in para

(3) above.

As the aim of Gender Budgeting is to integrate gender perspective at all levels of development, grants under the scheme will be made available for Workshop/Training Programmes at the following six levels:

• a. Panchayat level
• b. District level
• c. State level
• d. Regional level
• e. National level   and

The grants for Training will be given under the following two categories:


1. One time GB Training – Grants under this category will ordinarily be given for training programme proposals for a period of three days at one time. In exceptional cases the period may be extended as the case may be, with proper justification.


2. Sustained GB Training – As Gender Budgeting  is  a  continuous  process  and needs sustained intervention, funds will also be given to organizations/agencies/institutions for conducting a series of  workshops, targeting a particular area/group. In such cases too, funds for conducting one workshop will be given for a maximum period of three days. In exceptional cases the period may be extended as the case may be, with proper justification.

The proposal for training workshops for all the above levels [(a) to (f)] will have the following common guidelines and specific guidelines for each of the above as mentioned in the financial norm has to be followed. The proposals for grants for organizing training workshops will be self-contained and prepared in accordance with the guidelines mentioned below.

1. Grants for workshop/seminar will be made available through the head of the institution organizing it. S/He will agree to:

• (a) arrange the physical facilities ;
• (b) administer and manage the finances received for the purpose :
• (c) arrange ministerial and managerial assistance ; and
• (d) organize the training workshop

2. Proposals for organizing workshops will be self contained and indicate:

• (a) the main topic/theme of the workshop
• (b) significance/purpose  indicating  clearly  the  contribution  which  the  proposed workshop is expected to make especially for the Ministry
• (c) subjects/contents proposed for discussion ;
• (d) level of participants and their number,
• (e) duration ;
• (f) tentative programme ;
• (g) cost estimates (Pl. refer to Annexure II)

The Ministry’s assistance would be limited to 30 participants in case of Panchayat/District level workshop and 50 persons in case of State/Regional and National workshop.

3. Documents to be submitted with the proposal

Institutions/organizations  applying  for  grants  for  organizing  should  enclose  the  following papers:

• (1) Copy of registration
• (2) Latest Annual report
• (3) Latest Audited statements of accounts for three years (Income and expenditure, receipt and payments and balance sheet)
• (4) Memorandum of Association & Rules and Regulations
• (5) Particulars of office bearers
• (6) Brief account of work done by the organization in the field of  women and child development
• (7) List of resource persons and participants with their designation and addresses
• (8) Tentative programme schedule for various sessions
• (9) A note on the usefulness of the Workshop

Ministerial Workshops

The Ministry of Women and Child Development may also organize such capacity building workshops. Further, expenditure on meetings of different committees constituted by the Ministry on gender budgeting issues may also be met under the scheme. Limitation of participants shall not be applicable for the workshops organized by the Ministry.

The Project Sanctioning Committee on case to case basis for national workshops may relax the stipulated conditions for grants and give permission for compering, rapporteuring and translations. In such cases the maximum limit will be Rs. 15, 000/- for a comperer, Rs. 750/- for a rapporteur and translation charges will be as per actuals or GOI rule.

3. Grants for Sustaine d and Combined Research and Training Activities

As mentioned earlier, gender budgeting is a continuous process and there is no single recipe or blueprint for implementing it. In order to build in-country capacity, promote ownership and ensure that gender budgeting is useful in a given situation, sustained intervention both in terms of research and training is required. Therefore grants under this category will be given to organizations/institutions for conducting research as well as for organizing training workshops, targeting a particular area/group. Such proposals involving both research and training will be self contained with proper justification. The proposals for grants under this category will broadly follow the guidelines mentioned under research and training grants separately.

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR  ALL PROPOSALS RECEIVED UNDER  THE GENDER BUDGETING SCHEME

1. Scrutiny and Sanction:

• (i) The Gender Budgeting Cell of the Ministry will scrutinize every project proposal received. If necessary, it may get the opinion of expert(s) on the project and pay a consolidated fee of Rs.1000/- to each expert for the purpose.
• (ii) In the second step, project proposals which are not satisfactory as per the review of the Gender Budget Cell will be placed before the Secretary, MWCD for his comments.
• (iii) The  shortlisted proposals  will  be  placed  before the  Project  Sanctioning  Committee (PSC)  for  its  final  approval. PSC  can  relax  any  of  the  stipulated  conditions  in exceptional  cases  and  also  review  the  norms  after  an  interval  of  three  years.  The members of the PSC will comprise the Secretary (Chairperson), the Additional Secretary &  Financial  Adviser,  the  Joint  Secretary  of  the  Women’s  Bureau  and  the  Joint Secretary, in charge of the Gender Budgeting Scheme.
• (iv) After scrutiny of the project the Ministry may call for any clarification or suggest modifications  therein.
• (v) The Ministry will issue a sanction letter in respect of every approved project.
• (vi) The Ministry will accept no responsibility for any financial  expenditure  or  liability arising out of the project except what has been specifically approved by it and conveyed to the Institution/Organisation through the sanction letter.

2. Condition of Grants:

• (i) The approved grants of the Ministry will be released in two instalments. Sixty percent of the sanctioned grant will be released to the organization immediately after the sanction of the project. However, changes in the schedule of release of grants in specific projects could be made by the Division while sanctioning the project.
• (ii) The second and the last instalment will be paid only after
• (a) the receipt of the final report and its acceptance by the Ministry
• (b) The audited statement of accounts  for  all  expenditure  incurred  together with a utilization certificate is received and is found to be in order, and
• (c) a statement of equipment,  books  etc  purchased out  of  the  grants-in-aid has been received (The organization may have to refund the equipment or with prior permission keep the equipments for organizational use. However, the  equipment purchased out of the grant-in-aid will be the property of the  Ministry which will de cide about its disposal on the completion of the project.
• (iii) The grantee Institution will maintain separate accounts in respect of this grant. The accounts will remain open to inspection to the representatives of the Government of India including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. At the end of the period, the Institution will have the accounts of this grant audited by a Government Auditor or a Chartered Accountant, and supply a copy of the audited accounts, together with a utilization certificate to this Ministry.
• (iv) Any unspent balance out of this grant will be refunded  by  the  Organisation immediately.

3. Additional Funds:

The Institution will not be eligible for grant-in-aid in excess of the sanctioned amount, unless prior approval of the Ministry to that effect has been applied for and obtained.  Full justification has to be provided in such a case. Taking into consideration the merits of the case, the Ministry may sanction with the approval of Financial Adviser/ Secretary, MWCD an additional grant upto 15 percent of the project cost.

4. Re -appropriations:

The Institution may re -appropriate  expenditure  from one  sanctioned  sub-head to another, subject to a maximum of 15 percent in either case within the overall sanctioned amount. Prior approval in such cases is not necessary. All such re -appropriation, however, should be reported to the Ministry.
No expenditure shall, however, be incurred by re-appropriation of savings, on items not sanctioned by the Ministry. Savings  shall  not  be  re-appropriated  for  incurring expenditure on staff that has not been sanctioned by the Ministry.

5. Monitoring:

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has the overall responsibility of monitoring the Gender Budgeting scheme. The  Gender  Budget  Cell  established in the Ministry will review the project reports received from Institutions/Organisations to assess the progress of the project. The release of subsequent instalments will be subject to the satisfactory progress of the project. The quarterly report for long term proposals and the final report of the short term proposals including proceedings of the workshop conducted should cover the following indicators in its report.

• Input indicators: describe what goes on in the project
• Output indicators: describe the  project activity
• Outcome indicators: describe the product of the activity
• Impact indicators: measure change in conditions of the community

The quarterly progress reports of the project should also include a certified statement of expenditure for the ne xt six-month period.

6. Changes in approved project:

The Project Director will report to the Ministry changes he/she makes in the project design and no major change will be made therein unless the prior approval of the Ministry has been obtained.
On a request from the Institution, the Ministry may in exceptional cases, permit the appointment of another Project Director.

7. Extension:

On a request from the Project Director, the Ministry may grant extension of time to complete the project.

8. Termination of grants:

If the Ministry is not satisfied with the progress of the project, or if it finds that these rules are being seriously violated, it reserves the right to terminate its grant-in-aid.

9. Final report:

• (1) Final report of the project will be submitted by the Project Director to the Ministry (ten copies) on the completion of the project period and in no case later than  two  months thereafter.

The Project Director shall also give the report in a CD in MS Word.  This final report which
will be comprehensive enough to serve as a definite record is expected to cover the following points:


A. For Research

• Background
• Objectives
• Project Methodology
• An account of the project including the problems faced (if any)
• Findings and conclusions
• Suggestions/Way  Forward

B. For training Workshops and Seminars

• Background /Need for the Workshop
• Objectives
• An account of the sessions
• Participants  Observation/Feedback
• Way forward for future action and suggestions for policy making
• List of Resource Persons
• List of pa rticipants
• Programme/Agenda of the Workshop
• Evaluation/Feedback  form

(2) The Ministry may, after scrutiny of the final report, request the Project Director to revise it.  If so requested it will be the responsibility of the Project Director to revise the report on the broad lines indicated and to resubmit it within three months. No further grant will, however, be given for this purpose over and above the sanctioned grant.

10. Finalization of accounts:

1. When the project is completed the Institution will submit an audited statement  of Accounts with a utilization certificate for all expenditure incurred, audited by a Government Auditor or a Chartered Accountant, within six months of the date of acceptance/clearance of the project report or termination of the project.
2. The  Institution  will  also  submit  to  the  Ministry  a  statement  showing  the  equipment purchased out of the grant-in-aid, with its price, alongwith the audited statement accounts. For the purpose of this rule, equipment will mean articles costing Rs.500/- or more.
3. Equipment purchased out of the grant-in-aid will be the property of the Ministry which will decide about its disposal on the completion of the project.

11. Conditions for Publication: The Ministry reserves the  first  right to publish the final report of the project financed by it. If it decides to do so, the decision will be communicated to the Project Director alongwith the acceptance of the report.  Such report will be published in the form of a book within one year from the date of acceptance of the report. A royalty of 10 percent on the sale price will be paid to the Project Director/author on the number of copies actually sold. Except in cases covered by the preceding rule, or in cases where the Ministry fails to publish a report reserved for its publication within one year the decision, the Project Director may publish the project report in such manner as s/he deems fit and through such agencies as s/he may choose, after getting permission from the Ministry.  S/He will submit ten copies of the publication free of cost, to the Ministry for its use, immediately on its release. In all publications, which are based on the projects financed by the Ministry due acknowledgement will be made for the contribution of all professional staff working on the project and also for the financial assistance received from the Ministry. The publications will bear the following inscription:

“The project on which the present report is based was funded by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. However the responsibility for the facts  stated, opinions expressed, and conclusions reached is entirely that of the Project Director/ Author and not of the Ministry of Women and Child Development”.

The copyright of all pu blications not published by the Ministry relating to a project shall vest in the author. The Ministry, however, reserves the right to make use of them in any of its publications.

12. Preservation of data:

• The Institution receiving grant-in-aid for a pr oject shall make suitable arrangements for the preservation of the data
• The Ministry, however, reserves the right to demand that the raw data or such part of it as may be specified shall be transferred to the Ministry.
• If the Institution proposes to destroy the data or of otherwise dispose it of, it will do so after obtaining the approval of the Ministry.

13. Project  Proposal:

The project proposals under the scheme shall be received in the prescribed format as mentioned.

The project proposal complete in all aspects as mentioned above shall be submitted to the Joint Secretary, Gender Budgeting, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Shashtri Bhawan, New Delhi 110001 through Registered Post/Speed Post/Courier.

The Organisations are requested to furnish a detailed project proposal for research/action research/surveys/preparation of training manual etc on the format given below. It may also be noted that a well formulated project proposal with proper justification  will  help  the Ministry to process it quickly and also add to the efficiency in its implementation.

For Research Proposals

• I. The title of the Project (in capital letters)
• II. Statement of the problem
• III. A brief overview of work already done in the area of the Proposal.
• IV. Objectives of the project : The objectives should be “SMART.” They should be: Specific: clear about what, where, when, and how the situation will be changed; Measurable: able to quantify the targets and benefits;

Achievable: able to attain the objectives (knowing the resources and capacities at the disposal of the community)

Realistic: able to obtain the level of change reflected in the objective; and


Time bound: stating the time period in which they will each be accomplished.

V. Methodology:

In the light of the objectives of the project the methodology should be clearly defined including the universe of study, sampling frame, sampling procedure, sample size etc.

• i. Proposals not requiring a sample selection should specify their strategy appropriately and describe the rationale.
• ii. For questionnaire or schedule to be used, the following should be indicated :

1. Distribution  of  the  questionnaire  or  schedule  in  different  sections,  e.g. identification data.  Socio-economic data, questions on various themes etc.
2. Approximate number of questions to be asked from each respondent
3. Any scaling technique proposed to be included in the instrument
4. Any projective tests incorporated in the questionnaire/schedule.
5. Approximate time needed for interview
6. Coding plan (whether the questions and responses will be pre-coded or not, whether the coding is done for computer, or for hand tabulation).

For the interview, the following details should be given :

• 1. How are they to be conducted?
• 2. Particular characteristics that interviews must have

VI. Time budgeting: The project should be broken up in suitable  stages  and  the  time required for completion of each stage of work should be specified, for instance, such stages may cover :

• 1. preparatory work, including selection and appointment of staff and their training
• 2. pilot study, if any
• 3. drawing of sample
• 4. tool construction (including their presenting and printing)
• 5. data collection
• 6. data processing (which should include coding, editing, verification, sorting, computer analysis)
• 7. data analysis
• 8. report writing

VII. Cost estimate: The cost of the project is to be estimated in terms of total man-months and the facilities needed and calculated under the following headings:
(Please  refer  to  para  1.4  Items  covered  under  the  grants  while  preparing  the  Cost estimate)

• Staff

Note: These ceilings are for the maximum entitlements. Pro rata deductions could be made in case; the numbers of days are less.  Internal re-appropriations to the extent of 15% of the receiving head will be permissible within the overall sanctioned amount with the prior permission of the administrative division.