JICA Timor-Leste Office

Timor-Leste is a new country and acquired fully independence status in May 2002. The country was a Portuguese colony from the sixteenth century until 1975. Indonesia had ruled the country as a 27th province until 1999 when the United Nations exercised legislative and executive authority during the transition period.

Timor-Leste is a small island nation with approximately 15,000 square kilometers of land and has a population of around one million people.

It has been just seven years since Timor-Leste gained its full independence. About 50 percent of the population is illiterate, the birth rate is 6.99 per 1,000 people, and the gross domestic product (GDP) was US $379 per capita in 2007. 80 percent of people live in rural area as farmer, having almost self-sufficient lifestyle.

The country has only inadequate infrastructures such as tapped water system, electric power and roads taken for granted in Japan. In addition, institutions that other nations have built up over the years such as government structures, a civil society and a relationship between the country and its people must all be built up from scratch. You might be able to imagine some of the wide range of difficulties people of Timor-Leste are faced. In 2008, the security situation is improved markedly, while the UN Police and International Stabilization Force (ISF) continue to be a presence to maintain the public safety and security together with Timor-Leste police and military.

JICA has been providing support in this country since before independence and opened an office here in Timor-Leste in March 2003. In order to support Timor-Leste’s nation-building efforts, JICA has been extending a wide range of assistance to Timor-Leste, assisting the formulation of a national development plan, providing training of the personnel required to build the nation and implementing grassroots level projects in cooperation with non-governmental organizations.

Assistance areas includes rehabilitating tapped water system, national roads, irrigation, electric power, ports and facilities of engineering university as well as enhancing the capacity to operate and maintain those facilities. Another area of assistance is rural development including irrigated rice farming. Through partnerships with ASEAN countries, we provide training for public service officers and develop a one village one product movement and also we work with Japanese non-governmental organization on projects targeting coffee production and health.

The formation of a new nation is a daunting task for many years to come and sometimes efforts are stagnant. As JICA, we will continue to work with the people of Timor-Leste to make a difference and contribute to overall development in the country.

Chief Representative
JICA East Timor Office