District Outreach Program
District involvement in the conference was considered to be
vital. A district outreach program was designed to facilitate discussion in the
districts about sustainable development and the environment, and to bring
representatives from the districts to attend the conference in Dili. The aim was to build strong networks between
Dili and the districts and to ensure district participation in the conference
so that conference outcomes reflected the needs and issues facing rural
communities in East Timor.
Relationships established through this program will provide important
links between the Task Force on Sustainable Development and the districts.
The District Outreach Program involved:
One-day
workshops were held in five districts during the week prior to the conference: in
Manatuto, Baucau (including Los Palos and Viqueque), Aileu, Maubisse (including
Same and Ainaro), and Maliana. There
were close to 100 participants in the five workshops from a wide range of
district and community organisations.
The workshops were organised by representatives from local groups. These
were; Hak Foundation in
Baucau, OMT in Manatuto, OMT in Aileu, Hak Foundation in Maubisse (covering
Same and Ainaro) and Renetil in Maliana. The workshops introduced and tackled
sustainable development concepts.
The workshops began with an introduction to the conference,
and to the history and principles of sustainable development. The participants
were able to discuss and share ideas about the environment and the importance
of sustainable development for East Timor. The workshops highlighted the need
to understand current environmental conditions and to protect natural resources
for future generations. This included discussion about the causes of
environmental degradation and how environmental conditions can be
improved. Part of this discussion
included how the community can preserve the environment with current customary
laws and how they can enforce these themselves.
The workshops served to highlight the importance of
community participation in policy and program development and implementation,
and the need for action in order to improve environmental conditions.
The pre-conference workshops received a very positive
response from participants as they were the first environment and development
workshops to be held in the districts.
Priority environmental issues were identified by each
workshop. The issues raised by each
district are included below. To ensure
that these issues were brought to the conference and that conference outcomes
were brought back to the district, each workshop chose representatives to
attend the conference. These chosen
representatives travelled to Dili and participated in the whole week of the
conference. They were provided with an
allowance for travel, meals and accommodation.
More than 25 district representatives attended the
conference. While the pre-conference
workshops ensured participation of those districts, participants were also
invited from other districts. Almost all districts were represented.
During the conference, district representatives met to
discuss their experiences, ideas and specific issues. On the concluding day of
the conference a district representative, Francisco dos Santos from Radio
Communicade in Los Palos, made a presentation about the issues of concern and
relevance for the rural areas.
The main points raised by the
districts related to education and health.
Education is a priority for the districts, where schools lack even basic
facilities. For example, most students
are still sitting on the floor. The
issue of shortage of universities was also raised. There is only one university in East Timor thus access to
education for rural youth is limited.
It is hoped that universities will be established in the districts.
Health was raised as a key concern
for the districts. All people in the districts (especially in villages) have
inadequate health facilities. Some
villages are isolated, without vehicle access and therefore medical services do
not reach them. The service provided by
hospitals is inadequate, and some districts, for example Viqueque, do not even
have hospitals. There is also a
shortage of medical staff, and staffing depends greatly on volunteers. While there are other important issues in
the districts, such as deforestation education and health were considered to by
the two most important issues.
After the district presentation on the concluding day, the
summary of workshop outcomes, conference recommendations and a proposal for a
Task Force on Sustainable Development were presented and discussed. All of these documents were endorsed by
conference participants. Participants
received draft copies of all of the above conference outcomes and of full workshop
outcomes. They were therefore able to take conference outcomes back to their
communities.
Post-conference workshops were held in the districts to
share conference results and to help ensure that the Task Force on Sustainable
Development has an initial relationship to the districts. The workshops discussed how relationships
could be maintained. It was agreed by
the workshop participants that there should be representation from each
district on the Task Force. However,
representation should be neutral.
District members of the Task Force should not represent a political
party, business or particular interests.
The workshops each identified a contact person from each as an initial
point of contact while the Task Force is being established.
The workshops also discussed the formation of environment
teams to work on local as well as national issues. Such groups may in time be able to establish environment
centres. It is planned that an
environment alliance will be formed between the eastern groups based in Baucau,
Los Palos and Viqueque. The Maliana
workshop recommended the formation of an environment team and the groups in
Maliana are committed to making this happen.
One poignant outcome of the conference is a story told at
the Maliana workshop by one of the conference delegates. On her return to Maliana after the
conference, she showed the conference outcomes to one of the schools. The excitement that this engendered led to
action. The school was inspired to
plant trees: they planted two hectares of teak on the outskirts of Maliana.
While such initiatives can clearly achieve a lot, it comes
as no surprise that the district outreach program identified the need for both
resources and funding for sustainable development and the environment in the
districts.
Following are the priority issues that were identified by
the workshops that were held in the districts.
q Climate change and consequent environmental
degradation (due to the clearing of forests and the use of agricultural
chemicals);
q Protection of the remaining natural forests on
the south coast;
q Waste management systems.
q Climate Change;
q Permission to clear forests. Government policy permitting forest
clearance has led to the greatest general environmental degradation;
q The top-down system of policy making without
community participation;
q Education.
q To limit the use of agricultural chemicals by
finding alternatives that protect the natural environment;
q Protection of natural resources;
q Reforestation is vital due to the impacts of
shifting agriculture and illegal herding;
q Deforestation and land clearing that are caused
by a weak legal system and ignorance of existing customary laws.
q Government policies represent the largest
opportunity for environmental degradation;
q Need for education about the environment in
school curriculums (primary and secondary);
q Urban planning is needed, and decisions need to
be made regarding the location of industry.
The waste management system must reflect the community’s needs, and use
of natural resources must be within the carrying capacity of natural systems;
q Protection and conservation of natural
resources;
q Prohibition of waste importation;
q Economic development must not make the
environment a victim because nature is unable to sustain long term
exploitation;
q Community participation in decision making.
q Forest clearing is a clear cause of
environmental degradation;
q The government has ignored customary laws which
are in place in the community and which are indirectly able to protect the
environment;
q Waste management systems;
q Illegal herding of cattle;
q Use of chemicals to catch ocean fish;
q Climate change/global warming.
The outcomes of the conference indicate a strong desire and
need for community participation in the planning and implementation of
development programs. The communities that were involved in the sustainable
development workshops raised the important issue of environmental degradation,
the need for transparent policies and the need for education. There is a need
for commitment to education, as part of the process of building awareness and
strengthening communities. Community
education is vital for sustainable development. This will rely on distribution of information equally between the
district communities and the city centre as well as on development of
facilities for comprehensive education and training.
This book of conference proceedings will be distributed to
the districts. It is hoped that it will
be a useful handbook for education and development planning in the rural areas
of East Timor.