News Updates

By Foot, by Horse, by Helicopter! Health Care in Timor-Leste

Nov. 08, 2012

USAID's health team coordinated with the Ministry of Health on the health component of the recent visit of three U.S. Navy ships and their Marine contingent. The military health component supported Timor-Leste's integrated community health service outreach efforts, bringing medical specialists to 10 hard-to-reach communities. At one remote site, where normally a few dozen patients would be expected, the teams treated more than 400 patients and partnered with the USAID/MCC child immunization project to provide standard immunizations.

Parliament Staff Members Gain U.S. Congressional Insights

Oct. 30, 2012

As part of USAID's work with the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) and Timor-Leste's National Parliament, four senior staff members of Timor-Leste's Parliament are participating in special sessions organized by IRI and NDI in Washington, DC.

New Zealand and USAID Strengthen Links on Community Policing

Oct. 24, 2012

The New Zealand Aid Programme agreed in October to combine the governance and oversight arrangements of its community policing program with USAID's community policing program.

Development Partnership Trains New Timor-Leste Midwives

Oct. 23, 2012

In partnership with the Ministry of Health and UNFPA, USAID's health improvement project has developed a program for training and supporting midwives on family planning counseling and clinical practices. Building on the success of the program earlier this year with 17 Indonesian midwives contracted by the Ministry of Health until Timorese midwives are fully trained, the project is now working with the first group of Timorese midwives, this time in Baucau District. Training for Timorese midwives in Dili and Ermera districts will start in November.

US Scientists Help Timor-Leste Monitor its Coral Reef Ecosystems

Oct. 22, 2012

As part of its support for the Ministry of Agriculture's climate change adaptation activities in Timor-Leste, USAID is working with NOAA to use state-of-the-art monitoring systems to track marine temperatures, acidification rates, calcification accretion, and reef microorganism diversity. The NOAA team deploying the instruments has posted a blog about their work on the NOAA site:

http://pifscblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/cred-mission-timor-leste/

USAID Volunteer Program Will Bring Value Chain Expert to Aileu

Oct. 21, 2012

USAID is working with USAID's Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA) program to bring a specialist advisor to Timor-Leste to work with USAID's community horticulture project in 2013. The specialist will provide epxert value-chain analysis to support the project's efforts to build and strengthen horticulture value chains and increase the role of the private sector in rural agriculture development in Timor-Leste.

Timor-Leste Parliament Staff Members Visit U.S. Congress

Oct. 11, 2012

As part of USAID's work with the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) and Timor-Leste's National Parliament, two budget analysts from the Parliamentary Research Center were in Washington in October for meetings with staff from the Congressional Budget Office, Congressional Research Service, and fiscal committees of the House of Representatives.

Community Policing Gets First District Steering Committees

Oct. 04, 2012

USAID’s HAKOHAK Community Policing Project established its first District Steering Committees in Baucau and Bobonaro Districts in early October. With representatives from the national police, local communities, civil society and the district administration, the committees will plan and oversee the project’s activities in each district. The committees will prioritize project resources and enable the launch of community police councils in the sub-districts where they will have the greatest impact. In addition to ensuring community ownership of HAKOHAK activities,

Training for Private Lawyers Focuses on Financial Investigations and Money Laundering

Sep. 27, 2012

A new two-month training course on Financial Investigations and Anti-Money Laundering with the Assosiasaun Advogadu Timor-Leste/Timor-Leste Lawyers Association kicked off on September 17 by USAID/MCC's Anticorruption Program. The training course was requested by Prosecutor General Ana Pessoa and then-parliamentarian Manuel Tillman to address the need to build the capacity of private attorneys.

New Survey Will Map Youth Organizations Across Timor-Leste

Sep. 26, 2012

USAID’s Youth Engagement to Promote Stability project is conducting the country's first Youth Mapping Survey. The survey will create a database, disaggregated by district and sub-district, of all youth organizations and associations in Timor-Leste’s 13 districts. The project will use the survey to identify partners to implement youth outreach activities in the coming years and candidates for Community Leadership Program trainings in 2013. The project expects to complete the survey and announce the results later this year.