Timor-Leste

This newsletter includes the following headings: think globally, act locally with Dili Distance Learning Center (DDLC); act now, act together, act differently; and national... Show More + priorities process. Show Less -

The East Asia and the Pacific justice for the poor (EAP-J4P) program is collaboration between the World Bank and AusAID which supports intensive analytical and programmatic... Show More + work in countries where legal pluralism presents a central challenge to equitable development. A crucial premise of the program is the appreciation that issues of law and justice cut across all sections of political and economic life, and that an engagement with the dynamics of existing rule systems and the relationships of power that underpin them is a prerequisite to equitable development. This program framework document (PFD) lays out a rationale and overview of J4P programming in Timor-Leste. The program design was derived from an analysis of the country context, government and the World Bank priorities, and is based on a strategy of close collaboration with existing and planned the World Bank programs. Further structure will be provided through a series of concept notes for key initiatives which will be produced as the program develops during the period 2009-2012. Show Less -

This note discusses Timor-Leste's identification, recognition, and assistance of veterans who contributed to the resistance struggle against Indonesia. It discusses... Show More + the veterans commissions process and the public consultations that were viewed as contributing to national stability during Timor-Leste's first two years as a nation-state. Show Less -

Timor-Leste has achieved enormous progress in rehabilitating its economy, reconstructing its infrastructure, reintegrating its refugees and building the key elements... Show More + of a sustainable political process in an environment of internal peace. It now faces many challenges of nation-building and of overcoming the deprivation affecting the lives of the poor. This report written in two volumes lays out the challenge of poverty reduction in Timor-Leste. It is based on the first nationally-representative household survey collected during August to December 2001. The report's objectives are modest: to set a baseline for the new country on the extent, nature and dimensions of poverty; and to assist the decision making of the newly elected government and its efforts in formulating, implementing and monitoring its Poverty Reduction Strategy. The overall objective was not to lay out the elements of poverty strategy but rather to present evidence on the basis of which the Timorese can define and refine their own poverty reduction strategy. The key challenge lies now in formulating a poverty monitoring plan that includes both quantitative and participatory elements, and lays out the institutional arrangement for data analysis and reporting to ensure that the collected data inform policy making and program design. Show Less -

The main challenge facing East Timor, is how to reconcile a simultaneous existence of acute poverty and severe shortage of human management skills, with solid prospects... Show More + of future flows from the country's natural resource wealth. Policies to meet these two priorities - sustained poverty and sound management of natural resources - are the focus of this report. It looks at the pressing concerns of managing the economic transition from the United Nationals Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) within the next two years; at the issue of wealth creation and the need to enhance the private investment climate; at the need to devise a framework for saving the oil and gas revenues; at the importance of raising human development standards; at the limited number of qualified personnel able to formulate high priority development objectives, compounded by the need to build effective governance; and, at the overwhelming incidence of poverty in rural areas, and the strong correlation between consumption poverty, and low levels of education. In setting a strategy for growth and poverty reduction, the report highlights the importance of maintaining the prevailing efforts at raising farm incomes, and productivity, while improving the quality of rural education, and health facilities, including a tax policy vision that can play a role to avoid exacerbating urban bias. On improving the business environment, there is need for capacity building, and micro-finance programs, but within an adequate legal framework, and prudential regulations. The administrative priorities would require enhanced citizen monitoring on government performance, with an input in public services to improve transparency - which would emerge from an assessment of cost, effectiveness, and capacity. Show Less -