Healthy Relationships for a Violence-Free Future: ALFeLa - GBV Laws & Policies Training for Covalima Healthcare Workers

The Activity aims to promote healthy, non-violent relationships, particularly between intimate partners, adolescents, and their parents, and adolescents/youth. It brings these groups together to create dialogue and rebuild fractured relationships, change behaviors and attitudes, and the underlying gender norms and inequitable social structures that drive Gender-Based Violence (GBV). The Activity focuses on components such as preventive measures, including awareness-raising activities, strengthening community service organizations, and advocacy for stronger application of GBV laws and service improvement. One intervention for strengthening community service organizations is building their capacity in understanding and awareness of GBV laws, policies, and legal procedures. In October 2021, the Activity team worked closely with national legal aid service provider, ALFeLa, to deliver GBV laws and policies training for health workers in three administrative posts in Covalima municipality: Tilomar, Maucatar, and Zumalai. The training aimed to raise awareness and strengthen health workers' understanding of GBV laws, policies, and formal legal procedures, enabling them to increase their professional confidence in explaining the rights and referral options to survivors of sexual violence, gender-based violence, and domestic violence. The training explained the relevant Timor-Leste laws and basics of legal procedures, as well as sharing the International Human Rights Framework, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding the prevention of GBV. The training also introduced the referral network provider options in Timor-Leste for both legal referrals and social services referrals. Health workers participated actively in the training, with many expressing curiosity about laws and legal processes related to preventing violence against women and children. Following the training, World Vision staff conducted a short verbal evaluation with participants, who provided feedback on the session, stating that it was their first time hearing information about the legal system related to addressing GBV and that they gained a lot of information related to civil and criminal cases. A total of 69 health workers attended the training, consisting of 42 women and 27 men, from the three administrative posts. This was slightly lower than the target of 80 health workers. The project had targeted 20 attendees from Tilomar admin post, but only 11 were able to attend due to the small number of paid and volunteer health workers in the area. The training schedule was conducted in the administrative posts on October 26, 27, and 28, 2021. The project aims to hold a follow-up training for Zumalai and check that the remaining staff are specifically targeted to attend. Additionally, the project will consider whether it is possible to always hold two training sessions in Tilomar or whether a smaller number of target participants is appropriate for the smaller admin post staff size. The training was facilitated by ALFeLa, a national-level Timor-Leste legal aid provider, established in 2013. ALFeLa conducted the training using their own established and tested training modules on GBV legal frameworks, which cover topics such as definition of ALFeLa, organizational profile, constitution and law, human rights, justice institution, violence against women and children, domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, criminal case, formal justice system, sentencing, and Timor-Leste referral network. A copy of the training materials is included as attachments.