At the Meeting Room of Rede Feto, the EU Ambassador, Marc Fiedrich said, “The European Union is thrilled to witness the signing of these grants. We fund this project because we want to give an impulse to civil society in Timor-Leste, because we want to strengthen the position of women in this country, and because we want to help develop its economy. These grants will contribute to each of these three goals. I congratulate ADRA and Rede Feto for their hard work and I wish the beneficiaries AUFD, CNSR, FHM and Fundasaun Esperança every success in putting these grants to the very best use, for the benefit of Timorese women in all four municipalities covered.”  

The objective of the initiative is to support women’s involvement in agriculture value chain and market system, to improve their skills and scale up the production quality and quantity.  This support assists women’s groups to respond to market demands in Timor-Leste by providing training, equipment and materials. The materials and equipment provided will depend on the needs of the women groups and can include machinery, equipment or supplies for de-shelling, threshing, chopping, drying, or packaging. This support will contribute to increase financial income of the women, enabling them to support their families, improve resiliency and become more empowered.

To benefit from these grants, the selected CSOs completed business literacy, numeracy and farmer market school training of trainers, conducted in 2023, and were equipped with training materials and financial support to deliver added value training sessions and provide equipment to their targeted women groups.

The selected CSOs are Fundasaun Kolegas da Paz (KDP) in Baucau, Asosiasaun Unidade Feto ba Dezenvolvimentu (AUFD) in Dili, Fundasaun Esperança in Ainaro, Centro Nossa Senhora do Rosario (CNSR) in Dili and Fundasaun Haburas Moris (FHM) in Bobonaro.

ADRA Timor-Leste and Rede Feto Timor-Leste will continue to empower women to be actively involved in value chain and market activities through Hakbiit Feto Project. With this financial support, the Hakbiit Feto Project will enable the women groups, including home-business owners, to increase their competencies on the production of local marmalades, tofu, tomato and chili sauces and market options and development of profitable value chains in an efficient, effective and sustainable way. 

The Hakbiit Feto Project is a four-year project implemented with financial support from the European Union, ADRA Austria and the Austrian Development Agency. The aim of the project is to empower women by increasing their engagement in society and the economy through participation in value chains and market systems.