On Friday 24 April the Technical Secretariat for the National Village Development Program (ST-PNDS) held a workshop on Gender. The aim of this workshop was to finalize an action plan and a gender inclusion strategy for implementing the PNDS Program across the country.
The PNDS Program Director of Operations, Dulce Guterres Junior, in her speech said that: “This workshop aims to review all of the activities that have been taking place to date, in particular, the participation and inclusion of women in the implementation of the PNDS Program, and the results of this workshop will provide a reference point for finalizing the action plan and gender strategy for 2015”.
Interview with women about participation in PNDS Program
The Acting Director of the National Directorate for Gender Policy Development, from the Secretary of State for the Support and Socio-Economical Promotion of Women, Herminio Xavier, participated in this workshop and was proud of the PNDS Program because this program really stresses the importance of women’s involvement, especially in terms of the capacity building of women so they can be actively involved in the national development process.
No single person is responsible for advancing the development of this nation, but rather everyone is responsible. The PNDS Program is a community program that provides opportunities to everyone to contribute so that they can be involved in the national development process.
Dulce Guterres Junior stated that the PNDS program has made efforts to actively involve women in development, by
Participants discuss about Gender Strategy and action plan
building the capacity of women in villages through the Village Management Teams. This capacity building focuses on developing women’s skills in accordance with their respective roles in the PNDS Program, and these specific skills include capacity building on design issues for the costing of projects, social issues regarding how to organize the community to set village priorities and finance issues such as how to manage village grants with accountability and transparency.
Women have been involved in the implementation of the PNDS Program, especially in the Village Management Team (EJS), as Suku Facilitators, in the Planning and Accountability Commission (KPA) as well as the Operations and Maintenance Team (EOM), and according to PNDS data, women’s participation has reached 33%.
This workshop was attended by the Village Management Teams from the Municipalities of Baucau, Covalima and Liquica, and also Ms. Kathy Richards, the Acting Director of the PNDS Program, as well as the First Secretary of the Australian Embassy, as well as PNDS staff. This workshop finished with the discussion and development of a gender inclusion strategic plan to be adopted during the implementation of the PNDS Program.
