Metagou, Liquiça, Timor-Leste: When Rosa Sarmento announced to her husband that she was would be a community overseer on a road building project for a difficult and mountainous road in her village of Metagou, she might have well announced that she was flying to the moon.

“But women can’t work! They don’t work!” he said. He worried the labour would be too heavy for her and wondered whether she’d really be able to manage teams of male and female community labourers.


Rosa says his attitude changed dramatically once he saw that not only could she do the physically demanding work, but that that her income helped support the family. “When my husband’s salary was late, and he was happy to have money from me,” beams Rosa. “He sees I can contribute to the household finances.”

The road was built under the Enhancing Rural Access Project which is financed by the European Union and implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Project, which partners with the Ministry of Public Works, has provided work for 8,000 people from rural communities.

The project is overturning some widely held beliefs about the role of men and women and how village roads should be constructed. Instead of using heavy machinery like earth diggers, more intensive handlabour
is used - generating work for the community and stimulating the local economy.

Rosa Sarmento was nominated as an overseer by the local community, responsible for 1.7 kms of road. It was her job to ensure each work crew completed their sections of the road on time and the road was built according to international standards in road construction.

Rosa Sarmento and her friend, Monica Maria Antonia, another female overseer, earned a reputation for ensuring their crews worked hard and fast.

“The women worked really well and as overseers they were very good,” says the village chief, Luis Freitas. Luis Freitas says the women overseers ensured the road was built to a high level of construction standards, as they knew that if the road building teams took shortcuts, the road’s durability would be much shorter.

Both Rosa and Monica say they were motivated to become part of the road building gangs after seeing the company building the road, Vicaroman, was headed by a woman. Guilhérmina said this helped her understand how and why they should use community labour and also how to prepare bids for projects of this size, without bankrupting her company—a common occurrence for
novice construction companies.

The community initially doubted that a female-led company could successfully construct the difficult mountainous road.

“They challenged me; do you have the funds? Do you have equipment?” she says of the first community meeting to announce the construction.Guilhérmina Soares Mouzinho, Vicaroman’s Director, is one of several female company directors who received contracts under the ERA Project, as well as training.

The training—which covered how to develop well-priced bids, how to make financial plans and how to employ and train community labour— was given to over 400 company directors as part of the ERA Project.
Another challenge was fulfilling the requirement to hire 30 % of their community labour force from female community members.

“In Timor Leste women are not permitted to do heavy work,” says Guilhérmina Soares. The reality is different she says, with most women doing heavy on a daily basis, but it’s largely unrecognized—carrying water from rivers or a well, as well as a small baby.

She managed to win over the community by building a close relationship with the village chief, the hamlet chiefs, and the youth representative on the local council, and also persuade them to mobilize young men and women for the labour force, as well as married women such as Rosa and Monica.

But Guilhérmina Soares thinks her presence also played a motivating force. “Because I am a woman, so I prioritise giving an opportunity to women,” she says, adamantly.

“Being the director of a company is not just about having a business, it’s about getting closer to the community, especially the women. Before they were afraid to speak up in meetings but when they see a female company director, they start to talk.”

“We need women to participate in their community development, in the nation’s development. If not now, when?” she asks.

The ERA construction and road building training, has provided the Vicaroman team with valuable skills and experience, says Guilhérmina Soares.“As a Timorese I’m very happy with the ERA project, because it opened up opportunities for us to increase our capacity as supervisors, engineers, and managers. Now we have this experience we can compete with other companies,” she adds with confidence.

The article was written by Marianne Kearney, the ILO's consultant for the ERA Project