Paulina Quintao – The State Secretariat for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) is working with the Alola Foundation to provide human rights training to members of the Youth Parliament.
The training specifically relates to the rights of women and women's advocacy.
SEPI general director Armando da Costa said it was the first time SEPI and the Alola Foundation had worked with the National Youth Council of Timor-Leste to empower women to contribute to gender equality.
"Youth participation is very important in promoting gender equality in this country," he said.
"We should instill in advance this mentality." He said the training would help Timor-Leste produce leaders in the field of gender relations in the future. "We are expecting to find a good leader with clear vision on gender," he said.
Alola Foundation executive director Alzira Reis said the participants were taught about human rights, women's rights and advocacy planning. She said knowledge of these areas was essential for women who would be representatives in the districts.
"Our sisters have had training in all sorts of areas however they have been limited in the area of gender which is why we are focusing on this," she said.
Bobonaro young women's representative Tania de Fatima said she was grateful to be invited to take part in the advocacy training program which would make participants more mature and enable them to advocate for other young rural women.
"Problems which both young men and women face in the district of Bobonaro include early marriage, unemployment and also no access to information," she said.
She said the fact that all trainings put on by government and civil society groups were held in Dili presented a problem.
Fatima said she and her fellow participants had received training on reproductive health and the importance of education for rural women. The three-day training was attended by female members of Youth Parliament from all 13 districts and was supported by a $5000 grant from SEPI.