Dili, July 30, 2026
The Coordinating minister for Economic Affairs (MCAE), together with partners such as the Secretary of State for Equality and Inclusion (SEII) and ProSivU, held an important consultation today on the development of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy. The consultation was held at Hotel Timor, Dili, Timor-Leste.
The Coordinator of the Strategic Unit for Economic Integration (SUEI), Mr. Leonito Soares de Jesus, representing the General Coordinator of MCAE, extended his appreciation to all participants for attending and contributing to the consultation. He also expressed appreciation for the collaboration between MKAE/SUEI, SEII, ProSivU, and the entire team that supported the preparation and implementation of the activity. Mr. Leonito emphasized that cooperation and coordination of this kind are essential to ensure that the process is inclusive and involves all relevant stakeholders.
The economic empowerment of women is of great importance to Timor-Leste’s economic development. Women are central to economic activities, business, agriculture, trade, and communities. Thus, promoting economic opportunities for women, including access to finance, markets, capacity, technology, and productive resources, will help strengthen their contribution to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

This consultation is of great importance as it provides the opportunity to review preliminary results, spot gaps and challenges, and agree on concrete actions to guide the Strategic Plan for Women’s Economic Empowerment. All participants are encouraged to contribute practical ideas and implementable recommendations.
Furthermore, it is essential to further strengthen coordination among the Government, civil society, the private sector, women’s organizations, and development partners, as women’s economic empowerment requires collective efforts from all stakeholders. Mr. Leonito considers that through such consultation and collaboration, strategies can be developed that genuinely respond to women’s needs and contribute to Timor-Leste’s economic development.

In the same occasion, the Private Sector Coordinator, Ms. Herminia de Deus, emphasized that the National Colloquium is of great importance as a platform for consultation with key stakeholders in the development of the Strategic Plan for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Timor-Leste. She further expressed her appreciation for the participation of distinguished representatives and key stakeholders from the Government, development partners, civil society, the private sector, academia, and other relevant institutions, demonstrating their shared commitment to advancing women’s economic empowerment in the country.
Ms. Herminia underscored that this initiative builds upon the Government of Timor-Leste’s longstanding commitment of the Government of Timor-Leste and its partners to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and national priorities outlined in the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), with the overarching objective of advancing a prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable Timor-Leste. She called for continued collaboration and collective efforts to ensure that this strategy translates into meaningful and positive changes in the lives of women and contributes to Timor-Leste’s broader economic development.
On the same occasion, the Director-General of SEII, Mr. Armando da Costa, representing the Secretary of State for Equality, congratulated the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs (MCAE) for leading this important initiative to develop a national strategy for women’s economic empowerment, with technical support from Prosivu. He expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to participate in the consultation, noting that it represents an important milestone and that these collective efforts will help ensure that all people in Timor-Leste have equal opportunities to access and benefit from the country’s economic development.
Mr. Armando highlighted that women’s economic empowerment involves strengthening women’s capacity to exercise meaningful decision-making over their economic, lives, access productive resources, training and financial services, markets, and entrepreneurial opportunities, thereby enabling them to contribute more effectively to their own well-being, that of their families, and to national development. He further reaffirmed the commitment of the people of Timor-Leste to advancing gender equality as a national priority, emphasizing that this consultation represents an important opportunity to strengthen the integration of a gender perspective into economic policies and programmes.
The National Colloquium also included a presentation on the preliminary results of the situational analysis of Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in Timor-Leste, followed by a question-and-answer session focusing on future plans, strategic directions, and the way forward for WEE in Timor-Leste. This was followed by a group discussion session facilitated by the MCAE Team, the SEI Team, and the GEDSI Team of Prosivu, and concluded with presentations by the four respective groups.
The one-day National Consultation Colloquium was formally opened by the Coordinator of SUIE at MCAE, Mr. Leonito S. de Jesus. The event brought together the development partners, representatives of line ministries, international agencies, civil society organizations, as well as technical teams from MCAE and Prosivu.