The governments of Timor-Leste and Portugal evaluate the plan to build an Integrated Rehabilitation Centre
The Government of Timor-Leste, represented by a technical team from the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion (MSSI - Portuguese acronym) and by the Director-General of the Planning Strategy Office, together with a team from the delegation of the Government of Portugal, discussed, between January 31st and February 2nd, 2023, at the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, in Dili, the plan to build an Integrated Rehabilitation Centre (CRI - Portuguese acronym).
The project aims to provide integrated care for children, youth, and women facing gender-based violence, living in vulnerable situations, and with difficulty accessing justice.
For three days, the two countries governmental teams assessed the needs and feasibility of constructing the CRI in the municipality of Ainaro.
Before this activity, in January, the Portuguese delegation, accompanied by the Director General of Solidarity and Inclusion, Florêncio Pina Diaz Gonzaga, visited the site in the Municipality of Ainaro, where the Integrated Rehabilitation Centre should be built. The land has four hectares, and the groundbreaking ceremony should take place next March, with the expected presence of the Portuguese Minister of Employment, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho.
The technical team also visited some active organisations in supporting victims of gender-based violence, namely the Foundation of the Sisters of Nossa Senhora de Fatima and the Uma Mahon Maria Tapo in the Municipality of Bobonaro, the Don Bosco Oratory Youth Communications Forum Foundation, the National Rehabilitation Centre of Becora, the Casa Vida, in the Municipality of Dili, and the Klibur Domin Foundation, in the Municipality of Liquiça.
The MSSI team included the General Director of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Florêncio Gonzaga; the General Director of Administration and Finance, Rui Manuel Gago Exposto; the National Director of Inclusion and Community Reinsertion, Amândio Amaral Freitas; the National Director of Protection of the Rights of People with Specific Conditions, Mateus da Silva; the Head of the Planning and Institutional Development Study Office, Gil da Cruz; the Head of the Cooperation and Partnerships Unit, João Caimbra; and also the Head of the Protocol, Communication and Public Relations Unit, Silvia Verdial da Silva Lopes.
The Portuguese delegation was comprised of the General Director of GEP, José Luís Albuquerque; Vice-President of the Directive Council of the Social Solidarity Institute, IP, Catarina Marcelino; Director of the Welfare and Shelter Unit of Casa Pia, IP, Raquel Ferreira Afonso; and the Director of the Education and Training Unit of Casa Pia, IP, Carla Gil.
