INITIATIVE: Timor-Leste Officials Arrive to Study Nepal's Peace Process

KATHMANDU, July 29: An official delegation from Timor-Leste led by Minister for Social Solidarity Isabel Amaral Guterres arrived in Kathmandu on Monday on a five-day visit.

The four-member delegation will meet Nepali officials to acquire first-hand experience of peace building and post-conflict reconstruction in Nepal, according to a press statement issued by the UNDP office in Kathmandu.

Both Nepal and Timor-Leste are emerging from a prolonged conflict and are working to address post-conflict challenges.
Over the past few years, Nepal has supported structures and developed strategies to address the complex post-conflict needs to decentralize peace building efforts and to ensure national dialogue around reconciliation and inclusion needs.

In addition, Nepal´s Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) also works to promote Social Cohesion and Conflict Management.

According to the UNDP, the Timor-Leste delegation is expected to meet and share experiences with the MoPR team. The delegation will also meet officials from the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), Ministry of Industry (MoI), Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), and Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC).
Nepal is one of the first South Asian countries to adopt a locally developed Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) Strategy, which is implemented through MoFALD and District Administration Offices in their programming.

Other members in the delegation include the Advisor for International Relations Casimiro Fátima dos Reis, the National Director for Assistance and Social Cohesion Amandio Amaral Freitas, and the Head of Department for Peace Building and Social Cohesion (DPBSC) Augustinho Cosme Belo.
The visit being facilitated by the UNDP will allow the Timor-Leste delegation to gain insight into the evolution of MoPR, interventions implemented by different governmental agencies and UNDP-Government of Nepal joint programming.

“The UNDP works in Timor-Leste, Nepal and other post-conflict countries to institutionalize conflict prevention at the national level, while mainstreaming conflict sensitive approaches in development planning and enhancing women´s participation in conflict prevention,” added the statement.