Mobile training ensures PNDS staff has the skills to help their communities

Mobile training ensures PNDS staff has the skills to help their communities

Programa Nasionál Dezenvolvimentu Suku (PNDS, or the National Program for Village Development) has launched a mobile training program, to ensure district based staff have the skills to support their communities.

Australian Aid has supported PNDS since 2011, with $25m provided over the past three years (2011-15). The funding is used for training, technical advice and support, and monitoring and evaluation.

Construction training experts will travel to remote areas of Timor to mentor PNDS staff in construction techniques and check the quality of the projects. The sub-district technical facilitators are the focus of the first round of mobile training, organised by the Government of Timor Leste, working with advisors from Australian Aid.

Sub-district technical facilitators assist communities to decide what infrastructure they need. They help their communities to construct the project themselves (without the use of contractors), including working with them on proposals, designs, budgets and procurement.

PNDS, an initiative of the Government of Timor-Leste, provides communities with the resources they need (funds, training and support) so they can choose, design and build small infrastructure projects in their village. A secondary aim is to increase the skills of Timor-Leste’s work force, ensuring communities can manage their own infrastructure projects in the future.

Australian Aid is working with the Government of Timor-Leste to organise and fund the mobile training program. The training will ensure PNDS staff are confident in guiding community construction of small infrastructure projects, and continue to increase their skills and knowledge.
 

A mobile trainer works with a PNDS technical facilitator to check a water tap in Pante Macassar, Oecusse .