Timor-Leste

This tenth edition of Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying... Show More + with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting eleven areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 185 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for Timor-Leste. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2012 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January - December 2011). Show Less -

The studies have the following objectives: a) independently evaluate the relevance and efficiency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) support in a country from... Show More + several points of view: national environmental frameworks and decision-making processes; the GEF mandate and the achievement of global environmental benefits; and GEF policies and procedures; b) assess the effectiveness and results of completed projects aggregated at the focal area; and c) provide feedback and knowledge sharing to (1) the GEF Council in its decision making process to allocate resources and to develop policies and strategies; (2) the country on its participation in, or collaboration with the GEF; and (3) the different agencies and organizations involved in the preparation and implementation of GEF funded projects and activities. The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Country Portfolio Study (CPS) covered GEF-financed interventions, including national projects and Timor-Leste elements of regional projects. The Timor-Leste GEF portfolio is relatively young as the country gained independence in 2002; hence the principal focus was on the completed Enabling Activities (EAs) and project under implementation or development assessed in terms of their relevance. So far Timor-Leste national GEF projects have been exclusively implemented by United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as have several of the regional projects in which the Government of Timor-Leste (GoTL) is a partner. Hence the focus was on UNDP. Timor-Leste is a young country, having attained independence in 2002 after more than 400 years of Portuguese colonialism and Indonesian occupation. In the countries first decade the emphasis, with some justification, have been security, peace building, establishing basic infrastructure, service provision, agricultural development and food security. Environmental issues were not initially a high priority for government however some issues such as climate change adaptation and land degradation have started to gain in prominence over the past five years as these impact local livelihoods and national development plans, and investments. Show Less -

Timor-Leste needs private sector agribusiness investment. Productivity levels in Timor-Leste are low by world standards and there is room for the private sector to play... Show More + an important role in introducing new technologies, providing access to markets, and investing capital in the intensification of production. These guidelines outline a number of central principles for the consideration of agribusiness investors involved in primary industry engagement in rural Timor-Leste. The principles are based on an analysis of rural development and agricultural performance in Timor-Leste drawn from several engagements between investors and community members over the last decade since the country gained its independence. This document is divided into two sections. The first provides guidelines intended to assist those investing in agribusiness in Timor-Leste or considering such an investment. The second section presents additional background information on rural development in Timor-Leste and the private sector. Show Less -

The purpose of this mapping is to identify and survey existing and defunct Youth Centers (YC) in both urban and rural Timor Leste in order to understand the needs of... Show More + YC's, their perspective on community youth needs and their perception on youth development. A youth centre, or 'centre Juventude' and 'Uma Foin Sae sira', is a physical location where young men and women gather to discuss, coordinate and participate in youth related activities. An YC could be a designated house on church grounds; a room in a school, a Sub District office or a building allocated by the community for the purpose of youth related activities. An YC in Timor Leste may be a modestly resourced house, or a derelict building where young people meet to organize national events, sporting competitions, or computer and language training. Sometimes it is simply be a meeting point 'for empowerment' where elected youth leaders from sucos (villages) and aldeias (hamlets) meet to raise awareness on youth related concerns. The idea of an YC has existed in Timor Leste for many years and has evolved with time. From its beginnings when it was used mainly for cultural and traditional practices, to a place to conduct underground clandestine activities, to what they are today. The survival of the YC is determined by economic factors, but more importantly it is determined by the support of which the community provides. Nowadays, YC's seem to all hold one common objective and that is to strive to deliver a range of diverse activities that attempt to improve the social and economic conditions of youth. Show Less -

The Timor Leste secession conflict lasted for 25 years. Its last wave of violence in 1999, following the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, generated massive displacement... Show More + and destruction with widespread consequences for the economic and social development of the country. This paper analyzes the impact of the conflict on the level and access to education of boys and girls in Timor Leste. The authors examine the short-term impact of the 1999 violence on school attendance and grade deficit rates in 2001, and the longer-term impact of the conflict on primary school completion of cohorts of children observed in 2007. They compare the educational impact of the 1999 wave of violence with the impact of other periods of high-intensity violence during the 25 years of Indonesian occupation. The short-term effects of the conflict are mixed. In the longer term, the analysis finds a strong negative impact of the conflict on primary school completion among boys of school age exposed to peaks of violence during the 25-year long conflict. The effect is stronger for boys attending the last three grades of primary school. This result shows a substantial loss of human capital among young males in Timor Leste since the early 1970s, resulting from household investment trade-offs between education and economic survival. Show Less -

What happens when the state's vision and expanding reach bring it into contact with traditional value systems and governance structures? In what circumstances can the... Show More + distribution of resources in a fragile society prevent-or exacerbate-conflict within and between communities? How do state expansion and public spending impact upon societal expectations of the state and state legitimacy? This report examines these questions through the lens of access, claiming, and decision making in government-sponsored community development programs. The findings illustrate the hurdles faced by government and development actors operating in pluralistic societies, and provide input on how local governance and decision making might be incorporated to enrich programming. This report aims to provide the government of Timor-Leste, particularly those responsible for decentralization, community development, and local governance planning, with information to inform their determination of an appropriate mix of models for local development. The relative priority the government will ultimately give to these different models, partly a trade-off between speed and depth, will impact on the way in which development and local governance are understood and taken on board by rural communities. This report finds that the achievement of the dual goals of state legitimacy and sustainable, effective local development hinges in large part on the willingness of state officials (and the donors that support them) to engage productively with communities and locally legitimate customary systems of authority. Show Less -

The Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) is committed to the development of the non-oil economy by enabling the diversification of domestic production and trade integration.... Show More + The objective of the Timor-Leste Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) is to agree on priority actions to help overcome constraints to expanding agricultural exports in the near-term. It supports the government's efforts to develop a broader international trade strategy, which may include strategic sectors such as tourism and fisheries. The focus of the DTIS is on short-term results in areas with immediate export potential. It therefore looks only at the agriculture sector. Achieving export growth and diversification are essential for supporting overall economic growth and employment generation. Non-oil export growth is critical in light of the external sustainability risks of depending on exhaustible petroleum exports. Expanding output for domestic consumption is also a priority and may help reduce dependence on imports. Policy actions to expand exports will impact positively on domestic trade as well. Timor-Leste faces the challenge of having to mostly create a non-oil export sector, rather than reviving one that is stagnant or destroyed because of conflict. This context is quite unique even when compared to similar small-island or post-conflict countries. Show Less -

Timor-Leste has higher rates of stunting than other countries in the same region. Many countries with lower per capita incomes exhibit lower rates of child stunting,... Show More + which demonstrates that it is possible to achieve better nutrition outcomes despite low income. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies impact well-being, and are highly prevalent in Timor-Leste particularly in young children. Adequate intake of micronutrients, particularly iron, vitamin A, iodine and zinc, from conception to age 24 months is critical for child growth and mental development. The World Bank is supporting the US$20 million Health Sector Strategic Plan Support Project (HSSP-SP) which aims to improve the quality and coverage of preventive and curative health services, particularly for women and children, in order to accelerate progress toward the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Show Less -

This paper includes the following points: agribusiness partnerships and you; when you negotiate to work with an investor; find out about your agribusiness investor before... Show More + making a partnership; who should talk to the investor about an agreement?; Understanding the commercial arrangements; learning what to do and communicating with the investor; whose land will be used for the project?; Risk management or why i shouldn't put all my eggs in one basket; what if I have a disagreement with the investor?; and how do you manage the benefits from an agribusiness partnership? Show Less -

This note has been prepared in the context of the International Investment Conference on "Investment and National Building in Timor Leste" that took place on 21-22 October,... Show More + 2010 in Dili, Timor-Leste. One of the topics of the international conference was a discussion of the potential for Public-Private Partnership in East Timor. This note elaborates on the key messages of the presenters during the conference and it is hoped that it will help guide the Government in moving forward with its PPP agenda. Show Less -