In the News

Empowering communities for inclusive growth in Timor-Leste

The (BSCPC) hardware workshop in Baucau: on the left is EC Ambassador to Dili, Juan Carlos Rey. Also in the picture are ILO’s Fernado Encarnacao, UNDP Country Director Akbar Usmani and the Secretary of State for Vocational Training and Employment Bendito Freitas (fourth right). Picture by Sammy Mwiti/UNDP.

Working in a newly renovated building in the outskirts of Baucau, Timor-Leste’s second biggest town, Mr. Manuel Gaspar da Costa is all smiles as he parades his merchandise comprising farming and household tools like hammers, scythes, hoes and machetes.

“We are making about US $ 1000 per month, enough to support and sustain our group even in these difficult times,” he relates with evident pride. “In addition to a growing local demand, we have been approached by Government, some NGOs and UN agency representatives interested in our products,” says Manuel, the group leader of the twenty-member Blacksmiths Community Production Center (BSCPC). In addition to dozens more who are indirectly employed by the Center, several young Timorese are learning handy technical, business and management skills from the organization, improving their recruitment prospects in an increasingly competitive job market.

A decade after seizing what the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Atul Khare described recently as an historic opportunity that “once and for all put the Timorese people themselves in the driver’s seat to determine the course of their own destiny,” big business has yet to make a major venture into the country. Furthermore in the post-conflict phase, socio-economic reconstruction has progressed at a glacial pace, with around 15000 young people entering the labour market annually while only 400 formal jobs are created, according to the 2009 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Timor-Leste report.

However in the districts of Baucau, Dili, Oecussi and Bobonaro, a five-year initiative financed by the European Commission has provided a new dimension in the battle against poverty in rural areas by harnessing the power of social and institutional structures, creating new possibilities for employment and laying the foundation for a mutually beneficial exchange involving training and service providers, jobseekers, employers and entrepreneurs.

The EUR 5-million Skills Training for Gainful Employment (STAGE) project is implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with UNDP.

“With STAGE support training in skills, access to markets and designing new tools, we are now able to improve our quality and quantity and attract more customers,” says Manuel, the BSCPC group leader.

Group activities range from small-scale food processing of popular items such as candies, coconut oil and butter to labour-intensive tasks like silk processing, carpentry and construction.

In their zeal to succeed some groups are using smart marketing and branding techniques. The twenty-member Hadomi Producktu Local (HPL) which stands for Love Local Products seeks to capitalize on a renewed sense of patriotism and ‘made in Timor-Leste’ label, in one of Asia’s newest democracies.

“Before joining this group we just spent most of the time idling at home but now we have a regular activity which is also profitable,” says HPL group leader Maria Joana da Silva in Baucau. The mother of three is now pleased to contribute to the family budget, after sharing profits accrued from their marmalade business.

Besides catering to the needs of the local markets some groups aim at enhancing their country’s food security by supplying public institutions with locally made products.

“If our proposal for a pilot school feeding programme is approved then we have a guaranteed market and we will expand our capacity tremendously,” remarks Izabel da Piadade, the coordinator of the Marcha group in Baucau, which is involved in coconut oil processing and in collaboration with the Health ministry, now piloting a programme on school-feeding. Coconut oil is believed to be highly nutritious and according to folklore, it also has wonderful medicinal attributes.

Saying that market potential in Timor-Leste is largely untapped and remains huge, Fernado Encarnacao, Youth Employment and Community Empowerment Expert with the ILO in Timor-Leste cites the lack of linkages between producers and existing markets as frustrating the best efforts of the local enterprise groups. “There’s need to enable access to the markets by improving transport and communications and bridging the gap between producers and consumers,” he stresses.

With an estimated 11,000 sustainable informal jobs created and the infrastructure for a viable vocational industry now firmly in place courtesy of STAGE, the programme is being touted as a model of successful partnerships.

“The success of STAGE was based not just on the money available for the project but the good partnerships at all levels,” reckons the European Commission Ambassador to Dili, Juan Carlos Rey. He was speaking in Baucau on 4 May 2009 during a ceremony to celebrate the project’s formal closure, five years since it was established.

Referring to recent findings by external evaluators, the ambassador said that STAGE had succeeded in institution strengthening, income generation, creation and launching of small business, skills training, support and development of a strong network of training providers and self- employment with the overwhelming number of beneficiaries “most importantly” located in the rural areas.

Similar sentiments were echoed by the ILO Chief Technical Adviser José Assalino. He said that “in the future, other projects will follow the path set by the STAGE integrated implementation methodology.” He credited that system to the success in facilitating the exchange of experiences, promoting sustainability and increasing delivery capacity. The ILO project team worked side by side with officials of the Secretariat of State for Vocational Training and Employment (SEFOPE) exchanging and learning from each other. Consequently, the project established a service delivery network comprising key national institutions ranging from government institutions, four micro-finance institutions, five private companies offering on-the-job training and 24 training providers.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of State for Vocational Training and Employment Bendito Freitas highlighted what he described as the “development of software and human capital” as the legacy of the project, noting that its effective consultancy and participatory mechanisms ensured the best outcomes.

Thanking the Government for its tremendous leadership in establishing the framework for the growth of the employment sector in the country, UNDP Country Director Akbar Usmani called for solidarity and shared vision as the country tackles its myriad development challenges.

“While the government can take steps to provide short-term jobs to provide relief to young men and women, it requires much wider partnership, such as with the private sector to create more sustainable livelihoods,” the UNDP Country Director observed.