Female village chiefs will take part in training about basic financial management and monitoring projects implemented in their villages.
Alola Foundation Director Alzira Reis said this capacity training was specifically for female leaders from the 442 villages in the country, with the objective of preparing them for the government’s plan to allocate funding towards development in each village.
“So when they receive the budget they will know how to execute it, monitor and know how to evaluate all activities,” said Director Reis after launching the training at the Alola Foundation in Dili.
She said the training was a continuation of a comparative study of female village chiefs and development in Indonesian villages, which the Alola Foundation facilitated last month.
At the same place, the National Director of Community and Village Support Horacio dos Santos Marques said the government had a plan to allocate $50,000 each year towards development in each village.
That’s why he asked the participants to take on the training to strengthen and enhance their knowledge about budget management.
“When we don’t do a pilot project and we immediately hand over the funding, they don’t manage it accurately,” said Director Marques.
He said before the government allocated the budget towards each village they would implement pilot projects in 30 villages in districts like Liquisa, Manatuto, Ermera and Dili.
These 30 villages will be a guide and reference for other villages that haven’t implemented the project.
He added that they would evaluate the implementation of the pilot project to show that in 2014 it could be implemented in all villages.
Meanwhile the Soba Village Chief Francisca Monica de Fatima Soares said the training was very important to help them prepare good management plans.
She said she had planned for her five-year mandate within the village and would revise those plans when the government gave the $50,000 to the village.
“We have identified the areas of health, education, water and sanitation and when the budget comes, we’ll just execute it based on the areas we’ve identified,” said the Village Chief of Soba, located in Baucau district.
The office of the Civil Society Advisor to the Prime Minister gave $30,000 in support for the training and capacity building project.
