Completed Projects

Increasing Community Resilience in Oe-Cusse

The region of Oecusse-Ambeno, on the western side of Timor Island, is characterized by low food production levels, an absence of adequate clean water supplies, and isolation from the rest of the country.  As is typical of the uplands of Timor-Leste, the ecology is fragile and bears the negative impact of slash-and-burn agriculture, which also adversely impacts already inadequate water resources.  USAID’s project works with communities that are mostly located in remote, uphill locations, where road infrastructure is poor and access during the wet season is difficult.  The lack of clean water sources, sanitation, and hygienic practices in the area leads to many preventable health problems.  Many of the water sources are contaminated, resulting in a host of water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, which particularly affect the elderly and children under five.  USAID is helping communities across the region improve their access to clean water, manage their water sources and improve their diets and increase their financial security by introducing conservation agriculture, fostering community savings groups and training water management committees. 

Consolidating Cooperative Agribusiness Recovery In Timor-Leste

To support Timor-Leste to sustainably reduce poverty and undernutrition, USAID projects assist Timorese farmers to move away from subsistence agriculture towards more diversified, income-generating farming and to link with domestic and international markets. USAID projects also align with the Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) objective to support the transition from subsistence to commercial farming and to increase the production and productivity of key agricultural commodities.

Developing Agricultural Communities

USAID’s Developing Agricultural Communities (DAC) project partners with local private sector actors, including the American energy corporation ConocoPhillips and two of the largest local supermarkets – K’manek and Dilimart – to support farm families through training in business skills and horticulture technologies and by connecting smallholder farmers to retail traders.  DAC also implements USAID’s first Trilateral Activity, a collaborative effort of the U.S., China, and Timor-Leste, to improve food security through improved farming practices.  In addition, DAC works to empower Timorese women as economic actors in the communities where they work, which is significant considering the social and cultural pressure on women to provide family and household care. If you want to find out more about the continually of this project, please click here: https://www.usaid.gov/timor-leste/project-descriptions/usaids-avansa-agr...

Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI)

In 2020, Timor-Leste joined 74 other countries in the Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI).  The CSOSI highlights advances and setbacks of civil society and allows for comparisons across countries and sub-regions over time.  USAID's implementer, FHI360, selected NGO Belun as the sub-implementor and trained its staff in CSOSI methodology.  The CSOSI is an important tool for civil society, governments, donors, academics, and others to understand and measure the sustainability of civil society and inform areas for investment.  Timorese organizations also can use the CSOSI to advocate for improvements in the legal and regulatory enabling environment.  The 2019 CSOSI is published in December 2020 and can be found here: https://www.fhi360.org/resource/civil-society-organization-sustainabilit....

Strengthening Decentralization in the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ)

USAID partnered with the government to build the resiliency of democratic institutions and further consolidate good governance practices. USAID’s Strengthening Decentralization in the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice Project Phase II was implemented through a direct, government-to-government grant.  The project, co-funded with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, improved PDHJ’s ability to advocate for human rights and good governance by increasing community understanding and use of PDHJ services. The project increased community awareness of PDHJ’s role and mandate by conducting nationwide outreach events and producing promotional materials. PDHJ also  developed and piloted investigative and monitoring systems at regional offices and improved its human and organizational capacity by training staff and strengthening its coordination and management systems. 

Conflict Mitigation through Community-Oriented Policing

USAID’s Conflict Mitigation Through Community-Oriented Policing (HAKOHAK) works with communities and the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) to improve security by strengthening collaboration between citizens and the police.  HAKOHAK, funded through the State Department’s Security and Stabilization Assistance Program with additional support from the New Zealand Aid Programme, strengthens the capacity of PNTL, civil society and community leaders to implement effective community-oriented policing practices.

Accountability Strengthening in the Timor-Leste National Police (PNTL)

Increasing PNTL’s capacity to deliver key services and establishing the credibility of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) among general population have been major priorities for the Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) and the PNTL leadership. USAID partners with the GOTL and PNTL to support these priorities by providing assistance to two main security sector institutions in the Ministry of Defense and Security: the Office of the Secretary of State for Security and the PNTL.

Strengthening Decentralization in the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ)

In May 2013, USAID provided its first direct government-to-government (G2G) support to the GOTL’s Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ).  Through this grant, USAID supports PDHJ staff to develop and deliver materials and training that will enable them to monitor public and private institutions’ activities related to service delivery, infrastructure development, and public procurement processes.   

Fostering Meaningful and Responsive Representation (IRI)

USAID’s Fostering Meaningful and Responsive Representation supports the country's political parties in their efforts to become more effective, transparent, and responsive by strengthening grassroots structures and research and communications capacity. Through this grant, USAID helps members of the Parliament increase their representation of constituent concerns by developing outreach capacity and assists political parties increase their collaboration with local administration.  In addition, USAID’s Fostering Meaningful and Responsive Representation assisted in promoting free, fair and peaceful elections during the 2012 national elections in Timor-Leste by providing civic/voter education and elections observation support.

Youth Engagement to Promote Stability (YEPS)

Timor-Leste is currently at a critical juncture in its transformation from post-conflict recovery to long-term development.  Almost half (46%) of the total population in Timor-Leste is below the age of 18, and the ‘youth cohort’ (between 15-29 years) accounts for roughly 30% of the Timorese population.  Thus, USAID believes that Timorese youth must be involved politically, economically, and socially as drivers of the country’s future. 

USAID’S Fostering Freedom of Information for Inclusive Governance Project

USAID’s Fostering Freedom of Information for Inclusive Governance Project’s aim to improve governance by engaging public opinion in demanding greater transparency and accountability in government through a meaningful right of access to information. Access to information is a multi-dimensional tool that is expected to reinforce the foundations for social stability, institutional development within the public sector and effectiveness in the provision of public services as it enables citizens to engage constructively in political life and government to become more accountable and transparent. 

Mai Munisipiu (To The Districts)

USAID's decentralization support grant, Ba Distrito (meaning “To the Districts”), improves local government’s ability to address community needs and increase its capacity to facilitate the delivery of services more effectively, efficiently, and sustainably.  Ba Distrito works at local levels of GOTL—district, sub-district, and suco (village) councils—to increase institutional and human capacity to deliver basic services that are more effective and responsive to citizens' needs and expectations. 

Civil Society Monitoring of Security-Sector Development

USAID's Civil Society Monitoring of Security-Sector Development (CSM-SSD) aims to improve the Timor-Leste National Police’s (PNTL) responsiveness to mitigating conflicts and ensuring overall public safety and security. Funded through the Department of Defense’s Security and Stabilization Assistance Program, the grant contributes to the development of the rule of law and the security sector by monitoring and mapping threats to public safety, improving police-community relations, and strengthening PNTL’s ability to respond to the needs and concerns of the Timorese citizens.  

School Dropout Prevention Pilot Project (SDPP)

USAID's School Dropout Prevention Pilot (SDPP) is a multi-country project, which mitigates dropouts from primary and secondary schools in Timor-Leste. SDPP works with 190 schools in Timor-Leste, involving nearly 30,000 students in grades 4, 5 and 6 and 900 teachers.  SDPP designs and tests the effectiveness of varying interventions on dropout rates at primary and secondary schools.  The project generates data that can be used by the host government and donor partners to decrease dropout rates and change behaviors causing dropouts in order to retain young learners in school.

USAID'S Timor-Leste Hillary Clinton Scholarship Program

USAID invests in human capacity in Timor-Leste through its Hillary Clinton Scholarship Program, which provides opportunities for Timorese students to complete skills-focused associate’s degree programs in the U.S. in fields of study such as accounting, agriculture, business, food technology, and management.

USAID’s Reinforce Basic Health Services Project

USAID Reinforce is building the capacity of the Ministry of Health (MOH) at the national and municipal levels to deliver high-quality and high-impact services.  The project is targeting the municipality of Covalima to make it a model of health services delivery to be used across Timor-Leste.  In Covalima, project activities include improving the ability of health care providers to follow protocols and standards, increasing the percentage of women receiving at least four antenatal care visits and raising the number of newborn deliveries at health facilities.  In addition, the project promotes increased use of reproductive health services especially among youth and women with a high number of pregnancies.  At the national level, the project is strengthening the National Institute of Health (NIH) to deliver quality training.  With USAID Reinforce assistance, NIH established two clinical training centers in Dili and one in Covalima.  The project also helped NIH develop a training participant database and training regulations and improve their implementation.

Humanitarian Assistance

Effective Seed Storage Techniques Project and GRAIN Project

To ensure sustainable post-harvest protection of seeds and grain stocks and improve crop production and livelihoods in rural Timor-Leste.  USAID’s Effective Seed Storage Project designs and develops sustainable and scalable seed storage models for Timor-Leste.  Working with local manufacturers, the project prepares the market for its new metal-based seed storage system.  In partnership with village agriculture extension officers, Effective Seed Storage trains farmers in better post-harvest handling techniques in Ainaro and Manufahi.  Approximately 60,000 households extended their food self-sufficiency by 2.1 months per year, reducing the lean season by one-third, while seed losses decreased by 87 percent.  The project also increases access to financial services, which has helped more than 4,900 households gain access to financial services.