Program Details: East Timor

A group of young Timorese men plays traditional music. Photo: Fernando Soares/Mercy Corps

East Timor became an independent nation in 1999 and has since made continued progress toward establishing democratic governance and growing its economy. However, much still remains to be done in East Timor's development. It is among the world's poorest countries and faces high youth unemployment together with the highest fertility rate in the world. This, coupled with East Timor's legacy of violent conflict, poor economic performance and weak democratic institutions puts the country at risk of becoming a chronically fragile state.

The difficulties of building a new democracy have always been massive: East Timor has never before been fully independent, and the process of running a country is new to almost all of its politicians. In addition, East Timor is still coping with the legacy of a generation of Indonesian occupation and the vicious violence of 1999 that followed their decision to vote for independence. This legacy is evident on many levels, from the trauma that remains for those who suffered physically and emotionally to the destroyed buildings that still litter the East Timorese countryside.

East Timor faces a critical shortage of skills in almost all areas. This is a consistent problem in sectors from education to the police service, from medical professionals to those skilled in running key facilities such as power stations.

The level of poverty remains a significant challenge for East Timor. The United Nations Development Programme states that East Timor is officially Asia's poorest country with a per capita Gross Domestic Product of just $732. The vast majority of its population live in rural areas and have livelihoods based on subsistence agriculture.

Our mission in East Timor

Mercy Corps is in East Timor to address the root causes of poverty, thereby improving the quality of life for urban and rural communities that have been affected by conflict and displacement. We have been active in East Timor since 2005, supporting our partner Timor Aid.

Mercy Corps demonstrated its long-term commitment to East Timor by establishing an office in January 2008 for startup of and support of an eighteen month youth capacity building project called "Youth for All for Peace and Reconciliation" (Y4A). This project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented in collaboration with our long-term local implementing partner, Timor Aid.

Our partner, Timor Aid

Mercy Corps has Timor Aid is a registered East Timorese non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1998 with participation from Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. José Ramos-Horta, the current President of Timor-Leste. The organization has district offices or projects in all thirteen districts of the country, and was a prominent provider of relief during the national emergency period of 1999-2001. Timor Aid has successfully managed more than 80 major projects funded by a number of governments, international organizations and various private foundations.

Program Details

Youth for All for Peace and Reconciliation (Y4A)
The goal of the "Youth for All for Peace and Reconciliation" (Y4A) project is to strengthen community level youth governance for peaceful change in two districts of East Timor.

Mercy Corps and Timor Aid are working with 60 youth council representatives and providing them with training in basic concepts of community mobilization, project management and community facilitation. Using Mercy Corps' widely tested community mobilization experience, we will coach and support youth to lead a community-driven process of identifying community needs, developing plans and budgets and implementing projects to meet those needs. The skills developed under this project will allow youth to begin promoting peace and reconciliation within their communities. They will be able to mobilize their fellow youth and other community members in activities that demonstrate an alternative to violent conflict.

ENGAGE: Youth Civic Education
Mercy Corps has supported Timor Aid's Youth Civic Education Project (ENGAGE) since 2005. ENGAGE increases youth organizations' understanding of governance, strengthens their capacity to participate more fully in civil society and enables them to run effective civic education projects. It also strengthens relationships between youth organizations and decision makers.

The project's main activities focus on training and assisting established youth organisations to:

• Undertake coordinated civic education projects on issues recognized as priorities for young people
• Build the capacity of youth organizations
• Arrange networking opportunities, job placement and study tours, and
• Develop a better understanding of priorities, abilities and responsibilities to address issues important to youth.

The project offers exciting possibilities to help youth tap into civil society at this important time in East Timor's development as an independent nation.

World Citizens
Mercy Corps and Timor Aid are also implementing the World Citizens project. This project enables teachers and students from Scotland and East Timor to make a link between good governance, poverty eradication and active citizenship. Mercy Corps has been supporting strategic programming development with Timor Aid over the last year, and both organisations believe this partnership will result in strengthened outcomes and benefits for communities.

The project's main goal is to empower young people in Scotland to become active and aware citizens, committed to shaping a more just world for all. The project will achieve this goal through providing teachers and their students with alternative perspectives on governance and citizenship issues, through an interactive learning experience with teachers and pupils in East Timor.

The pupils and teachers in East Timor and Scotland will share their own experiences with one another through an interactive collaborative website and the production of student-led videos.