Circular No. 191/2009/TT-BTC guiding the management and use of funds for gender equality activities and activities promoting the advancement of women

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for managing and using funds for gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement

and activities for the advancement of women

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Pursuant to Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on State Budget;

Pursuant to Decree No. 70/2008/NĐ-CP dated June 4, 2008 of the Government detailing implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Gender Equality;

Pursuant to Decree No. 48/2009/NĐ-CP dated May 19, 2009 of the Government stipulating measures to ensure gender equality;

Pursuant to Directive No. 27/2004/CT-TTg dated July 15, 2004 of the Prime Minister on enhancing activities promoting women's advancement at ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and provincial and central city people's committees;

The Ministry of Finance issues guidelines for managing and using funds for gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement as follows:

Section I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and Objectives

These Circulars guide the content and amount of expenditures, budget preparation, budget allocation, management, utilization, and settlement of accounts for funds for gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement at agencies and units.

Article 2. Sources of Funds for Activities

1. Funds for gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement include: state budget funds, voluntary contributions from organizations and individuals, and other lawful sources of income.

2. Funds for gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement at agencies and units that utilize state budgets shall be allocated within their annual state budget estimates according to the State Budget Law, guiding documents of the Law, and these Circulars.

3. Units not utilizing state budgets shall apply the regulations stipulated in these Circulars to fund gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement, with such funding being self-financed by the unit. For enterprises, this expenditure may be included in costs according to the Corporate Income Tax Law and its guiding documents.

PART II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 5. Contents and expenditure levels

These Circulars provide guidance on certain specific contents and expenditure levels for gender equality activities and activities promoting women's advancement as follows:

1. Expenditure for drafting normative legal documents and social advocacy activities related to policies and laws on gender equality and activities promoting women's advancement. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations governing the management and use of state budget funds to ensure work on drafting normative legal documents.

2. Expenditure for information dissemination, education, and communication on gender and gender equality includes:

a) Expenditure for publicizing through mass media outlets. The expenditure level shall be implemented according to contractual agreements between the publicity agency and the mass media outlet.

b) Expenditure for issuing publications and promotional materials, carried out according to current state regulations on procurement and asset purchases to maintain regular operations of state agencies with state funds.

In the case of issuing Women's Advancement Newsletters, where authors of articles are experts or experienced officials in gender equality: remuneration and allowances for those responsible for publication, manuscript preparation, and printing oversight... shall be applied according to current regulations on remuneration.

c) Expenditure for organizing legal knowledge contests. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on project planning, management, utilization, and settlement of accounts for legal awareness and education activities.

d) Expenditure for disseminating laws and policies related to gender equality. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on the management and use of funds for legal awareness and education activities.

e) Expenditure for organizing meetings of various types of clubs including: document fees, instructor training, rental of conference halls, sound equipment (if applicable), drinking water... Content and expenditure levels shall comply with current regulations on travel expenses and meeting organization costs for state agencies and public service units.

3. Expenditure for organizing mid-term and final reviews of gender equality work and women's advancement work; meetings to commend and honor women and exemplary models in implementing and ensuring gender equality. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on meeting organization costs for state agencies and public service units.

4. Expenditure for organizing training sessions on gender, integrating gender perspectives; professional training for gender equality and women's advancement work. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on training and professional development for state civil servants.

5. Expenditure for directing and supervising the implementation of national strategies, policies, programs, plans, and goals on gender equality, measures to promote gender equality, and women's advancement. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on budget preparation, management, and utilization of funds to ensure policy, strategy, planning, and program implementation supervision.

6. Expenditure for rewarding collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in gender equality and women's advancement work. The expenditure level shall comply with the Law on Competition and Rewards and its guiding documents.

7. Expenditure for organizing seminars, roundtable discussions, and exchanges on gender equality and women's advancement work. The expenditure level is as follows:

- Reporters: VND 200,000 - 300,000 per report;

- Chairpersons of meetings: VND 150,000 per person per session;

- Secretaries: VND 100,000 per person per session;

- Participants: VND 70,000 per person per session;

- Refreshment expenses for delegates: The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations of the Ministry of Finance on travel expenses and meeting organization costs for state agencies and public service units.

8. Expenditure for monitoring the implementation of gender equality laws; expenditure for surveys, learning exchanges, and experience sharing domestically and internationally on gender equality. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on travel expenses for state agencies and public service units.

9. Expenditure for overtime work. The expenditure level shall comply with current regulations on payment for night work and overtime for civil servants, public officials, and employees.

10. Expenditure for supporting women's activities, including:

a) To organize activities for women to create a favorable environment for female cadres to train and develop, such as: The competition movement "Women actively studying, creatively working, building happy families"; the competition movement "Good at national affairs, responsible for family affairs"; flower arranging, cooking contests, sports and cultural performances on Women's Day on October 20th and International Women's Day on March 8th... Depending on the content and scale of each case, the head of the unit shall specify the content and expenditure level for these activities based on the allocated budget and current state spending regulations.

b) To support female officials, civil servants, and employees when participating in training and capacity building while bringing children under thirty-six months old. The content and expenditure level shall be implemented according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

11. To inspect and review legal normative documents in the field of gender equality and advancement of women. The expenditure level shall be carried out according to the current regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice guiding the management and use of funds to ensure the inspection of legal normative documents.

12. Other expenses serving activities for the advancement of women such as purchasing books, newspapers, newsletters, printing, office supplies... based on valid invoices and receipts in accordance with current regulations and approved by the competent authority before implementation, serving as the basis for finalizing the budget.

Article 4. Budget preparation, allocation, and settlement

For funds to implement state management activities on gender equality: Agencies and units shall base their budget preparation for gender equality activities within their regular expenditures on their assigned functions and tasks according to the Law on Gender Equality and related guiding documents. Additionally, this Circular provides further guidance on budget preparation, execution, and settlement of funds to ensure the operation of the Committee for Women's Advancement established in agencies and units as follows:

1. Preparation of budget estimates:

Annually, at the time of preparing the budget (before July 20th of the previous year), the Committee for Women's Advancement shall base its budget preparation for women's advancement activities in the following year on the agency or unit's plan; based on the expenditure content and levels specified in this Circular, it shall prepare the budget for women's advancement activities and submit it to the financial department of the agency or unit for consolidation into the agency or unit's budget submitted to the competent authority according to the State Budget Law and related guiding documents.

Article 16. Settlement of State Budget Funds for Support

a) Based on the budget allocated by the competent authority, primary budget units have the responsibility to allocate the allocated budget to subordinate budget units.

b) The head of the budget-using agency or unit has the responsibility to ensure funding for women's advancement activities according to the announced budget.

3. Accounting and settlement of funds:

Funds for women's advancement activities are consolidated into the annual budget settlement of the unit under administrative management expenditure content; accounting is done according to the Chapter, type, clause, section, sub-section as stipulated in the current State Budget Manual.

Annual settlement reports of budget-using units and primary budget units need to separately explain the expenditure content for women's advancement activities.

Section III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 5. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of signature and replaces Circular No. 04/2005/TT-BTC dated January 10, 2005, issued by the Ministry of Finance, guiding the budget for women's advancement activities in ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and provincial and municipal people's committees directly under the central government.

During implementation, if there are difficulties, agencies and units are requested to report to the Ministry of Finance for guidance on implementation./.