Timor-Leste

Our integrated approach for improving conditions for children continues into the school years. We involve children, their parents and educators to encourage active participation at school, including social and intellectual development. We also help spread the message that children deserve full educations, violence-free homes and schools, good nutrition and other necessary resources. We also support operational plans for providing education after natural disasters like 2016’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

In Timor-Leste, children are speaking out against corporal punishment at school by presenting short dramas promoting children’s rights and positive discipline. Although physical punishment at school is illegal, more than two-thirds of Timorese students reported being hit by adults at school in a national survey. Children Against Violence has performed its skits at schools, community events and at an International Children’s Day event in Covalima, where child trafficking and exploitation is common. Also, children take part in the Aflatoun program in some schools, learning to save their money for school supplies.

ChildFund offers entrepreneurial training through a youth employment project, to help provide youth with sustainable livelihoods for earning fair wages. A group of 100 youth from the Bobonaro and Covalima districts have gone through business, technical and vocational training, preparing them to start their own businesses or get good jobs in tourism, construction and agriculture. Many training institutions are in the capital of Dili, which gives the youth a change of scenery. Unemployment is at 24 percent among youth in Timor-Leste, much higher than the 9.5 percent rate among the general population. This project, which will continue two more years, is expected to reach 600 young people. We also are exploring partnerships in Covalima with two private training institutions.