Government partnerships paving the way in Timor-Leste

Alipio Baltazar, Country Director in Timor-Leste, shared how he sees the impact of Mary MacKillop Today’s successful partnerships with the Timorese government across our work with local communities.

Every day, I see how important it is for my team here in Timor-Leste to have a good working relationship with various government departments. I’m thankful for the positive partnership that Mary MacKillop Today has created with the Timorese government. It helps us to respond to the needs of our local community and ensure the quality of our services aligns with the policies of the government.

Many of our education projects may not be possible without collaboration with the government. Over the years, we have built good faith and a successful partnership through ongoing coordination, consultation and communication with government departments. We now have a formalised government partnership for our Mobile Learning Centre, Tetun Literacy and Teacher Training, Parents Training, and Health Literacy projects. This allows us to easily coordinate with local authorities to implement our project activities.

The impact of having good partnerships means that the community can receive consistent information from both Mary MacKillop Today and the government. We are all working together to achieve the same goals. Where there is limited access to government services, especially for rural communities, Mary MacKillop Today can step in to deliver the support ‘on the ground’.

Government support allows our work to benefit so many children, families and communities. Whether we are increasing teachers’ knowledge and skills, providing books and other learning resources, or facilities like toilets or library bookshelves — it all makes a big difference for communities experiencing disadvantage.

“The Mobile Learning Centre awakened our spirit of teaching.”

School teacher, Juliana, told us what it’s been like to have Mary MacKillop Today’s Mobile Learning Centre visit her school in a remote village.

I appreciate the MLC program in our school. It is a way to encourage students to come to school. Teachers learn how to prepare daily lessons and activities to teach students in an active way. We are trained to use animation songs with actions, teach drawing and reading, and use games to teach. Our school has received story books with colourful art that draws students’ attention to read stories on their own. When children go into the bus to get books to read, it is exciting for both student and teacher.

When the MLC was introduced to our school, it awakened our spirit of teaching. As a teacher, I discover new things through the MLC program, gain new insights, learning and experiences. My students are motivated to come to class and learn, because they see teachers are motivated to teach.