USAID/OTI East Timor Program Summary: November 2000
In August 1999, the people of East Timor
voted for independence from Indonesia
in a national referendum. The reaction from pro-Indonesian militias was swift and vengeful; armed forces rampaged the island, wreaking unprecedented violence, death, and destruction. Thousands of people fled and over 80 percent of all infrastructure was destroyed or damaged.
| 6/99 |
12/01 |
N/A |
$12,537,000 |
Drawing on its Indonesia program resources and experience, OTI was able to move quickly to jumpstart reconstruction efforts and help lay the foundation for a political transition in East Timor. Although OTI had conducted activities in East Timor prior to independence, the new situation called for a rapid response. In November 1999, OTI initiated funding for 29 separate activities totaling over $1 million. These included funds to help local NGOs rebuild themselves so they could participate as equal partners with the international community on decisions affecting East Timor's future. With assistance from OTI, the National Commission of East Timorese Resistance began to play a major role in representing East Timorese to the UN leadership.
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| Local journalists take a turn at the microphone at an OTI-funded 'Reporting for Peace' training. |
From March-August 2000, OTI joined with the UN in an initiative designed to provide immediate relief to thousands of unemployed East Timorese and address basic infrastructure needs through the Transitional Employment Program (TEP). TEP was expanded to cover all 13 districts in East Timor, employing approximately 50,000 men and women. In a typical TEP program, OTI provided the capital, tools, and labor costs while UN administrators implemented and managed the projects.
For example, in the Covalima District, workers constructed a building to house a community training center for peace and reconciliation activities. TEP paid the salaries of 60 women to harvest local building materials as well as 30 carpenters for construction. In Viqueque District, TEP helped reopen a road damaged by landslides. The damage, which cut off more than 11,000 villagers from the district capital, would have been left untouched for up to six months without a TEP contract to repair it. In Dili, TEP workers organized to clear the streets of charred buildings and piles of rubble. The project combined the resources of OTI, UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), UNDP, UN Peacekeeping Forces, and local East Timorese leadership.
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| Local NGOs in East Timor have been recipients of critical computer equipment that was destroyed during the violence after the referendum. With the new equipment, the NGOs were able to quickly return to work at developing civil society in their new nation. |
By providing initial funding for TEP, OTI helped diminish the threat of violence and unrest in East Timor. Its support filled a key gap; OTI was the only organization with the ability to fund a large employment program prior to the summer of 2000, when programs of the UN and the World Bank began to be implemented. The USAID/UN partnership has proven to be a model in post-conflict cooperation, building on the strengths of each organization.
In addition to TEP, OTI assistance has proven vital to the survival of local media and civil society groups in East Timor. OTI is spearheading cooperative efforts among donors to establish media projects that provide equipment to radio and print outlets and professional training to journalists in technical and management areas. OTI grants have allowed newspapers to start up, publish, and distribute news in an information-poor environment.
"The U.S. Agency for International Development is doing an impressive job in East Timor through the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI). Its in-kind support for scores of excellent East Timorese NGOs and its jobs program…have offered some of the speediest, most effective assistance available."
-- Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Laureate and vice-president of the National Commission of East Timorese Resistance
"The timely arrival of TEP, its simple procedures and direct implementation through the UN District Administrations, allowed us to get US $95,000 into the community in less than 10 weeks. As the TEP/Covalima program has matured, it has come ever closer to achieving broad program participation linked with high impact projects."
-- From a UNTAET Covalima District report
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Grants from OTI are enabling civil society organizations to participate in East Timor's burgeoning democratic society. OTI is supporting groups throughout East Timor (with a focus on those outside Dili) engaged in civic education, human rights, women's rights and leadership, and peace and reconciliation.
Future plans for OTI's East Timor program include an emphasis on small-scale community rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-combatants. OTI also plans to monitor the development of the transitional Timorese government and look for areas to support a smooth transfer of responsibilities from UNTAET to local self-rule.
OTI/East Timor's partners include United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and other UN agencies, Development Alternatives Inc., Australian Aid, the World Bank, Canada's CIDA, Japan's JICA, the U.K.'s DFID, the International Organization for Migration, and local and international NGOs.
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| East Timorese laborers, funded through the Transitional Employment Project, construct a traditional meeting house in Liquica District. |
OTI Helps East Timorese NGOs Bridge the Digital Divide OTI/East Timor has begun a project aimed at addressing both the training and computer repair needs of local non-governmental organizations, while also providing local NGOs access to the Internet. Addressing one of the most fundamental gaps in East Timor -- technical skills and services -- the grant will provide the NGO Forum, an umbrella organization of 120 local organizations, with the equipment and funds necessary to set up and run a computer training and repair center, as well as an Internet Center. Currently there are no local commercial outlets for computer repair available to Timorese organizations, and sending repair jobs to Australia at high cost is not a viable option.
The Forum will also offer computer repair services and courses in basic computer skills to local groups. In addition to a Timorese technician, the project has already attracted two international volunteer computer technicians.
Given that Internet service is
currently prohibitively expensive for most East Timorese
organizations, the Forum's Internet Center will
provide a critical service for local organizations.
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