Who we are
Juventude ba Dezenvolvimentu Nasional (JDN) is a youth led non-government organization that was founded in 2014 by a group of young people aged 17-24 because we wanted to understand and act on the issues affecting us and other young people. We also wanted to find ways for young people living in the Municipalities to share some of the opportunities that are available to us in Dili.
Members of JDN are either continuing our post secondary school studies, or are working or looking for work. Eight members are currently working on a full-time or part-time basis to coordinate leadership development opportunities and project activities with assistance from two advisors from Australia. Everything we do aims to build the skills, knowledge and capacity of JDN members and other young people who participate in projects organised by JDN. Our Board meets quarterly to review organisational and project developments and provide advice. The Board consists of JDN members Elga da Silva and Ines da Costa, as well as Mr Manuel Dos Santos, Ms Sonia Lay, Mr Nelson Mesquita, Ms Bernadette McEvoy and Ms Jenny Lauritsen. A coordination group of 12 JDN members is responsible for implementing activities that respond to JDN's annual priorities.
JDN produces documents outlining our plans and activities, including a summary of 2017 activities (see below).
Members of JDN are either continuing our post secondary school studies, or are working or looking for work. Eight members are currently working on a full-time or part-time basis to coordinate leadership development opportunities and project activities with assistance from two advisors from Australia. Everything we do aims to build the skills, knowledge and capacity of JDN members and other young people who participate in projects organised by JDN. Our Board meets quarterly to review organisational and project developments and provide advice. The Board consists of JDN members Elga da Silva and Ines da Costa, as well as Mr Manuel Dos Santos, Ms Sonia Lay, Mr Nelson Mesquita, Ms Bernadette McEvoy and Ms Jenny Lauritsen. A coordination group of 12 JDN members is responsible for implementing activities that respond to JDN's annual priorities.
JDN produces documents outlining our plans and activities, including a summary of 2017 activities (see below).
Hi, I am Aliança Fernandes. In JDN I am a coordinator for the Young People with Disabilities and Safe Transport projects. I am happy to join JDN because I want to raise the voice of women and to end discrimination against young people with Disabilities. I am happy to work for a better life for all young people and for the development in Timor-Leste. In JDN I have the chance to meet and work with strong teams of young people and learn how to run activities to achieve our objectives. I hope in the future all young people can live in a safe place where the environment is more inclusive and supportive especially so that young people with disabilities can access lots of opportunities.
My name is Anzenita Monteiro, and I am 24 years old. I have been a nutrition educator with JDN since 2019. I work with my team of nutrition educators to train other peer educators to educate young people, especially young mothers in their communities so that they have more knowledge about how to provide nutritious food for their families. Currently I am working with some young women in Lecibuta, Dili, to establish home gardens and prepare food that they can sell. I am completing my studies as a nutrition and dietetic student at the national university (UNTL).
I’m Belizia Maria Mesquita Dias. I am the President of JDN, and I work as Coordinator of our Sexual harassment Projects. My responsibilities are to work with other young people to decide how we can act together at all levels of society to stop sexual harassment. This includes training young women as sexual harassment activists, organising workshops and socialization for young women and men in their communities and prioritizing our areas of action. In doing this we coordinate with our partners and other organisations. I’m 25 years old and a final student at UNTL majoring in Education, Art and Humanites.
My name Is Clemen Mesquita and I'm 24 years old. Through JDN I got my driver’s licence and learnt to drive JDN’s Microlet. Now I am employed by JDN to drive the microlet for JDN’s community activities and our History and Culture Tours. I am also a gender ifluencer, so I do household duties and I share these duties with my sisters. As a gender Influencer I also organize and facilitate education about Gender Equality with other young people.
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Hi, I'm Eka. I love to share what I learn with other people and in JDN I get a lot of opportunities to learn by doing, which means I can use my new abilities to help other people. And this is how we keep progressing and progressing. Thanks to JDN for the many opportunities I have as a young person, for example as a tour guide for our History and Culture tours; also learning how to be a good facilitator for nutrition education, adolescent reproductive health, working with young people with disabilities and Covid-19 prevention.
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Hello I am Inês. I am working as coordinator for JDN's History and Culture tours and as a finance officer. I am fortunate to be trusted to do this work with JDN. I am also as a sexual harassment activist and work with female members from JDN to take action to make changes for a better life. Through JDN I have learnt to express more myself and I hope to continue to contribute to JDN and share my experience with the other young people in Timor-Leste.
I’m Jescia Nelinha da Silva Ximenes - my friends call me Nea. I am a project coordinator for JDN gender equality influencers, working with a team to educate young men in the community to promote gender equality in their homes and communities. As a nutrition peer educator I organize workshops to educate young mothers in their communities know about good nutrition and how to prepare healthy food for their families. I am also a tour guide and a sexual harassment activist, because I want to end sexual harassment in our country. I’m 24 years old and am studying Nutrition at the National University.
I’m Liborio c.a da Silva and I am a Gender Equality influencer with JDN. My responsibility is to influence young people to promote Gender Equality by holding interactive workshops in local communities. When young men attend a Gender Equality workshop and start using the things that they learned we discuss the changes that they see when they take action in their homes and communities. We offer them more training so that they can also influence their friends and family, and learn how become facilitators of the next activities or training that JDN conducts. I’m 20 years old and I study at the Faculty of Law in the national university, UNTL.
I am Mariana, 25 years old. I got involved in JDN in 2019, as an Adolescent Reproductive Health facilitator. I facilitate workshops for young people in different parts of Timor-Leste to educate them about the risk and consequences of early pregnancy. I also provide training to help young mothers in and around Dili to develop their own small business so they can make their own income. I am happy with my job because I can learn new things from the program and also from other people that participate in our workshops. Some of these things are public speaking, confidence, improving English speaking, how to organize events, lead training and collaborate with other people in our team.
My name is Nelson Barros Pereira Xavier. I am 20 years old, and I work with Juventude ba Dezenvolvimentu Nasionál (JDN) to address issues related to persons with disabilities, because I also have a disability. We identifying issues and prioritise our actions, including promoting the use of good terminology for persons with disabilities and inclusive education. I also interview young people with disabilities and write up their life stories. Through JDN I am learning to lead activities and to take my own initiative. I am also a Gender Equality Influencer and work with the Gender Equality team to run workshops for young men to learn about gender equality and practise it in their families.
Hi I’m Tinesia. I’m happy to join JDN because I am learning more about leadership, responsibility and increasing my knowledge through the work I do as a nutrition educator. I organise cooking classes and demonstrations to teach young mothers how to prepare healthy food for their family and themselves. Hopefully in the future I can contribute more to Timor-Leste in the nutrition area. I will soon graduate after completing my studies in Nutrition and Dietetics at the National University.
I’m Venizia Maria Carvalho, I’m 25 Years old and I work as a Finance Assistant with JDN. I’m also a sexual harassment activist because I want to take action to prevent the sexual harassment that young women face everywhere. I also work with young people with disabilities so that we can end the discrimination that prevents them from developing themselves in the way that they want to, like having the opportunity to study, to speak up for themselves and to participate in activities with other young people.
Summary of 2022 activities
One of our biggest highlights during 2022 was providing leadership education for 50 young people with disabilities who prioritised 5 main issues that they wanted to address to improve their lives including:
Members of the 5 Action Teams contacted training centres where further education is now being undertaken; We made a short film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXLdDCDkLS8) where young people with disabilities talked about their experiences and hopes for the future; We designed messages that were printed on posters, banners and t-shirts to discuss and distribute in their families and communities; and we organised a community event attended by 600 young people where all the above priorities were addressed in collaboration with representatives from Government, the UN and other organisations. Our other highlights were training 100 new peer educators who organised community education activities for 2500 young people in and around Dili, who are now promoting gender equality in their homes and communities and standing up against all forms of discrimination, particularly sexual harassment and treatment of people with disabilities. In addition, 10 JDN members learnt to drive a motor vehicle, 10 tour guides led History and Culture Tours for 193 people and 10 documents were translated by our translation service. A summary of the skills developed by JDN peer educators during 2022 is included here: 93 Facebook posts reached 349,554 people and our followers, who are predominantly Timor-Leste young people, increased to 10,000. These posts included the actions of 16 sexual harassment activists and 6 gender equality influencers. We continue to work with the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Secretary of State for Equality and Inclusion towards the implementation of a Code of Conduct for Public Transport Drivers as a way of eliminating sexual harassment on public transport. Personnel changes in both agencies has slowed down this process, but we are not giving up. Here is the link to a film we made about this issue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHTxN8V3ewo&t=6s), which shows how the drivers themselves are working with us to get a Code of Conduct as it will support them when they have to deal with the harassment that happens constantly on their buses. Nutrition Educators and their teams continued educating young mothers in their communities about the importance of a balanced diet for themselves and their families, teaching them recipes that they can afford to cook. Our nutrition work is a high priority because lack of education, amongst other things, is responsible for stubbornly high rates of malnutrition, which are amongst the highest in this part of world. Three young women were selected to visit South Australia for 2 weeks where they discussed what JDN is doing to address discrimination and harassment and high levels of malnutrition. Talking and meeting with people of all ages who are also working on these issues was an invaluable experience for them. We are very grateful to have continued financial support from our funders and donors, including the Andrew McNaughtan Foundation, the Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters (BMETS), DFAT through the Australian Volunteer Program, the German Government through GIZ, the indigo foundation, the O’Sullivan Centre, and the US Embassy. In addition, our self-financing initiatives, including our tours and translation service, raised 8% of our annual income. |
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