Embracing Dialogue in Timor-Leste

An interesting article that I found recently on the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) website:

Dili, Timor-Leste, 16 July 2009

Their eyes swelling with tears, the four men dressed in traditional costumes take turns sipping the local tua-sabu wine from the same glass as multitudes of clansmen, women and children witnessing the ceremony cheer them on. When the glass is empty, the men representing each of the aldeias or villages in the locality embrace one another emotionally as the clapping and chanting in the crowd reaches a crescendo.

“We want to put an end to the ugly chapter in our history that was full of confrontation and begin a new era of renewed friendship and sustainable peace,” says Jose dos Santos, the chief of aldeia Caelili in suco Durulete of Liquica district in Timor-Leste. Flanked by his colleagues from Leboai, Manufatia and Carulema villages, Jose relates the difficulties of the past in their village, saying that in April and May of 2006 when the country was engulfed in political turmoil, a fault line was drawn into the community and “we could not see eye to eye with some of our neighbours and friends with whom we had lived peacefully for decades.”

The symbolic ceremony was held on 9 July, 2009 at the chilly and serene hilltop of Durulete, located some 60 kilometers west of the country’s capital, Dili. It was organized by the Strengthening Institutional Structure and Mechanisms for Dialogue, or as it is simply known, the Dialogue Project, implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) and the United Nations Development Programme.

It is a bottom-up and grassroots version of diplomacy. Activists, who are close to affected communities, drive the all-inclusive dialogue process. “Dialogue teams can only facilitate face to face talks, but true genuine peace and reconciliation can only come from the people themselves,” says Helder do Rego, a Dialogue team leader instrumental in facilitating the successful Durulute peace talks. He is a member of one of the eight four-person teams spread across the country, based in Baucau, Ermera and Dili, who play a catalytic role in organising the discussions.

The April/May 2006 crisis was the latest in a cycle of conflict that displaced thousands of people, undermining prospects of peace and stability in Asia’s newest democracy. An assassination attempt targeting the President and Prime Minister in February 2008 further illustrated the fragile nature of peace in the country.

Echoing a common theme during the dialogue ceremony, Paulo Assis Belo, the vice-minister for Education recalled the thousands of people martyred during the struggle for the country’s independence, saying that the living have a duty to “honor the dead by living in peace.”

“Party politics should not split families, clans and communities.” He said, stressing the issue “should not make you kill each other.”

It’s a message that seems to resonate quite well in the aldeias and sucos of Timor-Leste, some of which were theatre of deadly confrontations, pitting youths--- and martial arts--- groups against each other.

Buoyed by the success of the dialogue effort, experts say it needs to be formalized as a conflict-resolution mechanism. “There is need to institutionalize dialogue within the communities,” reckons Jose Belo, the Dialogue Project Manager. Recounting his experience, Jose says that the dialogue process also has to be nuanced, in recognition of different social structures prevailing in the country. “In Dili, for example, the process is a bit formal while in the rural areas like Durulete, we rely more on traditional mechanisms.”

Inevitably, it’s not always smooth-sailing. For instance, in the suco Camea area of Becora, located in the outskirts of the city, a dialogue ceremony attended by the President of the Republic, Jose Ramos-Horta on 23 April 2009, ended in a stalemate after rival parties failed to reconcile, despite concerted efforts by a plethora of local activists, NGOs and the Government to bring them to the talking table. Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate personally chaired the talks, showing the commitment of the country’s leadership in resolving the problem of internally displaced people (IDP), in partnership with all stakeholders. Through the continuing support of the UNDP/MSS dialogue teams and a network of non-governmental actors the Camea dispute has since been amicably addressed, with the return and reintegration of the IDPs in that area being a symbolic victory following a very protracted process.

The dividends of dialogue meetings go beyond talking about peace. Being a popular forum attended by a wide cross-section of the population, the event provides an ideal setting for Government officials to explain development policies to the people in the characteristic Town-Hall style, interspersed with colorful drama and entertainment.

“It is also an effective forum for the Government to meet the people and vice versa,” says Jose, of the Dialogue Project.

To date the Dialogue Project has been funded by AusAID, NZAid and UNDP, and was recently granted an extension of funding as part of a proposal to the United Nations Peace Building Fund. The project is co-implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity and ultimately is expected to be synthesized into the Ministry’s Directorate of Social Assistance as part of a permanent Peace Building Division in 2010. The Dialogue project is integrated under the Trust-Building pillar of the Government’s National Recovery Strategy Hamutuk Harii Futuru (Tetum: Building our Future Together) for more coherence and synergy with both State and non-State actors.

Basic infrastructure development in communities that witnessed high rates of displacement in 2006 is a follow on from the processes of dialogue and reconciliation. It aims at further cementing peace through bringing people together on non-threatening issues of common interest in the community, decreasing competition on resources and services in receiving communities, and promoting local socio-economic development. Funding for community infrastructure is from UNDP Bureau of Conflict Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and the Peace Building Fund.

UNDP has also worked with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in administering a small grants fund established with the support of AusAID. The funds are channeled to both national and international actors in the peace-building arena to support the work outlined in the Trust-Building Pillar of the National Recovery Strategy. In doing so UNDP is aiming to facilitate a range of activities, spanning sports for peace, training for local leaders, seminars reflecting on the lessons of the past and monitoring of IDP return and reintegration, that complement the Government’s priorities and its own programming and support the nation to bridge the gap between overcoming crisis and fully engaging once more in development.

Source: http://www.tl.undp.org/undp/empowering1.htm

History Lectures at UNTL

Every Thursday evening I go to history lectures at the Universidade Nacional de Timor-Leste. Zelda Grimshaw, the lecturer, is an Australian women who has a 20 years history of involvement with Timor-Leste and is now writing a doctorate on resistance to the Indonesian military occupation of Timor Leste. Over the last few years she has interviewed nearly one hundred Timorese people about their experiences during the Indonesian occupation.

Yesterday's lecture was about the Indonesian invasion in 1975. Everyone was speechless at the end and some people cried.

In 1975, after Timor-Leste became independent from Portugal, Indonesia decided to invade the country. The invasion is supposed to be the most cruel experience the timorese people had to make.

No one knows why Indonesians have been that cruel, using heavy weapons to destroy every sign of human life - what they feared of the small and poor timorese people without any means to defend! No one knows why the international community ignored the incidents for such a long period before starting interventions.

The year 1975 can be seen as a yardstick for the invasion of horror and fostered a common desire for independence - "once we've gone through that, what else could happen?"

UNTL Caicoli Campus Building:

Hygiene Workshop in Fahilebo

Last week I went with Martina and a local Red Cross team to the village of Fahilebo to promote a hygiene workshop with children in the local primary school.

Lunch break in Liquica, the district town, to get some energy for the next hour of travelling on bad roads! Anyway, you really need a strong stomach - like our driver mentioned: "Going on Timorese roads... that means dancing in the car!"
Finally we arrived in Fahilebo, after more than one hour "dancing" in our car (apparently the roads are more damaged than usual because of heavy rain falls during the last week).

The village's main square with the new community building and a traditional ceremony building on the right:
A ceremony building:
Amazing view to East Timor's highest mountain (Ramalau massive, 2963m)
Traditional houses:
This family is one out of 10 participating in a pilot project, which is supported by a Norwegian NGO. At the moment 10 local families are testing solar panels for sustainable energy production at household level. As Fahilebo is not connected to electricity, solar energy is expected to contribute to important improvements in the people's life. Traditionally, the families cook with firewood and it's mainly the women's responsibility to find and carry it. Transporting heavy amounts of firewood on your back or on your head every day for long walking distances does not only cause health problems, deforestation as another consequence is a serious environmental issue. Communities are regularly affected by natural disasters like floodings, soil erosion or road destruction.

A shop:
The local Red Cross building:Breakfast at "Chefe-de-Suco"'s ("Bürgermeister") house:One of the few water-flush latrines in the village's health station. Please notice the desinfection bowl with a (sterile?) pair of scissors on the floor in front of the water basin:The new TV set in the community building (electricity is produced by solar panels): as living in a remote area means that it might take a while until news arrive, the "chefe de suco" made a proposal to the government and asked for financial support. Now the village is at least a little more "connected" to the world! Every evening the community meets for watching TV or DVD.
Some impressions from the Hygiene Workshop...

The school building:
Morning challenge - building groups:
Unfortunately only 50% of the students were available today. Wednesday is market day and many children have to help their parents transporting the products to the markets in Fatumaca or Bazartete - which both are about 2 hours walking distance from Fahilebo!

A short warm-up game in the classroom:
Followed by a role-play ("Drama") about washing the hands after using the toilet and before eating - and also HOW to wash hands:
The children loved it!

And then practical training - using cinnamon powder to demonstrate how bacterias can be distributed:

Practical training II - how to wash hands at the community tap:

And finally: school's out for today - let's have lunch!

Red Cross Project in Daír

My first field-trip leads me to the Red Cross (RC) project in Daír, which is implemented by Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste (CVTL) together with the Austrian Red Cross (ARC). The project is funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation (Cooperacao Austríaca para o Desenvolvimento) and it contributes to improving the general living conditions of the poorest and most vulnerable in East Timor.

The 54 families in Daír (Population: 247) benefit through access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and education programmes.

The new community building ("Gemeindeamt"):

A community freshwater tank with a tap on the main square:

One of the family latrines with a water flush toilet (right) and shower (left):

A kitchen garden with young Papaya plants:

Traditional irrigation systems made of bamboo which are surprisingly flexible (the system reminds of "Lego"):
To protect food stocks from rats, all goods are stored in these traditional houses:

A circle of stones defines a mystic area, which is the place for traditional devotions. Here the community prays for rain or other needs. It's strictly forbidden to enter this area!
Having fun with the kids:

A father with a "timorese malai" (the baby suffers on a disease which has the effect of missing skin pigmentation, also known as "albino")
Community meeting:
A monkey:

Bamboo... (I hope you like the picture ;-))

Later we've been invited to fresh popcorn, peanuts, bananas and coffee - all of them local-grown products: