The first BRIDGE Train-the-Facilitator (TtF) workshop in Timor Leste was conducted in Com in April 2011. Funding for this further capacity building program in electoral administration was provided by AusAID, as part of the Australian Government’s continuing support for Timor Leste.

The Australian Electoral Commission, in collaboration with Commissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE), conducted the TtF for CNE, Observatorio da  Igreija Para os Assuntos Sociais (OIPAS), Timor Leste Media Development Center (TLMDC), Centro Jornalismo Investigativo Timor Leste (CJITL), and the Alola Foundation.

The President of CNE, Dr Faustino Cardoso Gomes, opened the workshop in Dili on Friday 1 April 2011. The opening ceremony included a celebration of 10 years of BRIDGE in Timor Leste, the birth place of Facilitators and participants then travelled to Com, in the far east of the island, on Saturday 2 April.

The workshop, conducted from 4 April to 7 April and from 10 April to 15 April, had 22 participants, two of whom also served as translators and interpreters for the non- Timorese facilitators. The aim of the TtF was to provide valuable experience to all participants in BRIDGE methodology, content, curriculum development and evaluation.  The workshop also aimed to train and identify suitably skilled Timorese facilitators to conduct BRIDGE workshops in the future.

The workshop modelled BRIDGE facilitation by experienced facilitators as well as provided opportunities for all participants to present current BRIDGE curriculum material, to develop their own material and to again present similar material, this time written by other participants.

The workshop focused on the curriculum of the Civic Education module, as CNE prepares itself to conduct a civic education program for the upcoming elections in 2012.

The workshop was closed on Friday 15 April by the Director General of CNE, Senor Olavio da Costa Almeida Monteiro.  He reinforced that this training is very important for CNE to prepare and strengthen its human resources capacity and readiness for the coming general elections.

The Australian Electoral Commission BRIDGE TtF facilitation team was Augusto Pereira, Brian Latham and Peita Mamo.

Congratulations to all participants, who received their semi-accreditation as workshop facilitators and also to Augusto Pereira and Peita Mamo, who were accredited as Accrediting Facilitators.