Dili, March 7, 2025 (Média Democracia) – SEFOPE held the First National Seminar on, “Review of the National Strategic Plan for Employment Policy” (ENE 2017-2030), together with Development Partners of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and all levels of Ministries to discuss this issue.
On this occasion, SEFOPE, Rogério Araújo Mendonça said that the aim of this dialogue was to review the national employment strategy which in 2017 had been running according to target.
“From 2017 to 2030, we know that the time is very long, so the State Secretariat through the national employment strategy sees the need for changes and a review of the national employment strategy, because the situation from year to year is different, so we need to readjust to the situation we currently have, therefore inviting the ranks of the ministry to attend.” SEFOPE said.
He emphasized that the public always questions the government’s policy of only providing training for young people and sending them abroad, why don’t we create domestic jobs.
“So this is how we gather here, all entities provide input to conduct a review of the guidelines that I have submitted from 2017 to 2030, I take the example of the National Development Strategic Plan that we submitted from 2017 to 2030,” he said.
Because every year we see that there are conditions and situations that are not in accordance with expectations, it is necessary to make changes and review the strategic plan.
This means that in this scope, the ranks of ministries that took part, meaning that from the first stage meeting it was determined that it could provide good results for this year and the following year.
As the ILO Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Simrin Singh said that so far the ILO has facilitated support to SEFOPE to analyze and review the national employment strategy.
“Just want to convey that not only to facilitate, but today is a very important moment to invite all stakeholder partners from the line of ministries who have insights and ideas to share together in this opportunity to see the work related to national employment of Timor-Leste.” Said the ILO Country Director
He informed, as conveyed by the Secretary of State, the migrant workers who returned from abroad to Timor-Leste, also made policies or reintegration of migrant workers. In addition, there is a very strong contribution from migrant workers who work abroad.
Simrin explained that the ILO will continue to facilitate this process so that it can be observed and analyzed properly, with the support of the Ministry’s ranks, so that a realistic national employment strategy can be produced in responding to the current reality of Timor-Leste.
“The hope is that this plan and strategy are not just documents, but guidelines that direct and bring forward steps so that they can be defined well. Therefore, through this study, things that need to be discussed together with development partners.” Said the ILO Country Director
The ILO proposed to SEFOPE to conduct an analysis of the dynamics of the labor market in Timor-Leste, especially the first dynamic, as the Secretary of State said, those who graduate from high school and then enter the labor market really need the right skills and abilities to be able to integrate into the world of work.
“But we also have to look not only at this question, the issue of migrant workers who come from abroad or those who send remittances from abroad to Timor-Leste, this is a very big contribution. In addition, we also see that this is only five years so it is a short time for us to do a clear analysis, therefore it is necessary for partners to contribute in this place to give their thoughts.” The ILO Director explained
The thing that must be considered is the issue of climate change which can affect the planning process and also existing technology, because currently technology has started to advance and the presence of artificial intelligence is already very large.
“We don’t want this technology to harm us, we are trying to take something good from this technology so that it can be used in the Timor-Leste job market, not only for the youth but also for adults who are also participating in the job market.” The director continued
Another thing that must also be considered is Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN because we do not want Timor-Leste to lose out to other friends, neighboring countries in ASEAN, that is why the ILO continues to provide support to be able to facilitate the process better before Timor-Leste joins ASEAN.
Certainly the SEFOPE policy is very good, from the ILO just want to say that SEFOPE is a good partner, that is why the ILO continues to collaborate to ensure this policy and indeed do it for the purpose desired by all parties, therefore collaborate to improve the better in the future.
Reported by : Estefania
Picture by : Estefania