Dili, 5 December, 2023 – The Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) consortium, comprised of CARE in Timor-Leste, Caritas Australia (CAN DO), Oxfam Timor-Leste, PLAN International Timor-Leste and World Vision Timor-Leste, inaugurates the new phase of the Disaster READY project.

The focus of the project is to build local partnership and collaboration in disaster management to increase collective impact for the intervention of the project. Disaster READY phase 1 started in January 2018 and operated until June 2022. Following its successes, the consortium has been awarded phase 2 of the project with the period from July 2022 until December 2026. The new phase will work proactively to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability of communities at risk of disasters and climate change impacts, with special focus on gender equality, disability and social inclusion.

Disaster READY phase 1 achieved many successes during its operational period, including:

• 65 sucos, 52 schools and 242 aldeias developed or updated a disaster risk reduction plan
• 44% of Suco Disaster Management Committees have people with disabilities represented
• 29, 924 total vulnerable communities reached

Today, the AHP consortium organised an inception workshop with key partners and stakeholders to formally introduce the second phase of the project, through sharing of key objectives, interventions, operational area and project approaches.

Opening the event, the Secretary of State for Civil Protection, H.E Joaquim José Gusmão dos Reis reinforced the importance of Disaster READY’s work in Timor-Leste. He noted, “We must not only focus on providing support to communities after disasters strike. The Disaster READY project is key to supporting vulnerable communities to prepare and increase their resilience to disasters. By supporting communities to prepare for, and mitigate the risks of disasters, we save the lives of vulnerable people in communities who are at most risk”.

As the representative of Australian Embassy in Timor-Leste, Jacqueline Herbert stated during the event, “The Embassy of Australia recognises the importance of the Disaster READY project in Timor-Leste. The support from the civil society organisations such as the AHP consortium is invaluable to the Government of Timor-Leste. With the continuation of this project, we hope to save lives, enhance human dignity, and alleviate suffering caused by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, like we did in 2021 after the severe flooding in Timor-Leste”.

During his opening of the event, Peter Goodfellow, Country Director of CARE in Timor-Leste, said “I would like to acknowledge the commitment of Australia to generously supporting the Government of Timor-Leste through this programme with the solid and established partnership with the Civil Protection Authority. This joint commitment is crucial to the wellbeing of the people of Timor-Leste, particularly for socially marginalised citizens that live in rural, remote parts of the country who are at most risk from the impacts of natural disasters”.