Government of Timor-Leste

The Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) with the support of UNDP’s Strengthening Early Recovery for Comprehensive and Sustainable Reintegration of IDPs (SERC) project provided a sports field to the community of Delta III, Comoro.

In the inauguration event, on September 20^th, Jacinto Gomes de Deus, Secretary of State for Social Assistance and Natural Disasters, said that the construction and rehabilitation of this and similar infrastructure projects are paving the road towards peace and development. “Through the use of this sports facility the community of Delta III is going to have a place to promote equality and to ensure unity and friendship of the people living in this area”, he stated.

The Delta III sports facility was completed recently, following a period of approximately seven months of consultation with youth and other community groups about the conflict.  The multi function sports field, measuring 16 metres by 28 metres, and incorporating basketball, volleyball and futsal facilities, will benefit 1357 people, 85 of which were former IDPs. Since the beginning of 2010, a total of 8 projects have been completed by SERC and MSS and handed over to the communities, with an average cost of $27,000 per project.

In addition to the Secretary of State for Social Assistance and Natural Disasters, the opening ceremony was attended by the Director-General for Youth and Sports, José Luis Oliveira, UNDP Gender Advisor, Annie Serrano, and SERC Project Manager, Paul Tyndale.