Graduation Ceremony of the Women’s School in South Central Timor Regency (TTS) – East Nusa Tenggara Province

ICRAF Indonesia, through the Land4Lives program with the support of the Canadian government, developed the Skol Bife Nekamese model in Neke Village in 2022 in collaboration with the GMIT Nekamese church, and also established Skol Atoni as a learning platform for men. In February 2024, 69 women participating in Skol Bife Nekamese completed their studies.

The year 2025 marked a replication point: ICRAF Indonesia, the TTS Regional Government, GMIT Klasis ATU, and other partners expanded this model to other villages across TTS. This collaboration produced a Women’s School guideline used to train 174 facilitators—consisting of 160 women and 14 men—to mentor each study group. By late 2025, approximately 38 women’s schools had been established across 28 villages, with 25 groups actively running activities. CIS Timor has also opened three women’s schools since late 2024 as part of its organizational focus on disaster risk reduction and GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion).

The Skol Bife groups that commenced their studies in late 2024 are now reaching the graduation stage, having gone through gradual monitoring and evaluation throughout 2025. This graduation ceremony recognizes the participants’ consistency over 1.5 years of study and marks a new chapter for them to develop good practices within their respective communities. Families, churches, the government, and development partners play a crucial role in continuing to strengthen women’s empowerment and realizing gender equality for climate-resilient livelihoods in South Central Timor.

This event aims to appreciate the participants who have completed their studies, strengthen the network among women’s schools in TTS, and build stakeholder commitment to developing the program moving forward. The graduation took place on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at the Sonhalan Niki-Niki Congregation Church, and was attended by approximately 700 members and facilitators of the Women’s Schools. Also in attendance were representatives from the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (Kemen PPPA), the NTT Provincial Office of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (Dinas P3A), the Regent and Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) of TTS, the TTS Offices of P3A and Community and Village Empowerment (PMD), the TTS Inspectorate, the Sub-district Heads (Camat) of Oenino and Amanuban Tengah, village heads from 23 villages, the GMIT Synod Assembly, the Daily Klasis Assembly, ICRAF, and CIS Timor. ICRAF, the South Central Timor Office of P3A, and GMIT Klasis Amanuban Tengah Utara jointly organized this event.