Dili, 30 April 2026 (Media Democracia) – OXFAM Timor-Leste holds activity on the HAKBI’IT Program Collective Action for Equality and Inclusion in Timor-Leste through the ROMANSA activity (Rai Osan Ba Mudansa), we are pleased to invite you to participate in the Phaseout event, which marks an important moment in the journey together with partners, ROMANSA group members, and OXFAM to empower women through savings, loans, and financial inclusion.
According to OXFAM Timor-Leste Director Pankaj Anand, the HAKBI’IT program is in its final phase, and the objective is to empower women to improve their family’s economy.
“This HAKBI’IT Program is now in its final phase, the HAKBI’IT program has been implemented from 2020 to 2026. Here we have partners from Oecusse, Atauro, Liquica, and also Suai. The objective of the HAKBI’IT program is to empower our women to improve their family’s economy and also within society. I want to acknowledge our partners such as AFFOS, BIFANO, MANEO, KSI, and RHTO.” said the OXFAM Timor-Leste Director at Timor Plaza, Dili.
The director also added that the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) is implemented in the community with the objective that women and men can know their roles, understand each other, and create plans for the future.
“The Gender Action Learning System (GALS) is implemented within a family with the objective that women and men know their roles, can understand each other, and also create family plans to move forward, and Saving Money for Change is a group where community members save money once a week, but they also seek money to save so they can improve their household.” said the OXFAM TL Director.
In addition, representative of the Binibu Faef Nome (BIFANO) group, Felizberto de Deus, affirmed that before joining the group, they always distrusted each other, but after joining the group they no longer distrust each other.
“From 2003 to 2006 I sold cattle from Oecusse to Dili, but when I sold cattle and people bought them, I would take the money back to Oecusse but we didn’t know what the money was spent on, suddenly the money was gone. After I stopped selling cattle, I continued as a carpenter but it was the same. But in 2020, my partner and I started joining this group, and from there we learned to save money. From the money we saved, we used it to pay for our children’s school and we plan to build a house.” said Felizberto de Deus at Suai Room, Timor Plaza.
In this activity, five (5) ROMANSA groups participated, namely BIFANO, AFFOS, MANEO, KSI, RHTO, and students from UNITAL, IOB, UNITAL, and UCT universities.
Report By: Nelia Freitas
Photo By: Nelson Ferreira