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USAID/OTI East Timor Field Report
December 2000
Program Description
OTI's goal is to help secure and encourage a political, social and economic environment conducive to the democratic nation building process during East Timor's transition to independence. Current programmatic priorities include a community stabilization initiative through the Transitional Engagement for Population Support (TEPS II) program, assistance to independent media outlets to provide balanced and widely disseminated information, support to local East Timorese organizations negatively impacted by the violence in September 1999, and funding for civic education programs in advance of nationwide elections scheduled for late 2001. OTI/East Timor's FY2001 budget is approximately $9,500,000.
Country Situation
In December, approximately 1,200 people returned from West Timor, including 244 people on an organized trip sponsored by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) shortly before Christmas. This was done by boat from Kupang and was characterized as a "go and see" visit. It is expected that some of these people will return to West Timor on an IOM-organized trip in mid-January 2001. Assuming their experience is positive, it is hoped they will present more accurate information about East Timor to refugees still in West Timor. During December there were a number of "go and see" visits by high-level militia leaders who are interested in permanently returning to East Timor. The largest group was comprised of eight people who visited Baucau for meetings with government, church and community leaders. These visits are expected to help counter some of the misinformation about East Timor that continues to be disseminated to the refugee population in West Timor.
Regarding security, there has been militia activity along the East and West Timor border, and in four separate incidents two PKF soldiers were wounded and two militia members killed. Although security in the rest of East Timor is good, there was some social unrest in Dili, manifested by street fights and other incidents, at the end of December.
The National Council (NC) continued to debate the political transition calendar, and by the end of the month the timetable was still not settled. A number of key issues remain unresolved, including election dates, the role of an elected assembly in a constitution drafting process, the civil versus electoral registry, and an actual independence date. The NC debate will continue after a Christmas break and a number of key decisions will be made in January. The East Timor Transitional Administration (ETTA) Cabinet accepted a proposal to establish a Commission for Truth, Reception, and Reconciliation and has forwarded the draft legislation to the NC. It is anticipated that the Commission for Truth will work in three areas: facilitating the reintegration of East Timorese returnees, establishing a historical record about human rights abuses, and promoting legal and institutional safeguards for the future protection of human rights in East Timor.
During December there were complaints about the "Timorization" of the transitional administration. While there continues to be intensive recruiting for the 9,000 staff who will comprise East Timor's civil service, the number of people recruited per department varies, and concerns remain about gender balance within the civil service as a whole. Also, UNTAET faced the threatened resignation of four of the five East Timorese ETTA cabinet members over issues related to lack of resources and little real decision-making authority. After intensive discussions, the resignation threat was rescinded and UNTAET announced plans to more formally enhance the authority and resources of the East Timorese cabinet members.
OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
With an aim to support reconstruction and income-generating activities, OTI's community-focused TEPS II program approved 22 grants for projects in Ermera, Suai, Bobonaro, and Baucau in December. Similar to the first round of TEPS II projects, new projects include road and drainage system repairs, income generation initiatives such as a carpentry workshop and a fishpond project, water supply rehabilitation, and school re-roofing work. Procurement for the grants began prior to Christmas and supply deliveries will start by mid-January. Also prior to Christmas, OTI announced a new call for proposals from the four districts that to date have not received TEPS II funding.
The OTI-funded Internews program ended a photojournalism training with a well-attended contest and photo exhibition. The training was extremely popular within the media community and brought together photographers from publications based in Maliana, Same, Oecussi and Dili. Given the local print media's current struggle to generate income to sustain their operations, it is envisioned that photographs sold to international wire services will provide needed revenue for these print organizations. In other media-related developments, Radio UNTAET has finally gone national and its programming can also be heard in many parts of West Timor. With this positive development, OTI and Radio UNTAET will be able to move forward on plans to create locally-based stringer groups, who will add needed local content to radio news reporting.
In the civil society sector, a national civic education program is moving ahead slowly, but with the needed participation of local organizations. While monitoring progress by the broad-based "civic education steering committee," OTI is funding local groups that already are implementing civic education training sessions. In December, OTI supported a local initiative in Ainaro District that brought together 435 participants to discuss the role of civil society in a democracy. Topics included: the rule of law, human rights, good governance, citizen participation in a democratic society, political tolerance, and conflict resolution. The OTI-supported training group in Ainaro is also working with UNTAET and church groups to locally resolve political tensions between existing political parties.
During December OTI funded an IOM-implemented survey that collected information from ex-Falantil fighters, who will begin re-integrating into East Timorese communities in early 2001. OTI participated in planning the survey, plus seconded staff and vehicles during its implementation. The survey collected information from over 1,700 ex-combatants. The formal IOM-implemented re-integration program will start in late January. It is expected that the program cost will be shared between the World Bank and OTI.
B. Grants Activity Summary
|
Obligated funds (USD) |
Number of grants
approved |
| |
| Civil Society |
905,748 |
123,267 |
6,287 |
1,029,015 |
36 |
7 |
1 |
43 |
| Media |
1,219,962 |
30,340 |
0 |
1,250,302 |
16 |
2 |
0 |
18 |
| Governance |
349,053 |
0 |
0 |
349,053 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
| Community Stabilization |
550,941 |
569,653 |
364,701 |
1,120,594 |
16 |
43 |
22 |
59 |
| Employment |
4,032,555 |
0 |
0 |
4,032,555 |
61 |
0 |
0 |
61 |
| Total | 7,058,259 |
723,260 |
370,988 |
7,781,519 |
135 |
52 |
23 |
187 |
C. Indicators of Success
- The OTI-supported photojournalism training was extremely popular, with the closing photo exhibition widely attended by people in Dili.
- Within three weeks of receiving over 30 proposals from groups based in four East Timorese districts, OTI staff undertook needed field visits and wrote grants for 22 of the proposals. Immediately after the grants were signed, OTI's implementing partner DAI began procurement and was able to place supply orders prior to the Christmas holidays.
- Based on a high level of activity and community engagement in Ainaro, OTI grantee CSBH is helping local UNTAET officials and other stakeholders to mediate politically-motivated conflicts in the district.
- OTI used its strong relationship with UNTAET and the community-based radio station in Maliana to help resolve a problem between the two parties over the radio station's location.
- By rapidly freeing up funds to meet tight deadlines, OTI was able to fully support an IOM-implemented survey of former Falantil fighters. The survey process was managed smoothly and sets the stage for an important re-integration program that begins in January.
D. Program Appraisal
To support wider information dissemination in East Timor, OTI is funding radio and print media initiatives that include a training component managed by Internews. Plans to support local programming on Radio UNTAET have been stalled by staff changes at UNTAET and the need for Radio UNTAET to attain national coverage. Given movement on both of these issues, the stage is set to re-engage UNTAET on the local programming plan. The OTI-supported Print Consortium continues to experience management and mechanical problems, but is able to support the printing needs of East Timor's print entities. OTI continues to work on financial and administrative management issues with the Print Consortium's stakeholders.
Although the 2001 electoral calendar remains under debate, OTI is moving forward on support to civic education training programs. OTI has provided funding to a number of local organizations that are implementing activities outside of Dili, and is focusing on the need for training materials by looking at opportunities to send East Timorese to Indonesia to review materials in use there. Based on the apparent need to offer more support to the judicial sector, OTI is holding meetings with stakeholders to explore opportunities. Also, OTI is exploring avenues of support for UNTAET's Civil Service Training Academy, which is responsible for training many of the 9,000 future East Timorese civil servants.
With the approval of an additional 22 TEPS II grants and a call for proposals in four more East Timor districts, OTI is entering the final stage of the TEPS II pilot phase. The last round of proposals will be reviewed in January and the pilot phase's conclusion will set the stage for program review discussions. One program constraint has been a lack of staff to adequately implement TEPS II. In December, OTI hired two more local staff to work on the program. Regarding supply issues, almost all TEPS II procurement is being done in Indonesia, a far cheaper alternative than Australia. Because it is easier to do local purchasing in Dili and it supports the local economy, OTI is purchasing as many supplies as possible through local businesses.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
OTI continues to target community-based initiatives, the media sector, and civil society. Under TEPS II, a second round of grants was approved in December and in January the supplies for these projects will begin to be distributed. A new call for proposals was sent to the four remaining districts that have not submitted proposals during the TEPS II pilot phase. The closing date for submissions is Jan. 19. In terms of rule of law and problems in the judiciary sector, OTI is meeting with active East Timorese judges, prosecutors, and public defenders to discuss addressing critical material resource gaps. Also, OTI is pricing equipment that was requested by UNTAET's Serious Crimes Investigation Unit. In governance and administration, OTI plans to meet with Civil Service Training Academy staff to explore ways that OTI can support training initiatives for the emerging civil service. In media, Radio UNTAET's national coverage means that OTI can move forward with the idea to increase local programming through the use of district-based radio stringers. Given the critical need for further training in the media sector, OTI hopes to finalize grant details with Internews for another year of training activities. Based on a successful survey process and further planning for the re-integration of ex-Falantil fighters, OTI expects to partner with the World Bank to fund an IOM-implemented re-insertion program that is scheduled to begin formally in late January 2001.
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