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Timorese Parliamentarians Ask For More Gender Responsive Budgeting Trainings And Increased Gender Awareness Drive

	Participants to the GRB training posing for a group photograph with the UN and Parliamentary officials and the trainer seated last-right in the front row

Dili, Timor-Leste, 2 December 2008. A two-day Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) training at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dili from 26 to 27 November 2008 offered new insights to marrying the national budget and development.  Participants said they found the training beneficial for themselves in particular and for the nation in general. A Member of Parliament (MP) for Liquica district, Francisco da Costa Jeronimo, said the training was very important because MPs learnt how the gender budgeting provides for the needs of women and men, boys and girls. He said more gender sensitization was necessary for MPs to adequately understand the concept of gender and its importance. Mr. Jeronimo also suggested that more of such trainings should be organised and that they should be extended to government officials and other staff members because they are the ones who prepare the budget.

Also commenting on the training, Josefa Alvares Pereira Soares, an MP from Baucau district, said that she benefited a lot from the training because it helped her to critically examine the budget and identify the gender gaps in the allocation of funds. Mrs. Pereira Soares who is also Vice President for the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (GMPTL) said gender issues pose a big challenge to the nation, but was glad to see that progress being made through awareness-raising programmes. She promised that in the next parliament debate, in collaboration with other female MPs, she would try to convince their male counterparts to ensure that gender issues are incorporated in the national budget. “It’s not easy, but I will try to use my influence with other women MPs to ensure that there will be a budget that will be inclusive of the concerns of women, men, boys and girls”.

The UNIFEM-funded training was attended by 11 parliamentarians and 16 Secretariat support staff and was opened by the Vice President of Timor-Leste,Vicente da Silva Gutterres who emphasised the relevance of the training to the development of the country. “A gender-responsive budget is one of important instruments to help us eliminate inequality, reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

Mr. Gutterres added that the participation of both male and female MPs in the training was a clear testimony that gender was not just about women. Representing the UN, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Finn Reske-Nielsen appealed to the participants to make the best use of the knowledge gained during the training and share such knowledge with others for the benefit of the nation. Other officials present during the opening ceremony included the President of GMPTL, Maria Paixao da Costa and UNIFEM Country Programme Manager, Elaine Tan. The President of the National Parliament, Fernando La Sama de Araujo and the Vice President of GMPTL, Josefa Alvares Pereira Soares were present during the closing ceremony.

The training was aimed at increasing the awareness, knowledge and skills regarding the needs and aspirations of women, and how to incorporate them into the national budget. It was funded by UNIFEM’s Integrated Programme for Women in Politics and Decision Making (IPWPDM) project in collaboration with the UNDP Parliamentary Support Project, and GMPTL through the Centro de Estudos de Genero (CEG).

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