President of the RAEOA Authority and ZEESM-TL appreciates community participation in the PNDS Program

President of the Oecusse Ambeno Special Administrative Region Authority appreciates the community’s work implemented through PNDS

“I saw a school on top of the hill, and I asked myself, where did the sand and the stones come from? Where did the water come from? If there was no community participation, it would be very hard to use a small grant to carry out this work that you have done”.

This expression of admiration was made by Mari Alkatiri, President of the Oecusse Ambeno Special Administrative Region Authority (RAEOA) and Special Zone for Social Market Economy (ZEESM), during the inauguration of a PNDS Program project to add new classrooms in Fatu-Bijae Sub-Village, Bobocasse Village, Pante-Macassar-Oecusse (22/04/2015).

The President of the RAEOA Authority and ZEESM, Mari Alkatiri, congratulated the 8 village communities from the Pante-Macassar Administrative Post who participated in this inauguration ceremony, because it demonstrated that the communities really understand the aim of the PNDS Program, and they participated in the entire process, and therefore with a small grant the communities were able to utilize available resources to develop their village.

Virgilio Dedeus, the Village Chief of Bobocasse, who also represented all of the Village Chiefs in the Pante-Macassar Administrative Post, in his speech expressed his deep gratitude for the PNDS Program, because this program shows that the Government is reaching out to resolve development programs that communities are facing at the grassroots level.

Virgilio de Deus, Bobocase village head, in his speech thanked the Government for implementing PNDS program in the entire Country

At this opportunity the community leaders from the Pante-Macassar Administrative Post also   expressed their appreciation to the Fifth Constitutional Government that was led by the Former Prime Minister/Current Minister for Planning and Strategic Investment, His Excellency Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, who issued the Government policy to implement the Programa Nasionál Dezenvolvimentu Suku (PNDS), and suggested for the Sixth Constitutional Government to maintain this national program because it truly responds to the demands of the communities in the villages and sub-villages.

Bobocase Village has two sub-villages, namely Fatu-Bijae Sub-Village and Bihala Sub-Village, and this village implemented the first phase of the PNDS Program that provided a grant of $45,000 to this village (comprising an Operational Grant of $5,500 and Infrastructure Grant of $39,500).

The community in Bobocase Village managed to use this infrastructure grant to carry out three PNDS Program projects, namely: The construction of two new classrooms in the Fatu-Bijae Sub-Village school at a total cost of $17,357.50, rehabilitation of clean water channels at a total cost of $18,577.70 and finally the construction of public toilets for students at a total cost of $3,565.00. These projects were directly implemented by the community using a rotating system of labor.

The Operational Grant was used for training, meetings, payment of incentives, administration and other costs, the Infrastructure Grant was used to buy construction materials and to pay workers who contributed to the implementation of the PNDS Program project.

PNDS is a community program and it is hoped that through this program the community will obtain benefits and feel the impact of the projects that they implement themselves.

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