Government of Timor-Leste Upscales UNCDF Local Development Pilot and Expands Funding Allocations

Staff from the Ministry of State Administration in Timor-Leste, supported by UNCDF, coordinate a workshop to improve communication between central and local levels of government and between the local governments and their constituents. Photo by Adam Rogers.

DILI — 27 March 2008: Seeing the benefits of the systems a UNCDF Local Governance Programme has introduced, in late 2007 the Government of Timor-Leste doubled the number of districts participating in the UNCDF pilot programme from four to eight (out of a total of 13) and increased its funding allocation by a factor of five, from US$388,000 in 2006/7 to the new total of US$2,085,000 in 2008. The Funds are allocated to the elected local assemblies, who generally decide to use their allocation of Local Development Funds on projects such as clinics, schools, irrigation systems and markets. In 2008, the Government plans to develop, with UNCDF support, a new proposal to the National Parliament establishing a legal framework for a local government system while further expanding the decentralization process.

At little more than 15,000 square kilometers, Timor-Leste is roughly half the size of the Netherlands. Its small size, however, is misleading – it can take a full day to travel across the country because of its rugged landscape and poor infrastructure. As a result, Timor-Leste’s public administration has been highly centralized, with most policy decisions coming from the capital. This has resulted, through inefficient allocations in an over-concentration of public expenditure on goods and services in the capital and a greater likelihood of rural needs being neglected.

Working closely with the UN Development Programme and with support from Irish Aid and the Government of Norway, UNCDF’s Local Governance Support Programme in Timor-Leste is supporting the Government’s constitutional and political commitment to decentralization and local government reform. The programme has provided technical support in two critical areas: piloting a decentralized model of local governance and drafting policy and legal mechanisms for a decentralization reform.

The programme also introduced a Local Development Fund within the Ministry of State Administration to help finance the development projects identified by local authorities through the local planning process. While these funds are provided by the central government, decisions on fund allocations are made at the local level. The UNCDF programme has supported the extensive training of local authorities to build local capacities in planning, budgeting, financing and delivering locally-determined economic and social infrastructure that is needed to improve the living conditions of the rural poor.

Central to the programme is the establishment of assemblies at the district and sub-district levels to represent and respond to the needs of the people. The assemblies are composed of representatives from the Suco (Village) Councils who are elected as permanent members with voting powers, and executive members from the sub-district or district administration and local sector departments.

Filomena Diana Do Rego, assemblywoman from the sub-district of Cailaco, said the introduction of local democracy through the assemblies has changed the way the country does business. “Before the decisions would come from the top, and we had to accept them whether we wanted to or not,” she said. “Now, (we make the decisions because) we know more about what we need to do in our villages.”

Arcângelo Leite, Minister for State Administration, said development can only come through local and central governments working together, and for people to be involved in the process. In this, he added, decentralization is critical. “It is the only instrument that can ensure community participation in the development process,” he said. “In this effort, we very much need and appreciate UNCDF’s technical and budget support. Without it – especially the technical support --we would not have been able to come as far as we have.”