Section 4. Mandate. -

The NEDA, with the assistance of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, shall ensure that the different government departments, including its agencies and instrumentalities which, directly or indirectly, affect the participation of women in national development and their integration therein:

1. Formulate and prioritize rural or countryside development programs or projects, provide income and employment opportunities to women in the rural areas and thus, prevent their heavy migration from rural to urban or foreign countries;

2. Include an assessment of the extent to which their programs and/or projects integrate women in the development process and of the impact of said programs or projects on women, including their implications in enhancing the self-reliance of women in improving their income;

3. Ensure the active participation of women and women's organizations in the development programs and/or projects including their involvement in the planning, design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation thereof;

4. Collect sex-disaggregated data and include such data in its program/project paper, proposal or strategy;

5. Ensure that programs and/or projects are designed so that the percentage of women who receive assistance is approximately proportionate to either their traditional participation in the targeted activities or their proportion of the population, whichever is higher. Otherwise, the following should be stated in the program/project paper, proposal or strategy;

   1. The obstacle in achieving the goal;

   2. The steps being taken to overcome those obstacles; and

   3. To the extent that steps are not being taken to overcome those obstacles, why they are not being taken.

6. Assist women in activities that are of critical significance to their self-reliance and development.