TIMOR-LESTE’S EQUAL FUTURES PARTNERSHIP COMMITMENTS

SEPI is Timor-Leste's national women's machinery responsible for the design, execution, coordination and assessment of programs, legislation and policies, for the promotion and defence of gender equality. In coordination with key stakeholders from government and donors, we would like to put forward the following commitments: 

Timor-Leste commits to enhancing women's participation in local governance, through gender-sensitive review of the draft decentralization laws on municipality creation and municipal elections.

We will finalize this review in advance of the municipal elections set for 2015, to be conducted with key stakeholders.

Timor-Leste commits to promote women's economic empowerment, through the creation of a women-friendly business enabling environment, and increased access to financial and non-financial services, to enhance women's participation in the formal exonomy and encourage their transition from micro-enterprises to small and medium enterprises from 2013-2017.

Timor-Leste recognises that gender based violence is a key barrier to women's political and economic participation, and commits to scaling up prevention efforts through behaviour change communication activities, by the next National Action Plan on Gender Based Violence to start in 2015.