Dili, August 11, 2025 (Média Democracia) – The Government, through the Secretary of State for Equality (SEI), together with members of the Research Steering Committee (KDP), formalized and approved the qualitative component methodology for the national study on the prevalence and perpetration of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to be conducted from 2025 to 2026. This activity was accessed by Média Democracia through SEI’s page last Friday.
The Director-General of the Secretary of State for Equality, Armando da Costa, stated that today’s activity was held jointly with members of the Research Steering Committee regarding Gender-Based Violence in the country.
“Key stakeholders involved in the KDP come from important government entities such as the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion (MSSI), the National Institute of Statistics of Timor-Leste (INETL), the National Institute of Public Health of Timor-Leste (INSPTL), and partners such as DFAT, UNICEF, UN Women, Civil Society Organizations including FOKUPERS and RHTO, as well as the academic sector from UNTL. The KDP’s mandate is to guide the study by making decisions and approving matters related to the prevalence study,” said the Director-General of the Secretary of State for Equality, Armando da Costa.
He continued, explaining that the objective of the Research Steering Committee Meeting ceremony was first for the KDP members to sign the Terms of Reference, with the aim of establishing the basis for the creation of the Research Steering Committee (KDP) and the Technical Working Group (GTT) for the implementation of the Gender-Based Prevalence Study for 2025–2026, and to clarify their roles, group composition, and meeting frequency.
“In this second meeting, all members signed the establishment of the KDP, and at the same time, the consultant from The Equality Institute (EQI) presented a proposal for the qualitative component methodology, which received formal approval from all members. This methodology proposal is based on a collaborative design with organizations representing persons with certain disabilities and has been confirmed through detailed discussions with the Technical Working Group (GTT),” added the Director-General.
He affirmed that this month also marks one year since the GTT members participated in the kNOwVAWdata course in Fiji. This course built a strong technical team that contributes to the KDP’s decisions related to the national prevalence study.
He further explained that the activity was led by the Government of Timor-Leste through the Secretary of State for Equality and the Deputy of INETL, with financial support from DFAT and technical support from the Nabilan program at TAF, to finalize the mentioned activity.
Reporter: Nelfiano
Photo: Média SEI