Programmes

Today The Alola Foundation has grown to respond to many other needs of East Timorese women and children in the following areas:

Advocacy: to advocate for the advancement of women's aspirations in all areas of their lives;
Economic Empowerment: to empower women to achieve economic independence;
Education & Literacy: to support women and their children's access to education;
Maternal & Child Health: to help reduce maternal and child mortality rates by promoting good health among women and their communities;
Humanitarian Assistance: to offer practical assistance to those women whose families are most in need .

Friends of the Alola Foundation raises funds that directly support these programmes and also runs its own programmes in the UK to raise awareness of East Timor here.

Our most recent success has been to be awarded funding from the Stratreal Foundation to build and run 5 kindergardens in Atauro, an Island in the Dili district. More infomation is available on our 'News' page.

In response to the humanitarian crisis in Dili, the capital of East Timor, and some other areas of East Timor, FAF launched an appeal in June 2006 and we were able to transfer £7,000 to the Alola Foundation. This will help women in children whose homes were burned and lives devastated to rebuild their homes and communities and bring their lives back to normal as quickly as possible. The Alola plays a key role in what will be a monumental relief and relocation effort.

We also work to raise awareness of the situation in East Timor and act as a networking hub for East Timor matters in the UK. We have made contacts with British people who work in East Timor and East Timorese people studying in the UK, they have been invited to give talks to the Trustees.

We work to raise awareness of the plight of East Timor in our local communities by giving illustrated talks. We have also lobbied in the interests of East Timor, recently sending a letter to Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett asking her to reconsider her decision to close the British Embassy in East Timor.

Eventually, we hope to be a centre for news and resources on East Timor, making information accessible to a European audience.

For more information on FAF's activities, please click here to go to the 'FAF news and events page'.