DILI, 12 october, 2021 (TATOLI) – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and The UN Women launched the USD 100,000, partnership to enhance women’s participation and to promote equal and inclusive participation in the forthcoming elections at national, municipality, and suco levels.
The UNDP-UN Women’s partnership kick-starts with a virtual signing event on 11 October 2021 and runs until 28 February 2022.
Following the statement released by the UN Women stated that the collaboration of UNDP and UN Women will promote equal rights of women and men in political participation via social media and local media channels and promote gender equality norms and transformative attitude towards equal participation in the elections.
Munkhtuya Altangerel, UNDP Resident Representative declares Women’s representation and participation in politics is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and democratic governance: “Despite the remarkable progress in promoting women’s participation in politics at national level in recent years, Timor-Leste still faces many challenges such as deeply ingrained gender stereotype and gender bias, inequitable social and cultural norms, lack of family and community support, limited access to the political network and no adequate support in skills and capacity development,”
“Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has been and continues to be, an indisputable global crisis, with evident socio-economic consequences and public health risks, especially for women. Hence the pursuit of COVID-resilient elections in Timor-Leste is even more critical not only to assure public safety during critical democratic processes but also to strengthen the voice of women and marginalized groups in decision-making positions in the time of recovery” said Ms. Munkhtuya Altangerel, UNDP Resident Representative.
To enhance women’s participation in the elections, UN Women will roll out a leadership training program in Dili and other municipalities to strengthen leadership, communication, networking building, and advocacy for current and aspiring leaders from diverse backgrounds including women with disabilities.
“The training seeks to enhance the participants’ capacity and knowledge to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment and strengthen the use of gender-responsive and transformative leadership principles and practices”
Enhancing women’s participation and representation in public decision-making contributes to amplifying voices of women, center staging women’s needs and aspirations, and improving gender-responsiveness of governance structures.
Promoting women’s participation and representation in politics at both national and sub-national levels is central to the UN’s mandate.
The Head of Office of UN Women Timor-Leste, Nishtha Satyam, stated in her remarks, that Timor-Leste has made some great strides in promoting women’s participation in politics at the national level in recent years. In 2020, 38% of the seats in the National Parliament were held by women which are above the regional average (19%) and the global average (26%).
“As we celebrate these achievements, we must also acknowledge women’s under-representation at other decision-making positions, nationwide. At the suco level, only 21 women (4%) were elected as Suco Chief in 2016,” said Satyam.
She also highlighted the factors that often held the women behind such as the deeply ingrained gender biases, lack of family and community support, limited access to the political network, and limited opportunities to develop and sharpen their skills.
“UN Women is committed to filling some of these gaps to enable more meaningful participation and representation for women in the upcoming elections in Timor-Leste.” said.
This partnership is part of the COVID-Resilient Elections in Timor-Leste (CORE-TL) Project, funded by the Japan Government.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
