CAPACITY BUILDING ACTIVITIES 2005 - 2006

Review of Rede Feto’s Statute

In the first six months of the year, the executive body of Rede Feto coordinated a discussion on the review of the statute of Rede Feto Statute which was facilitated by Jose Luis, Director of HAK (Rights) Association. He conducted regular meetings with Rede Feto members and as a result, an amended statute was completed which was presented in a Rede Feto Annual meeting and was approved by members and the Board of Rede Feto.

Formulation and Approval of Internal Regulations

The executive body of Rede Feto also drafted a set of internal regulations that is aimed to provide guidance in a more organized and systematic implementation of the network’s day-to-day operations by the executive body. The process of writing the internal regulation was carried out through meetings of the staff of the network’s Secretariat after identifying problems that occur and agreeing on how such problems will be avoided or regulated as they occur. The team that worked on the internal regulations was composed of staff members in the Secretariat who were responsible for the administration and financial system of Rede Feto and was facilitated by the Rede Feto Advisor, Ms. Edna Tesoro.

Rede Feto General Assembly Towards Sustainability

A Rede Feto “General Assembly Towards Sustainability” was held which was aimed at installing sustainable mechanisms for the network such as: a) clear organizational statute that will guide the Board of Directors, the Secretariat and its members in the implementation of its programmes. The Rede Feto general assembly was conducted for 4 days which specifically focused on the presentation of the two-year report of the Board to the general assembly, approval of the amendments in the Rede Feto statute, election of the new members of the Board and the approval of the Rede Feto 4-year plan covering the period 2007-2010. The general assembly was attended by a total or 60 participants composed of Rede Feto members, stakeholders and NGO applicants for possible membership to the network.

The general assembly commenced with an opening ceremony with guest speakers including Maria Domingas Fernandes Alves, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Gender Equality and Renz, Country Representative a.i. of UNFPA in Timor- Leste. The President of the Board, Olandina Cairo also delivered an opening speech. Other agreements that were passed during the general assembly included the following items;

1. Conduct of a management audit for smooth turnover and transition between the old to new members of the Board;
2. Improve the two-year report in two weeks time, from January 7-2, 2006;
3. For members who borrowed from the former Malaysian First Lady revolving fund to return within 12 months, starting from January- December 2006, with an interest of US$ 15 for every three months;
4. Review the roles and functions of the Board of Rede Feto;
5. Follow-up of the membership fee of US$ 0.70 per month from each member;
6. Approval of the Rede Feto statute and its amendments; and
7. Election of the members of the Board which resulted as follows: Maria Dias as President, Zelia Trindade as Secretary, with Maria Barreto, Olandina Cairo and Kirsty Sword Gusmao as members of the Board.

TEAM BUILDING WORKSHOP

A 2-day team building workshop with the Rede Feto Board and members of the executive body” was held with the aim of: a) developing a smooth working relationship and cooperation between and amongst the members of the Board and the executive body; b) review of the roles and functions of both the Board and the executive body; c) approve the draft organizational policies; and d) finalize Rede Feto’s one-year plan. The total participants to the workshop was 13 composed of three members of the Board, staff members of the executive body and one Rede Feto member, the Asia Pacific Support Collective Timor-Leste (APSC-TL) which together with the Rede Feto Advisor, served as facilitators for the two days workshop.

During the 2-day workshop, all the participants agreed that there should be a clear set of responsibilities, accountability and link between the Rede Feto Board and the Executive Director in decision making, representation of Rede Feto in public, regular meetings between the Board and the executive body and a network and management structure of Rede Feto to strengthen its operations. It was decided for the network’s structure to consist of three elements such as general assembly as the decision making body, the Rede Feto Board as the policy making body and the Secretariat as the executive body. Finally, the last part of the workshop was complete with a review of the internal regulations and financial policy for the Rede Feto Secretariat.