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Hanns-Seidel Foundation in joint mission with UNEP and the Portuguese government to Timor Leste
The Director of the HSF was part of a mission with UNEP and the Portuguese government to Timor Leste aiming to develop a joint strategy for environmentally sustainable development of this newly established country. At this mission, which took place from 17th to 21st February 2010, participated following members: Mr Surendra Shrestha, Mr Mahesh Pradhan, Ms Wanhua Yang from UNEP headquarters in Nairobi and UNEP/Bangkok as well as two representatives of the Portuguese environment ministry.
The objectives of the joint mission were as following:
o To understand government priorities related to environment
o To review ongoing initiatives implemented by multilateral agencies, donor agencies and others
o To formulate partnership program with government of Portugal and Hanns-Seidel Foundation
o Implementation modalities for priority environmental initiatives
o Needs assessment/ consultations for environmental/ biodiversity law project
Furthermore, this mission focused on the dissemination of the successful HSF environmental education program in Indonesia for students at primary schools in Timor Leste. Regarding that, the Director of the Hanns-Seidel Foundation in Indonesia and Mahesh Pradhan, Director of UNEP/ RRCAP consulted high ranking government stakeholders for evaluating anchor points to introduce and implement environmental education. Discussions with the Minister of Economy and Development, Mr Joao Mendes Goncalves, the State Secretary of Environment subordinated to this ministry as well as representatives of the Education Ministry (head of curricula development, head of national training center for teachers) made obvious that there is a significant need for environmental education in schools starting from the primary level. Furthermore, the government initiated already an interdepartmental commission between the a.m. government institutions to develop a new school curricula in Timor Leste which comprises environmental education as part of the school subject “Life skills”.
Finally, UNEP/Bangkok and HSF/Indonesia agreed to support training programs in environmental educations for teachers at the primary schools. This training will be conducted together with the national training center for teachers in Dili (Instituto Nacional de Formacao Profissional e Continua) and is based on the HSF modules on different environmental subjects elaborated in Indonesia. This training program also serves as an input for the further curriculum development in this country. The first session which will be tought in the Portuguese and Indonesian language will cover the topic “Biodiversity” in line with the “Year of Biodiversity 2010” publicly announced by UN Organizations.
