The Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) will set criteria for selection of proposals submitted by women’s groups for 2014 grants. 
Secretary of State (SE) Maria Rodrigues says SEPI will set rigorous criteria to ensure the funds benefit everyone, because in previous years some groups were listed but not established.
“Groups should register with the Ministry of Justice, and should have clear information including the group’s bank account. Also, there must be an agreement between SEPI and new groups,” SE Rodrigues said at Maria Goreti hall, Kaikoli, Dili.
She said this year SEPI would only give funds to the female groups that met the criteria.
“We will choose which groups are eligible to get the funds,” she said.
She added the criteria were not set to discourage grassroots women’s groups but to encourage and empower them. Because of the importance of the distribution of the funds, the government will be compelled to present the budget execution to the National Parliament every three months.
SE Rodrigues said SEPI will allocated to the program $300,000 from its $1million budget to empower female economic groups.
Alola Foundation (FA) executive director Alzira Reis said the registry system was good but it could make getting funds difficult for new groups as it would take them time to fulfill several of the criteria.
“It is somewhat complex for the new groups to register with the Ministry of Justice so we suggest using a parallel mechanism so that the newly registered groups can join in the old ones in running activities,” she said.
Oe-Cusse Women representative Merita de Jesus Marques, praised SEPI’s policy and asked the department to divide the funds between all rural women’s group so they could access to the funds to improve their families’ economic prospects.
“The percentage of female groups in Oe-Cusse is very high such as groups of making crispy chips, selling kerosene, weaving clothes, baskets, and mats. However, the information and good coordination is very important to get advantage of the funds,” she said.
