Timor-Leste: Empowering women to lead self-determined lives
The lives of girls and women in Timor-Leste are often characterised by oppression, social exclusion and dependency.
With your donation, you will be supporting local education and protection programmes, as well as Misereor’s global work for women’s rights and equality.
- Asia
Many women and girls in Timor-Leste are unable to live their lives as they choose. This is particularly true if they are victims of domestic violence and have not received any schooling or vocational training. The women’s shelters run by Misereor’s partners offer them protection and legal support. They also help the women to develop their careers or build a life of their own.
With this support, many women experience for the first time what it is like to form their own opinions and express them with confidence. Only in this way can they ultimately take control of their lives according to their own aspirations.
Strong personalities
Expertise alone is often not enough to stand on one’s own two feet – a healthy sense of self-worth is also needed. Women often need to be encouraged in this regard first. The team at the Seraphine Foundation places great emphasis on this approach at its training centre in Lospalos. Floriana is one of the women studying there. She comes from a remote mountain village in eastern Timor-Leste, with no running water or electricity. There, most women’s lives are confined to hard labour in the fields.
For Floriana, the training represents a huge step forward: her dream is to work in an office. Alongside practical skills such as cooking and sewing, she is learning computer skills and the English language. The young women receive targeted training in speaking freely in front of the group, body language and maintaining eye contact. This takes some effort on their part at first. But step by step, the participants are rising to the challenge.
On the path to self-employment
Cecilia is also making plans for the future: after completing her tailoring course at the CTID training centre, she will continue to receive support and have access to microloans to help her get off to a successful start. Her aim is to set up her own small workshop specialising in handbags and made-to-measure items. The strong sense of solidarity amongst the 50 or so course participants gives her support and renewed motivation.
Education means protection
Many women have lived in isolation in their villages, have been devalued, and have been subjected to domestic violence. When they first arrive at the shelters, they are full of fear and have little self-confidence. Leopoldina, for example, after years of oppression, found refuge with her five children at the shelter run by our partner organisation FOKUPERS in Dili. In this safe environment, she was able to find peace. With professional legal advice and therapeutic support, she has paved the way for herself and her children to a life free from violence.
A society in transition
Women such as Floriana, Cecilia and Leopoldina prove that family and financial independence need not be mutually exclusive. When women earn their own income and make their own decisions, the way they are viewed within their families and village communities also changes. They become role models for a fairer society.
Here’s what our local partners have already achieved:
- 16 graduates successfully set up their own small businesses or joined together to form production groups.
- Around 60 women and men completed a recognised vocational training programme.
- 47 children and young people took part in intensive holiday and remedial courses.
When making a donation by bank transfer, please quote the reference ‘S63707 Timor-Leste: Empowering Women’ in the payment reference field. This lets us know which project is particularly close to your heart; your contribution will be channelled as a general donation towards this work and Misereor’s overall global mission.
To ensure that your donation has an impact in the long term, Misereor uses a small proportion for important administration an related tasks. This way, we make sure that projects are selected carefully and implemented responsibly and that their effects are regularly monitored. Should it not be possible to use your donation as planned, we will use it where it is currently needed most.
Our local partner organisations
Fokupers
Fokupers - The Communication Forum for East Timorese Women has been active as a communication network for women in Timor-Leste since 1997. The organisation works in the field of lobbying and advocacy on women's rights issues and offers concrete help for women and their children who have experienced domestic or sexual violence.
CTID
The Centro Treino Integral e Desenvolvimento Colegio (CTID) in Baucau trains young women from rural areas who are unable to afford secondary school or vocational training. In twelve-month courses, they are qualified for management tasks and entrepreneurial activities in rural areas. The organisation also offers training in hotel and restaurant management.
Seraphine Foundation
The Seraphine Foundation runs a training centre in Lospalos. Vocational training for young adults, especially young women, is essential for ensuring the peaceful, democratic development of the country. The girls and young women who take part in the various courses are either school dropouts or have never been to school.
Miriam Thiel
Donor Communications
- Telephone
- +49 241 442506
- miriam.thiel@misereor.de
Share this page
