IEU supports Timor-Leste Literacy Training for Rural Women
IEU is proud to sponsor an APHEDA supported program on literacy training for rural women in Timor-Leste.
It is estimated that approximately two thirds of adult women in Timor-Leste have never attended any kind of school. This is especially true of older women in the rural areas, as education was a low priority for the Portuguese during the period of their colonial rule. If these women are to share in the reconstruction and development of Timor-Leste, literacy and language training is essential.
The women who take part in the literacy training have said that being able to read and write makes a huge difference to their lives and they feel a lot more confident in their day-to-day activities. They are now even able to help their children and grandchildren with their school work.
After learning to read and write, some women are encouraged to take part in income generation training and activities. They learn skills such as sewing and tailoring, making school uniforms, handicraft production, as well as food production such as making vegetable chips, a popular local snack, which are sold to supplement their families’ income and provide the women and their children with greater stability and security for the future.
Women are also now able to enter into mainstream schooling and continue with their education.
Teachers play an important role in achieving gender equity across the world and the IEU will continue to lobby internationally to make the attainment of the goal for gender equity a reality.