Dili, 23 September 2010 – The Justice for the Poor (J4P) team recently organized presentations addressing land access and dispute resolution; youth perspectives on community and conflict; and trust, authority and decision making. The presentations were held on the 29th and 30th of July at the World Bank Office in Dili and were aligned with the three key areas that the J4P team has been focusing on in Timor-Leste: land, youth development, and state building.
J4P findings show that less than 10 percent of respondents had experienced conflicts over land in the past year. One of the significant insights from the survey was the widespread support for land titling in Timor-Leste; overall, 72 percent of survey respondents believed that land titling would reduce land-related conflict.
In terms of the level of participation in community-based meetings, the research finds that participation between youth and older generation household heads is consistently equal, but young males are much more likely to speak in such meetings than young females. In conjunction with the discussion on participation, the research looked at how the participants felt about safety in their community, with 92 percent of respondents reporting feeling safe in their own and neighboring communities.
“These presentations aimed to share results of the research that the team found, and for the team to get feedback from the community about their findings,” stated Agustinho Caet, a consultant of Justice for the Poor who was involved in the presentations.
The presentations, which followed up on the 2008 Timor-Leste Survey of Living Standards, attracted representatives from government, donor and non-governmental organizations, as well as the youth council.
J4P is a global research and development program that aims to inform, design and support pro-poor approaches to justice reform. It sees justice from the perspective of the poor and marginalized and is grounded in social and cultural contexts. Using Timor-Leste Living Standard Survey, which provides information on the living conditions of the Timorese population as a module, J4P is aiming to discuss poverty beyond income and expenses. The research look at the well-being of the people in the country including freedom to participate at community meetings, and the sense of trust and safety within their community.
