Thursday, January 10, 2008

CEDAW SHADOW REPORT

TOT On CEDAW and SHADOW Report Writing Workshop for NGOs

On 6-10 August 2007, Rede Feto in partnership with UNIFEM, conducted a 5- day workshop which was divided into two parts: the first part was the training of trainers on CEDAW for two days; and the second part, a three-day for workshop on the Shadow Report. The participants to this workshop were Rede Feto members who had programmes providing training and education for communities and for IDP camps. In the second part of the workshop, some members of Rede Feto and other stakeholders such as: the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) and Men Association Against Violence (AMKV) attended the shadow report. The workshop was held at Juvenile Centre in Taibesi, Dili with facilitators from Australia who had vast experience in drafting the Australian Shadow Report.

The aim of the training was to increase/enhance the skills of Timorese NGOs to leading CEDAW-related activities especially trainings It was aimed to enhance the capacity of NGO members to raise awareness and develop their understanding as trainers on CEDAW and also helped develop or expand a long-term pool of resource persons who can conduct trainings and provide technical assistant on CEDAW, both at the local and national levels. The training was also aimed at strengthening the abilities of individuals in conducting trainings. The objectives of the workshop were:

  1. To strengthen NGOs knowledge on CEDAW especially on how to lead CEDAW trainings and provide technical assistance on the CEDAW training;
  2. To develop more skills amongst women’s activists in order to become resource persons on CEDAW and as CEDAW trainers;
  3. To develop their basic skills in shadow report writing; and
  4. To strengthen the capacity of NGOs in integrating CEDAW principles into its mandate, organizational processes, systems and practices, programmes and advocacy.

The increased the knowledge and skills of Rede Feto members in facilitating training and understand the process of writing shadow report, increased knowledge about the module on CEDAW training and learnt experiences from other countries such as Australia in writing a shadow report and one how to analyze a CEDAW State report.

Recruitment of a National Coordinator

After some time of recruiting a National Coordinator for the project, Rede Feto decided to award the project to one of its members to lead the implementation with the involvement of other members and stakeholders to participate in the process of consultation and actual writing shadow report. The Women’s Caucus or Caucus: Feto Iha Politica was agreed to be responsible in taking the lead role and coordinate the programme for one year. Rede Feto will monitor the implementation and ensure the program meet the objectives and ensure compliance to the project’s budget as planned. The National Coordinator recruited for the project was Ms. Laura Pina, former Executive Director of Rede Feto in 2003-2005.

Preparation and work planning

The National Coordinator developed a draft work plan for one-year in consultation with UNIFEM, the CEDAW working group and Rede Feto’s Advisor. The work plan focused on the priority activities especially those that were not implemented during the first few months of the project.

Regular Meeting

The Women’s Caucus had conducted 3 regular meetings with the CEDAW working group. The first meeting was held on 31 March involving 13 participants from Rede Feto as members of the working group. The objective of the meeting was to present and the one-year work plan. The work plan was approved by the CEDAW working group. The second working group meeting was held on 15 April at UNTL which involved 5 lecturers from National University of TL, Dili Institute, AKAKOM, Dili University to discuss the possibility of their involvement in the working group and participate in thematic issues that have been chosen. Finally, the third meeting was held on 28 April 28 at the office of Caucus: Feto Iha Politica with 28 participants. The group decided to choose 8 facilitators to be responsible in facilitating the thematic issues such; Group one to discuss articles 1-5 with Ms. Rosa de Sousa, Fokupers Executive Director as facilitator. Group 2 on Violence Against Women to be facilitated by Ms. Maria Barreto, Advocacy Programme Manager of Fokupers and Rede Feto Board member. Group 3 will discuss about education and will be facilitated by Filomena Fuca and Odete Amaral, Coordinator of GFFTL. Group 4 on Health and will be facilitated by Ambrozio from PAS. Group 5 on Livelihood, private sectors and will be facilitated by Fundasaun Alola, Maria Madalena. Group 6 on Marriage and family, culture and will facilitate Dinorah. Group 7 on Justice, Politic and Employment and will be facilitated by Luis and Agnes. Group 8 on Social Services and will facilitate by Mr. Olivio AMKV.

Re-coaching Workshop Activities

In the first meeting, the working groups were concerned about their roles and functions in the implementation of the CEDAW Shadow report. They were confused on how to start the work because there were no meetings to clarify their concerns. Based on the problems, the team decided to conduct a one-day workshop on the review and re-orientation on the roles and functions of each working group. The workshop was facilitated by Ms. Repelita Tambunan, CEDAW-SEAP National Coordinator from UNIFEM, the Rede Feto Advisor and the National Coordinator of the CEDAW Shadow Report project. The workshope ended with the following results: a) the working groups understood their roles such as to collect information or gather data and cases and interview with target group and read and analyze the State Report and write an alternative report on CEDAW. b) decided on 8 thematic issues to focus on and c) worked on a plan to conduct regional consultation in district that will be done in May to June 2008. The first workshop was agreed to be conducted in Dili on 6-7 May which involved the districts of Aileu and Manatuto, the second workshop on 15-16 May in Suai that involved the districts of Same and Ainaro districts, the third workshop on 22-23 May that involved Liquica and 2 other districts Ermera and Bobonaro. The fourth workshop was conducted on 27 to 28 May held in the district of Baucau and that covered the districts of Viqueque and Lospalos. The last regional workshop was held on 4 to 5 June in the district of Oecussi.

Preparations for the regional workshops in the 5 regions

Before conducting the regional workshops, the project staff at the Secretariat of Rede Feto coordinated and lobbied with stakeholders in the districts through the District Laison Officer (DLO) of the NGO Forum, local NGOs and leaders of women’s organizations in the districts, in identifying potential participants to the regional workshops based on the criteria of the Working Group of CEDAW. The TOR and invitation were drafted by the National Coordinator and were distributed to stakeholders in the districts for review.

Conducted regional workshop related to women’s issues

Rede Feto, through its NGO member Caucus: Feto Iha Politica, implemented a regional workshop on that was held on May to June 2008. The workshop provided information on various cases related to women’s issues. The workshop involved NGO members of Rede Feto and other local NGOs in the districts and other civil society organizations. The participants were enthusiastic about the information sharing particularly the topic focused on CEDAW, with some of the participants having heard about it for the first time.

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