Protecting the rights of women and children affected by Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Timor-Leste Evaluation Report

The ‘Protecting the rights of women and children affected by Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Timor-Leste’, project was implemented from 2021 to 2025 by Asisténsia Legál ba Feto no Labarik (ALFeLa) in partnership with the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) and funded by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Australian NGO Corporation Program (ANCP). The project focused on four intended outcomes: improved women and children’ access to justice (1); increased duty-bearer ability to implement GBV laws (2); influence on laws upholding women and children’s rights (3); and strengthened organisational capacity of ALFeLa through support from IWDA (4).

This evaluation aimed to understand project impact and effectiveness, including successes, and enabling factors, and challenges, barriers, and risks; assess the extent to which the project, IWDA’s support and partnership increased ALFeLa’s organisational capacity; and provide actionable recommendations for the project, ALFeLa’s sustainability, and the partnership. The evaluation was completed between September 2025 and April 2026 (including one week of data collection in Dili in October) by a team from IWDA, comprised of the Senior Program Manager-Quality, Timor-Leste Program Manager and Timor-Leste Program Coordinator. The evaluation process was co-led team with ALFeLa’s management team and involved a comprehensive desk review, key informant interviews with 18 external stakeholders, and a focus-group discussion and data-validation workshop with 20 ALFeLa staff.