Women Protection, Peace and Economic Development

The implementation of the 'Women's Protection, Peace, and Economic Development' project in the municipalities of Covalima and Ermera is continuing to make positive progress in supporting women and children at the community level.

During this reporting period, the team has successfully organized a 5-day training and workshop on children’s rights and theater skills for 27 children, followed by a Child Protection showcase with around 650 audience members in attendance. The activity created an engaging platform for children to raise awareness on child protection issues through creative expressions and community dialogue.

The project team have also carried out one-on-one support and monitoring activities for 128 female participants (58 in Covalima and 70 in Ermera Municipality) out of a total of 150 women who have previously attended the training. Through this continued one-on-one support and monitoring activities, most of the women participants have carried out micro-entrepreneurship activities and actively joined and established the savings and loan groups to improve their economic resilience. In addition, several of the participants are mobilizing and encouraging other women, community members, and local leaders to participate in and support these community groups. This demonstrate growing community engagement, women’s leadership, and collective efforts toward economic empowerment and social support within the targeted communities.

Throughthe theater Showcase in PoeteteVila, the children participants and community audience members demonstrate strong enthusiasm in listening to the messages conveyed by the children through their performance. The showcase provided an interactive platform for children to raise awareness on important child protection and rights issues through creative expression. The audiences and community leader also provided positive feedbacks regarding the performance, highlighting the effectiveness of the messages delivered by the children through the characters and storytelling presented during the theater show. The activity contributed to strengthening community awareness and dialogue around child protection. During the  discussions with randomly selected children and audience members, one of the child participant said: "When I joined the theatre training on the first day, I felt scared and lacked confidence. However, during the training, I became more confident and motivated because I saw others participating confidently. My friend’s confident spirit encouraged me to participate until the five-day training was completed. With this enthusiasm, I was able to learn theatre with my friends. The most important thing that makes me proud is successfully performing a theatre show with my friends for the public and seeing my father and other audience members watching while laughing happily and feeling proud".

Besides the reflections shared by the children participants, the head of Poetete Villa village expressed his appreciation for the five-day of training on children’s rights ad theater skills by highlighting that the activity have provided children with valuable knowledge and practical skills beyond what is typically learned in school, especially in understanding their rights, building their self-confidence, and strengthening their public speaking skills which would prepare the children for future leadership roles, including taking the roles as Masters of Ceremony (MCs) during community events. He further added: “The messages conveyed through theater performed by the children served as positive examples for other children, students and the community on how to take care of the environment by properly disposing of waste, how to prevent domestic violence, and also how to combat discrimination against people with disabilities so that they can participate in the educational process, including activities organized within the family and community.”

A 39-year-old female beneficiary from Liho village who participated in the one-on-one support said: “Before attending the training, I did not know how to manage money well and save it to achieve my dreams. However, through this program, I learned and have applied relevant information from the training by making an action plan and joining a savings and loan group, and now I can achieve my goal of developing my business. This program made me very happy because I not only learned during the training, but also continued to receive support through follow-up visits from the team. The helped me think of ideas and stay focused on my action plan to achieve my goals and make changes in my life. On the other hand, the action plan has also helped me respond to difficult situations within my family. Through the implementation of the action plan, I realized that it has reduced my dependence on my partner, because I have started managing the income from the business more effectively to meet the family’s daily economic needs based on priorities. I would also like to share that, following the successful experience of the first stage of my action plan, I have started allocating funds into three categories, namely saving for my children's future education, for business expansion, and  emergency situations. I have also encouraged fellow women in my neighborhood to come together and establish our own saving and loan group.”