Advanced Search

In Timor-Leste, the percentage of the national budget allocated to the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls became a significant point of concern, following a drastic funding reduction between 2019 and 2020. In 2019, 0.6 percent of the budget (10.4 million USD) was allocated to gender equality initiatives. This was reduced to a mere 0.1 percent of the budget (1.4 million USD) in 2020. Reductions in budget allocated to gender equality initiatives have adverse consequences that impede the protection of women’s rights and safety, the advancement of policies and…

Spotlight Initiative, in consortia with World Vision and the national CSO Psychosocial Recovery and Development in East Timor (PRADET), designed and tested a model for empowering and providing psychosocial support to girls and adolescents who are survivors or at risk of sexual gender-based violence (GBV) in Timor-Leste. The process was informed by a mapping exercise in Ermera municipality, which sought to identify specialised survivor-centred services for adolescents outside of the capital, and involved 1,049 adolescents (522 boys and 527 girls) who provided insights on their specific sexual…

Spotlight Initiative’s overarching goal in its Theory of Change (ToC) is to ensure that all women, especially those who are marginalised and vulnerable, live free from violence and harmful practices. Together with its partners, Spotlight Initiative aims to make concrete changes in six Outcome Areas or Pillars to end VAWG. Changes in these six Outcome Areas contribute to achieving SDG 5 and SDG 16. ToC “if/then” logic statements were then crafted for each Outcome to describe the desired results.

Example: IF/THEN TOC for Outcome 1 (Legislative and policy frameworks) 

IF
(1) Women and VAWG…

Spotlight Initiative in Timor Leste worked with the Ministry of Health, community health providers, local NGOs, the police, and the Ministry of Social Solidarity to develop safe spaces for survivors of VAWG. These safe spaces aimed at providing immediate care to support the safety of GBV survivors, raising awareness around VAWG and women’s rights, facilitating access to legal and medical services for survivors, as well as promoting economic empowerment for women affected by GBV. They also helped coordinate advocacy for policy changes to address GBV. These Safe Spaces took a holistic approach…

In 2021, Spotlight Initiative supported their CSO partner ALFELA to conduct a capacity assessment of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL). This involved interviewing 102 police officers from various departments to understanding PNTL’s response to VAWG cases. The assessment found that 55% of officers were not familiar with the Timor-Leste's law against domestic violence, 45% were not clear on how to handle cases, and only 60% knew how to properly categorise cases. Following on from this assessment, ALFELA conducted a day-long roundtable discussion with officers from the national Vulnerable…

Spotlight Initiative programmes strengthened existing, or created new, institutional mechanisms to foster coherent multi-sectoral approaches to preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. Nearly half of Spotlight Initiative programmes – including in Afghanistan, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe – either established or strengthened multi-stakeholder coordination mechanisms. In each case, coordination was established at the highest level, and the process included identifying relevant stakeholders, working with a clear mandate and governance structure…