The Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS), through the Department of Restoration of Peace and Social Cohesion, in collaboration with the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), allocated small funds to ten local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in order to implement the program for conflict prevention, restoration of peace and social cohesion in Timor-Leste. The event was held on Tuesday, 9th of October 2012, in the MSS hall, in Caicoli, Dili.

The Vice Minister for Social Solidarity, Jacinto Rigoberto Gomes de Deus, said “the implementation of the program for the restoration of peace and social cohesion, is based on the experience gained in the 2007 elections, in the past five years, and in the conflict that arose in East Timor. This was the reason, at that time, which led MoSS and UNDP to work together to create solutions for the conflicts. Now, after the 2012 elections, at a time when there are no more conflicts, we have maintained the cooperation with UNDP in order to support NGOs with small funds, particularly in conflict prevention, ensuring peace and stability in our country. “

“Since the youth are our future leaders, the NGO activities are concentrated in the area of ​​youth empowerment, in order to create awareness on how to prevent conflicts,,” said the Deputy Minister.

The Vice Director of UNDP in Timor-Leste, Noura Hamlazi, reported that “the smaller funds are directed at two issues: strengthening the role of the youth to be leaders in conflict prevention and building awareness and socialization of the martial arts laws.”

Noura Hamlazi added that “with these funds, UNDP continues to provide support to the MSS program for social cohesion, in that conflict prevention is a topic to which we need to continue to attend to and, accordingly, UNDP wants to continue support the MSS. “

The General Coordinator of the NGO, Community Transformation Institute (CTI) in the district of Baucau, Ilídio Gusmão, was pleased with this support, because it facilitated the collaboration between all parties, and the Government, through the Ministry of Social Solidarity and UNDP.

The ten NGOs which benefited from this program were: NGO for the Future, Community Transformation Institute of Baucau, Belun, ETCRN, Forum Peduli Wanita Oecusse-FPWO, ONE district of Lospalos, Ita Bá Pás, TLMDC, Fundasaun Mahein and JPC from Liquiçá.