Paulina Quintao – USAID is providing numeracy training to female producers through its Advance Agriculture program as most women in rural areas still don't know how to count in order.
USAID Gender and Youth specialist Sebastiana Pereira said the agency was working with the Institute of the Development Support for Enterprise (IADE) to provide business and numeracy training to women's groups.
She said the training began in June and was assisting women to become more financially aware and improve their numeracy skills.
One common problem facing women is that although they recognized the amount when shown a sum of money, they often had difficulties reading and writing the numbers, Pereira said in a presentation at a Breakfast Club for journalists at Hudi Laran in Dili.
She said numeracy issues were not just restricted to rural areas, with women in cities also experiencing the same issues, making it difficult to access credit.
She said the USAID team has identified many obstacles that made it difficult for women in rural areas to access business opportunities, including poor roads, lack of transport, personal security concerns and literacy problems.
She said the finance literacy training aimed to increase women's numeracy ability when counting money.
As part of the program, a system of savings and loans will be established in rural areas and producer groups would receive assistance to link with supermarket companies in Dili.
She said there were currently 100 female producers from 34 groups attending business management training at IADE.
Meanwhile, Member of Commission F (responsible for health, education, culture, veteran affairs and gender equality) MP Eladio Faculto acknowledged that many women till did know how to count numbers.
He said it was a complex problem and that even those who knew how to read and write still sometimes found it difficult to express numerical amounts in writing. He said this sometimes caused problems particularly during transactions involving large sums of money.
He said the government had a clear policy aimed at eliminating illiteracy in Timor-Leste by improving communities' writing, reading and numeracy skills, it had not yet been effective.
Meanwhile, member of the Timor-Leste Parliamentary Women's Group (GMPTL) MP Brigida Correia said the parliament had called on the Central Bank to provide funds to support people to develop their business.
As part of the criteria to access credit groups or individuals must provide assurances such as a land certificate proving ownership.
However, she said this was difficult for women as in Timor culture land ownership was passed on through male family members. She said Parliament would look at the draft land law to ensure that women also had equal rights to the land.
Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/13880-usaid-provides-finance-training-to-women-s-groups