Govt issues Institutional Grants Standard

Kathmandu, December 12

The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens has developed the Institutional Grants Stadard-2020 to ensure transparency and proper utilisation of grants to be provided by the Government of Nepal to organisations working in the area of the rights of women, children, senior citizens and differently-abled persons.

The objectives of this standard are to coordinate and collaborate with various organisations for the protection, security, rescue, relief, rehabilitation and nurture of needy women, children, senior citizens and differently-abled persons; ensure mobilisation of grants in programmes that help achieve the target set by the MoWCSC; and improve the performance of organisations entitled to the grant.

As per the procedure, any organisation registered with the concerned agency and having at least five years of work experience in the area of women, children, senior citizens and differently-abled persons shall be eligible to receive grants by meeting the prescribed criteria. The organisation wishing to receive grant should not be affiliated to any political party and religious group.

“Any organisation meeting the qualifications stated in this standard shall submit an application to the MoWCSC along with prescribed documents for the grants,” it reads. The documents to be attached with the application include association registration certificate, statute of the organisation, justification of need for grant amount, proposed programme for utilisation of the grant, cost estimate, condition of internal resources and expected outcomes, among others.

The grant amount shall be released to the selected organisations in three instalments on a four-monthly basis. “The grant amount provided to the organisations shall be spent only for the approved programmes. No organisation may spend more than 20 per cent of the total grant on administrative business. Procurement of goods and services shall be made in accordance with the prevailing Public Procurement Act and Rules,” the standard reads.

The organisations are required to operate the programmes in such a way as to benefit the target groups and beneficiaries, while maintaining the accounts of income and expenditures. “If any organisation is found to have misappropriated the grant amount without spending it on target programmes, it shall be disqualified to enjoy the grant in upcoming fiscals and booked for legal action,” it says. However, the standard has not specified the grant amount to be provided to the organisation.

Grant amount shall not be provided for programmes that disturb national unity and cultural and social harmony; promote proselytism and other religious campaigns; benefit limited persons and family members; and are inconsistent with the target policies of the government.

The MoWCSC shall carry out monitoring of the organisations on a regulation basis to ascertain whether they are working as per this standard. “If they are found to be embezzling the grant and not operating the programmes as agreed upon, the agency concerned shall be recommended to initiate action against them under the prevailing laws,” the standard reads.