Dili, October 25, 2025 (Média Democracia) – The Secretary of State for Equality (SEI), in partnership with To’os ba Moris Di’ak (TOMAK), is providing training to its staff to enable effective communication with people with hearing and speech disabilities. Média Democracia accessed this information from SEI’s page on Friday.
SEI Director-General Armando da Costa said this training is being carried out with one main objective which is to facilitate and improve communication between SEI staff and people with hearing and speech impairments.
“This training is vital so that we can understand and communicate properly. Starting today, through the cooperation between SEI and TOMAK, facilitated by KDTL, we are conducting sign language training in SEI with the sole objective of facilitating communication between us and people with hearing and speech disabilities,” said Director-General Armando da Costa.
The Director-General added that once communication is possible, many objectives can be achieved within implementation of the National Action Plan on People with Disabilities. However, for now, the priority is to begin with sign language training.
TOMAK GEDSI Adviser, Gianluca Nardi, stated that the Australian Government is proud to partner with the Secretary of State for Equality for the past year in facilitating trainings on household decision-making, hydroponics, and other areas.
“The To’os ba Moris Di’ak program funded by the Australian Government is proud to partner with SEI. Over the past year, we have worked together to provide training for trainers on household decision-making, disability inclusion in hydroponics and business. Now we continue with sign language training financed by TOMAK and delivered by Klibur Defisiénsia Tilun Timor-Leste (KDTL),” said Gianluca Nardi.
He further noted that this program has the potential to generate significant impact or scale-up within SEI, positioning SEI as a pioneer in new approaches in working with vulnerable groups and potentially serving as a model for other government institutions.
Further explained that SEI, with support from TOMAK, is providing sign language training for staff in order to enable communication with people with hearing and speech disabilities. The training will run for one month at the SEI office.
Reporter: Nelfiano
Photo: SEI Media