SoSPE collaborates with Paz e Desarollo in the promotion of timorese women
On 23 April, 2013 the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality, Idelta Maria Rodrigues, in collaboration with the international agency Paz e Desarollo organised a capacity building programme for for Timorese women in the areas of economics and politics. The ceremony took place at the building of the Secretariat of State for Promotion of Equality (SoSPT), Government’s Palace.
“This agreement will be a role model and will facilitate the cooperation between SoSPT and Paz e Desarollo, through dialogue, exchange of experiences, organisation and joint participation in activities at the regional, national and local level. We will promote consultations and exchange of training materials, all of this with the objective of reaching gender equality and capacity building for women, “Idelta Maria Rodrigues said”.
The partnership between SoSPT and Paz e Desarollo in Timor-Leste started in 2010. The agreement was extended by two more years. Along the three initial years, the international agency has been conducting activities relating to promotion of gender equality.
“Their action is essentially to implement the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of discrimination against Women (CEDAW) at the local level, with the objective of promoting the participation of women in politics and reduce violence against women. They carried out capacity building activity in the area of economic in twelve sucos belonging to four distritcs, notably Baucau, Lautém, Manatuto and Viqueque. The programme was a success and benefited women, particulary in the areas of the fight against illiteracy, administration and management, and capacity building for women so that they can develop their sucus”, the Secretary of State Idelta Maria Rodrigues added.
The Regional Representative for Asia of Paz y Desarollo, Noelia Monge Vega, stated that “In the implementation of this programme, Paz e Desarollo counts on the support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID)”, which works in capacity building for women in Asia, notably in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Programme coordination takes place at the building of Paz e Desarollo for the Asian Region and started in September 2010. It will be completed in September 2014. We have started our activities in Timor-Leste since some seven years and SoSPT has been our strategic partner helping us to attain our objective of capacity building for women and promotion of equality.”
