Fidelia Mendonca and Rogerio Lopes are national UN Volunteer Programme Coordination Assistants with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Timor-Leste. Serving under the Spotlight Initiative Project, they are raising awareness about national laws and policies related to combating violence against women, girls and marginalized groups, domestic violence and access to the formal justice system.
With approximately 1,3 million population, Timor-Leste has made milestones in ending violence against women and girls and intimate partner violence. More than 75 per cent of the population under 35 and more than half of the youth live in rural areas and have been unable to shift the high tolerance for men’s perpetration of violence against women. A baseline study conducted by the Asia Foundation revealed that 66 per cent of women in Timor-Leste have experienced violence from their intimate partner. However, only 34 per cent of these cases were reported to family members, and a mere 3 per cent were reported to the police.
Despite the ratification of the Law Against Domestic Violence by the National Parliament in 2010, most Timorese still lack information about the law on domestic violence and how to report gender-based violence to the formal justice system. Those exposed to violence are often at increased risk of developing physical and mental health conditions, experiencing other forms of violence, and facing educational or occupational challenges.
UN Volunteers Fidelia Mendonca and Rogerio Lopes helped conduct prevention training in three different target municipalities in Timor-Leste, covering 60 remote villages. In 2022, they carried out a socialization campaign on the Law Against Domestic Violence and access to formal justice systems in 40 villages within the target municipalities.
In the process, they mainly educated people on what steps to take when experiencing any form of violence in their community. More than 2,100 participants, including Village Council Structures, Community Police, and the community, reported cases of gender-based violence that had not been revealed before, allowing victims to get justice.
Volunteering with the United Nations under the Spotlight Initiative has been a rewarding experience. It allowed me to get valuable insight into gender-based violence issues and how we can act together to address them. I take pride in seeing the positive change in my community towards ending violence against women and girls and other harmful practices. -- Fidelia Mendonca, national UN Volunteer Programme Coordination Assistant with UNDP, Timor-Leste
Fidelia and Rogerio also joined civil society organizations such as Asistensia Legal ba Feto no Labarik Feto/ Legal Aid for Women and Girls (ALFELA), Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP) and Mane Ho Vizaun Foun (Men with New Vision) to hold prevention and advocacy training for communities at the village level.
These training sessions were supported by the Community Police, Vulnerable Person Unit (VPU), and local authorities in Viqueque Municipality. The Spotlight Initiative supported VPU Police Investigators to build safe spaces for victims in Bobonaro and Viqueque. The new spaces are aimed at providing a higher quality and more professional environment for handling cases of violence in daily operations. The previous office was only one room that was divided into an investigation section and a room for shelter. VPU officers could receive more than one case in a day and struggled to conduct investigations due to the limited capacity of the office. The new safe space building is constructed with two rooms for investigation and two rooms for shelter that are accessible to people with disabilities.
The UNV modality has allowed us to engage youth who bring innovations to UNDP’s team as we strive to bring positive change to the communities we serve. Fidelia and Rogerio have demonstrated professionalism and dedication during their assignments. They contributed immensely to the successful transformative change on the ground to end violence against women and girls, violence against children, and harmful practices and promotion of sexual reproductive and health. --Livio Xavier, Programme Officer with UNDP, Timor-Leste
