Timor-Leste is situated in South East Asia at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. It is the world’s youngest nation, having attained formal independence in May 2002 following over 400 years as a Portuguese colony, 24 years of Indonesian occupation and two years of UN administration.

Timor-Leste is the least developed country in Asia. It faces enormous development challenges including: high poverty levels; rapid population growth; widespread unemployment; low skills and education levels; lack of capacity in the public sector; low levels of service delivery in health and education; a weak justice system; and poor physical infrastructure.

Since independence, Timor-Leste, with international support, has made considerable progress in putting government structures in place. However, it experienced a political and security crisis in April 2006, the causes and consequences of which remain unresolved. It remains a fragile state, with a volatile security situation, a stagnant economy and large numbers of displaced persons.

Irish Aid’s engagement with Timor-Leste arose from the active role played by Ireland in the lead-up to its independence. It has progressed from the provision of emergency and humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of Indonesian withdrawal to long-term development assistance. Timor-Leste became an Irish Aid programme country in March 2003 and Irish Aid undertook the formulation of a long-term development strategy. The focus of Irish Aid’s assistance has been on nation building and on supporting the government and civil society in reducing poverty by delivering essential social services; by strengthening governance and human rights; and by building the capacity of the public service. The current Country Strategy Paper (CSP) covers the period 2006 – 2008. Work is underway on the formulation of the next CSP.

Irish Aid’s Work in Timor-Leste

Bilateral Aid to Timor-Leste in 2007: €4.596 million
Budget for 2008: €5.0 million
Population: 1,100,000
2007 HDI rank: 150th (out of 177 countries)

Basic Services

Irish Aid has supported the delivery of basic services in education, health, water and sanitation through the Consolidation Support Programme (CSP), a multi-donor programme of support for the Government of Timor-Leste’s annual action plans.  Donor funds for the CSP are channelled through a World Bank Trust Fund in support of the National Development Plan (NDP).

The first Constitutional Government’s National Development Plan was based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the MDGs were incorporated into that plan.  It is considered extremely likely that Goal 2 (universal primary education for all) and Goal 3 (gender equality in primary schools) will be attained.

Food insecurity is endemic in rural areas, where 86% of the poor live, and many rural households go short of food during the lean months of November to January. Food insecurity is partly the result of low levels of food production – a consequence of poor land and the generally low levels of technology, combined with high crop losses, both pre-harvest and post-harvest. Another problem is distribution: many farmers lack storage capacity and find it difficult to get their produce to market.

Public Sector Management / Capacity Building
Institutional capacity building has been a focus of the Irish Aid programme.  While considerable progress has been made in building the institutions of government, weak institutional capacity remains a chronic problem. This is particularly so in the public financial management area, where it presents a major development challenge and is a significant constraint on all other development objectives. In the absence of a healthy private sector, government spending on infrastructure and services will act as the engine of economic growth for the immediate future.  Weak capital budget execution has affected the ability of the government to provide goods and services, undertake development projects and accelerate job creation.  To address this challenge, Irish Aid supports the Planning and Financial Management Capacity Building Programme (PFMCBP), a multi-donor programme operating through a World Bank trust fund.

Irish Aid also supports a UNDP programme aimed at building the institutional and human capacities to manage and develop the public service. It focuses on strengthening the key government agencies responsible for capacity building in the public service.

Justice Sector

An effective justice system is a vital guarantor of the rule of law, of human rights and of the conditions necessary for social stability and economic development. The 2006 crisis in Timor-Leste graphically exposed the weakness of the justice system, which faces enormous challenges. The judiciary is weak and access to justice is very difficult. Irish Aid supports the UNDP’s Justice Sector Strengthening Programme, whose objectives include greater efficiency in processing court cases and the implementation of a training programme for justice sector personnel.  A recent independent review of the programme concluded that it has made a significant contribution to the strengthening of the justice system, though access to justice still remains limited. There are also issues surrounding the use of Portuguese as the judicial language, though most Timorese, especially in rural areas, speak only Tetum.

Local Development

Local development is a key component of Irish Aid’s Timor-Leste programme. The establishment of a local government system is central to promoting good governance and to ensuring the better delivery of social services. The Timor-Leste government is in the process of finalising its policy on decentralisation and local government and Irish Aid is supporting this process through the UNDP/UNCDF “Local Governance Support Programme”. This is aimed at defining a local government structure (municipalities), including roles and responsibilities of the administrations and of local representative bodies; as well as producing the necessary draft legislation. 

Simultaneously, Irish Aid supports community development projects in four target districts through a small grants facility administered by the Embassy and aimed at  community groups and local NGOs. Projects have included construction of classrooms, health centres, water supplies, sanitation, bridges and community halls as well as training of community development officers and HIV/AIDS peer educators.

Gender Equality / Civil Society

Achieving gender equality remains a particular challenge in Timor-Leste. Irish Aid has taken a leading role in this area through support for the Government’s Office for the Promotion of Equality (OPE) and its successor, the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI). Support has included technical assistance and funding assistance for training activities, gender equality promotional activities and production of gender guidelines and checklists. This has resulted in an increased reflection of gender issues in the Government’s annual action plans. Support is also provided to UNIFEM and to civil society organisations active in promoting the political and economic advancement of women.

Civil Society organisations help in promoting good governance through monitoring, advocacy, education and communication.  Working with and strengthening civil society is an important element of the Irish Aid programme. It features prominently in both our gender equality and human rights involvements. The NGO Forum (FONGTIL) is an umbrella organisation that works in capacity building, coordinating and representing civil society. Irish Aid supports FONGTIL to enable it to better facilitate and build up the capacity of its member organisations. It also provides support to other NGO’s working in the area of conflict resolution programmes.

Human Rights

Irish Aid supports the monitoring and promotion of human rights through direct support to NGOs involved in human rights education and also through national institutions such as the Office of the Provedor for Human Rights and Justice (which combines the functions of a human rights commission, ombudsman and anti-corruption agency).  The Office has run training courses for those involved in election monitoring and human rights education and played a significant role in documenting human rights infringements that took place during the civil conflict of 2006. 

Irish Aid supports two national NGOs to carry out human rights monitoring and education. Association HAK’s work includes monitoring and investigation of human rights cases; research and analysis of the human rights situation and government policy; training and human rights education and project management.

Forum Tau Matan (The Watch Forum) carries out education programmes on human rights for communities, focussing on the rights enshrined in the Constitution and the UN Conventions which Timor-Leste has ratified.

Additional Funding from Irish Aid to Timor-Leste

Funding was also provided from Emergency and Humanitarian section to the World Food programme for emergency food relief; Caritas International as the NGO security focal point; and Concern for their emergency nutrition programme in Timor-Leste during 2007.

Funding was provided from Civil Society section for an Irish United Nations Volunteer (UNV) in Timor-Leste in 2007.  The UNV programme is the volunteer arm of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  Irish Aid provides funding for Irish and non-Irish people to work as UN Volunteers on one or two-year assignments in developing countries.

Concern and Trócaire have been active in Timor-Leste for a number of years.  Since 2006, Irish Aid has provided approximately €1.15m in Multi-Annual Programme Scheme (MAPS) funds from Civil Society section to support their activities in Timor Leste.  MAPS aims to facilitate a strategic and programmatic relationship between Irish Aid and key Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) partners through Irish Aid financial support, for an agreed programme of development activity.

The Civil Society Fund (CSF) provides grants for small to medium-sized projects which meet needs in the Sectors of Basic Education, Primary Healthcare, Water Sanitation and Community Rural Development.  Funding is being provided from the CSF to the International Centre for Transitional Justice in Timor-Leste.