Dili Youth Service
Dili Youth Service is a new program, started in 2017 by the Overseas Relief Fund. We are bringing our experience and best practice methods from working with young people in Australia to the capital of East Timor, Dili.
Through our Outreach Services and Youth Center we engage young people in Dili and help them to make positive choices in their lives. We are aiming to be a leading youth specific agency in East Timor which play’s a major role in strengthening the support of marginalized young people in Dili.
We empower young people from local communities by offering a range of services and programs through our youth workers and partner organizations. Our local staff are from the communities we work with and we are committed to helping them engage their community with meaningful and effective programs.
Dili Outreach
Dili Youth Outreach Service is the newest project by the Overseas Relief Fund. Bringing best practice methods from Australia into Dili. We offer young people a chance to connect with our youth workers in their own environment, where they would normally be with their friends, so they don’t have to come all the way to the center to access help.
We work with local communities to facilitate activities such as sport, music, painting, cooking and special events. These are facilitated with cooperation from community members in safe spaces, where young people can be themselves and talk to our committed staff about what they want, need and access information on what services are available to them.
Through this engagement with local communities the Overseas Relief Fund is developing community relations, advocating for young people, and giving them positive opportunities. We are also creating a safety net for young people; when we identify marginalized young people in the community we are in a position to advocate for them and assist them to access services they need. This might be through referrals to other services or they might have a chance to directly connect with other organizations that are invited to join us in the community and offer their services through our programs.
Dili Youth Centre - Marconi
At our Timorese headquarters we have our offices where local and international staff work. The building has meeting rooms and open garden spaces for people to hang out and feel comfortable in.
We also have a classroom where we run training and other informal education services. These include; English language classes, leadership skills training, and journalism skills. We also run workshops and information sessions with partner organizations on Sexual and reproductive health, healthy relationships, managing emotions, alcohol and other drug information and more.
We offer transport to the Centre for the young people we meet in the community to help them access information and services that are important to young people. While our Centre is open to young people they have access to our youth workers who can listen to young people and offer advice on where to go for help.
