Advocacy | Alola Foundation

PROGRAM PROFILE

The advocacy program run by the Alola Foundation is one of the programs that aims to promote women’s rights and strengthen women’s leadership in Timor-Leste. This program not only plays an important role in ensuring the implementation of women’s and children’s rights in Timor-Leste but also plays an important role in achieving the National Action Plan for Gender-Based Violence (RAN-GBV) and international conventions that address women’s and children’s issues, including the Convention Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Convention on Social and Economic Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and Sustainable Development Goals number 5 and 16.

In achieving targets, the advocacy program carries out activities through 2 sub-programs consisting of the Women’s Resource Center and Municipal Support. Some of the main actions implemented include women’s human rights campaigns, preventing and responding to gender-based violence, strengthening women’s leadership, empowering women at national and municipal levels, and facilitating women’s access to information about their rights. This program also collaborates with all programs under Fundasaun Alola.

In the period between 2023-2024, some significant progress has been achieved towards gender equality. In that period, Fundasaun Alola has contributed to increasing the capacity and skills of the younger generation, supporting female candidates in village level elections, increasing public awareness of human rights laws, raising advocacy on issues of women, children and young women. at the national level. In addition to these rights, the advocacy program contributes to strengthening cooperation in gender-based violence referral networks to support victims at both the municipal and national levels.

PREVENTION OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL LEVEL

In 2023, the WRC sub program implemented A Spotlight project on gender-based violence prevention at the school level to address the global challenges of VAWG. The project was funded by European Union (EU) through UN Women with aims of supporting transformative change on the ground to end violence against women and girls. The overall vision of the Spotlight Initiative in Timor-Leste is to ensure women and girls enjoy their right to a life free of violence within an inclusive and gender-equitable Timor-Leste. This program is aligned with Timor-Leste’s “National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence” and the National SDG Roadmap, particularly focusing on SDGs 5 and 16.

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION AT COMMUNITY LEVEL

With the Support from UNFPA through ZONTA project, in 2023, the WRC continue its efforts to prevent violence against women and girls focusing in the community of Liquica Municipality. The aim is to create demand for the available health services at existing health facilities. Liquica Municipality was chosen for the project based on a DHS report indicating that domestic violence in Liquica is at 51%. It is hoped that the project will help reduce violence in Liquica and assist to eliminate violence against women and girls in Timor-Leste.

PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND STRENGTHENING WOMEN AND YOUTH CAPACITY

In 2023, the Secretariat of State and Equality (SEI) granted Fundasaun Alola the responsibility to carry out a project entitled “Promote Gender Equality through Prevention of Gender-Based Violence and Strengthening Women and Youth Capacity”. This project aims to support the implementation of the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence (NAP GBV) for the period 2022–2032, particularly focusing on the prevention pillar.

ALOLA RECEIVED A VISIT FROM MCC DELEGATION TO CHANGE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND GENDER SOCIAL INCLUSION.

On Friday (August 2) last week, the Executive Director of the Alola Foundation, Mrs. Maria Guterres, accompanied by the program advocacy team, received a visit from the MCC Social Behavior Change (SBC) and Gender Social Inclusion (GSI) delegation. The main purpose of the visit was to find out more about the Alola program, especially in relation to GBV, human trafficking and women’s development.

For one hour, the MCC Social Behavior Change (SBC) and Gender Social Inclusion (GSI) delegation led by the GSI Director/WEE-TALENT Project, Mrs. Monica Tejada, accompanied by the Director of GSI-MCA-TL, Mrs. Signi Verdial and the GSI/SBC MCA-TL Specialist, Mr. Aniceto Neves, listened to an in-depth presentation about a little of the Alola program. After that, they also received an in-depth explanation from the Advocacy program manager, Mrs. Maria Evelina about the projects that Alola is running to prevent violence against women, whether in the school or community environment.

Executive Director of the Alola Foundation, Mrs. Maria Guterres, thanked the MCC Delegation for visiting Alola to share thoughts and have in-depth discussions regarding the programs implemented by both parties in their contribution to Timor-Leste’s development.

“I am grateful to the MCC team for visiting and sharing their views with us, especially regarding Social Behavior Change and Gender Social Inclusion, and this meeting will strengthen relationships in order to accelerate change for the lives of women and children,” said Mrs. Maria Guterres, Executive Director Alola Foundation.

In July 2022, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Timor-Leste signed a compact to address the human capital binding constraints to economic growth through projects investing in water and sanitation and education. Implementation of the $420 million MCC agreement as well as an additional $64 million contribution from the Government of Timor-Leste over a five-year period will have a transformative impact on improving the health and education of the people of Timor-Leste.

As a civil society organization working on women’s and children’s issues, the Alola Foundation is ready to collaborate with MCC to achieve Timor-Leste’s goals, improving and changing people’s lives.

Sharing this Article

Share this: