“We Are the Eyes and Ears for Them”: A Qualitative Study on the Influence of Religious and Cultural Values on Service Providers’ Response to Intimate Partner Violence in Timor-Leste

This study examines the influence of Indigenous cultural and religious values on intimate partner violence (IPV) service provision in Timor-Leste, where such values are integral to national identity, and the Catholic Church holds significant power. While Timor-Leste has prioritised strengthening survivor-centred approaches, the complex role of cultural and religious values in service provision remains underexplored. This study adopts a decolonising methodological approach to examine the interplay between culture, particularly Catholic values, and Timor-Leste's colonial history. This approach enables critical reflection on the lead researcher's positionality as an Indigenous Timorese woman, providing an emic perspective on representations of culture. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 service providers from the formal Gender-Based Violence (GBV) referral network in the Baucau and Dili municipalities. Thematic analysis of the way values were operationalised in provider narratives about their interaction with survivors of IPV reveals the intertwined influence of religion, culture, and human rights frameworks on everyday practice. The findings demonstrate how providers leveraged cultural and religious values for emotional support, advocacy, and connecting survivors with other services, including assistance with separation, while also demonstrating an understanding of survivors' wishes and adherence to formal justice processes. However, these values play complex and sometimes contradictory roles in service providers' response to IPV, revealing attitudes of victim blaming and minimising survivors' trauma. While these values have been identified as potential barriers to help-seeking behaviours among survivors and can contribute to the normalisation of abuse, they also serve as sources of emotional support and resilience for both survivors and providers. We advocate for a contextually sensitive approach to IPV interventions that move beyond reductive cultural narratives, recommending training programmes that adopt a decolonising lens, recognising generational trauma and the potential strengths of religious and culturally rooted values when integrated with trauma-informed care.