As an umbrella organization,  FONGTIL has been affected by the pandemic and by the government’s consequent restrictions. We changed the way we work and now we work remotely from home, limited interaction with our members.  And we have even halted some activities.

CSO general have scaled or reduced their organization activities due to the COVID 19 outbreak in Timor-Leste and the government’s consequent restrictions. For example public transport was brought halt and limited personnel movement. This means a lot of people will go without accessing services from CSOs due to transport challenges couple with increased cost.
This has also fuelled domestics violence and conflicts with the families due to reduced family income because many people are not working.

People with disabilities have been tried to include them in the national response but some section of people lack information about covid-19. This implies that the information provided by governments and institutions both to prevent infection and to know how to act in case of illness must be available in accessible formats, including sign language, video captioning, the use of alternative text in images and graphics displayed digitally, and easy-to-read versions.

It is also important to remove the barriers that group faces in accessing health services and hygiene products, as well as to consider reasonable accommodation measures to allow them to work from home and, if that is not possible, to ensure they receive a disability benefit to guarantee their income.

Disease outbreaks has affect women and men, girls and boys, differently. While children’s health appears less impacted by COVID-19 than older adults, children’s education is interrupted, protective structures disrupted and their families and communities placed under stress by health and economic burdens. Many families have relocated from Dili to the village interrupting further the education of the education because in the rural setting there is limited internet.

Children are also at risk of psychological distress at times of crisis as well as increased risk of violence, abuse exploitation and neglect.

CSOs are involved and consulted on the national COVID 19 response. 

The covid-19 has had any positive effects also political parties represented in parliament agreed all together on the measures to control the transmission of the covid-19 and fight the common enemy 

The international community should Governments to take measures to mitigate the effects of school closures on girls, boys and their families.  And support Education authorities and schools to ensure education continues during lockdown or school closures.
FONGTIL role on supporting government on the Covid-19 prevention and eradiction
Conducting public awareness on the Covid-19 prevention, humanitarian assistant activity and hygiene (; mask  soap, hand sanitizer  for the community to prevent covid-19 transmission. Established media center for communication the impact of Covid-19

FONGTIL have conducting rapid assessment in all municipalities on covid-19 impact in economic and food security and the result we are communication to the government implementation.

FONGTIL has stabilized center information for the Covid-19 impact. The information Got From this center, helps fongtil to influence the government with fact. We also invite people affected by Covid-19 to talk to the media due to measure put in place to prevent the transmission the covid-19. The people give life to the public what their going through. FONGTIL used this information to influence the government to take action on addressing the challenges people are facing.