USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project 

USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project is accelerating sustainable economic growth in the agriculture sector.  in three years, farm income has increased by 700 percent and women's and children's nutrition has improved. At the end of the project, USAID anticipates some 5,500 households will be earning higher incomes with improved nutrition and better managed economic assets.  USAID has adopted lessons learned from previous projects working with farmers, buyers, and communities. The long-term sustainability will be ensured by strengthening the links between the private sector and local partners that deliver services to rural farmers.

Increasing Community Resilience in Oe-Cusse

The region of Oecusse-Ambeno, on the western side of Timor Island, is characterized by low food production levels, an absence of adequate clean water supplies, and isolation from the rest of the country.  As is typical of the uplands of Timor-Leste, the ecology is fragile and bears the negative impact of slash-and-burn agriculture, which also adversely impacts already inadequate water resources. 
USAID’s project works with communities that are mostly located in remote, uphill locations, where road infrastructure is poor and access during the wet season is difficult.  The lack of clean water sources, sanitation, and hygienic practices in the area leads to many preventable health problems.  Many of the water sources are contaminated, resulting in a host of water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, which particularly affect the elderly and children under five. USAID is helping communities across the region improve their access to clean water, manage their water sources and improve their diets and increase their financial security by introducing conservation agriculture, fostering community savings groups and training water management committees. 

USAID Tourism For All

Facing a fragmented tourism sector, USAID’s investment promotes Timor-Leste’s vision of becoming a competitive international tourism destination while preserving the country’s unique environmental and cultural heritage. The project focuses on two main objectives to achieve that vision. The first is to ensure that institutions, policies and laws are in place to fully implement the national tourism policy launched in 2017. The second objective is to promote sustainable private sector tourism investments and participation by Timorese communities, local and international NGOs, associations, and others, and create replicable models of sustainability and best practice.

Advancing Timor-Leste’s Autonomous Telecommunications Landscape (ATLATL)

Advancing Timor-Leste’s Autonomous Telecommunications Landscape (ATLATL) is a three-year, $3-million activity funded by USAID.  Timor-Leste’s significant natural resources and strategic location in the Indo-Pacific region, combined with an unregulated ICT sector, increases potential for exploitation and cyber-attacks by external or internal forces. The underdeveloped ICT sector also represents a key binding constraint on economic growth opportunities and future investments. The ATLATL activity works towards achieving two objectives: 1) convene sector stakeholders to inform national policies and regulations for the ICT sector while transferring the skills and knowledge for the government of Timor-Leste to adopt and implement critical policies and regulations; and 2) engage the private sector in a manner that will catalyze private sector investment to improve essential infrastructure, products, and services and to help foster inclusive economic growth within an improved enabling environment.

Plastics Upcycling Alliance

USAID and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), through separate agreements with Mercy Corps (USAID’s agreement with Mercy Corps is the “Plastics Upcycling Alliance”), with local industry Caltech and global brewer Heineken dedicating cash and in-kind resources independently, have all aligned under a co-created framework for results to advance Timor-Leste toward ‘plastic neutral’ status. The combined effort, known as the Plastic Solutions Alliance, seeks to create a value chain for used plastic that will add to Timor-Leste’s small manufacturing base, bring a measure of diversification to the oil-dependent economy, and move the country further along its journey to self-reliance. To be successful, a supply chain for plastic waste must be created while simultaneously stimulating a market for products made from recycled plastic.

USAID’s The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening Project

The project, implemented by the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), is a key driver of Timor-Leste’s efforts to improve governance. The project works with the national parliament, parliamentary caucuses and political parties with an emphasis on women and youth to create a more inclusive government.

USAID Custom Reform Project

USAID’s Customs Reform Project strengthens the Government of Timor-Leste’s (GOTL) Fiscal Reform Plan by improving the efficiency of international and cross border trade and transit. The project helps the GOTL reduce trade costs through implementing international best-practice customs clearance and transit procedures. This will encourage investment, increase government revenues, and support Timor-Leste accession to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the World Trade Organization. In line with good governance practices, the project increases transparency, clarity, predictability, and certainty in the trade environment. The project strengthens the institutional and human capacity of the new Customs Authority so it can follow global and regional best practices in trade and increase domestic revenues. Improved customs operations will help spur economic growth and investment by reducing trade costs and shortening customs clearance times. 

USAID/Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for good governance Activity 

The USAID/Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance activity expands the NGO enabling environment and strengthens the organizational, research, networking, and financial capacity for up to eight mid-level local NGOs in Timor-Leste to provide increased evidence-based, sustainable advocacy services on behalf of citizens. A robust NGO sector is foundational to a democratically governed, rules-based state. The activity will focus on four objectives: strengthen NGO organizational capacity; improve advocacy, research, analysis and networking capacities for better response to constituents; foster more diverse and regular revenue streams, and; promote an enabling environment that fosters independent NGOs. High quality NGOs can help hold the government accountable and be transparent and responsive to the public interest, while supporting sound, just, and responsive governance. The activity will strengthen democratic systems to help build a more accountable, inclusive Timor-Leste that is advancing towards greater self-reliance.

USAID’s Reinforce Basic Health Services Project

Reinforce is building the capacity of the Ministry of Health (MOH) at the national and municipal levels to deliver high-quality and high-impact services. The project is targeting the municipality of Covalima to make it a model of health services delivery to be used across Timor-Leste. In Covalima, project activities include improving the ability of health care providers to follow protocols and standards, increasing the percentage of women receiving at least four antenatal care visits and raising the number of newborn deliveries at health facilities. In addition, the project promotes increased use of reproductive health services especially among youth and women with a high number of pregnancies. At the national level, the project is strengthening the National Institute of Health (NIH) to deliver quality training. With Reinforce assistance, NIH established two clinical training centers in Dili and one in Covalima. The project also helped NIH develop a training participant database and training regulations and improve their implementation.

Building Community Resilience in Timor-Leste

To support sustainable preparedness strategies that empower vulnerable communities to cope with natural disasters independently, USAID/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is partnering with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to train national, district, and village officials on disaster preparedness and response techniques and to provide technical assistance to develop a national disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy.  This program also strengthens livelihoods and enhances food security through community engagement in keyhole gardening and other environmentally friendly farming techniques, as well as awareness-raising on local vulnerabilities and hazards and the implementation of targeted mitigation strategies in disaster-prone municipalities. The program strengthens local response capacity by establishing Village Disaster Management Committees linked to Municipality Disaster Management Committees. DRR also is being added to existing programs in food security, water and sanitation and rural development.

Effective Seed Storage Techniques Project and GRAIN Project

To ensure sustainable post-harvest protection of seeds and grain stocks and improve crop production and livelihoods in rural Timor-Leste. USAID’s Effective Seed Storage Project designs and develops sustainable and scalable seed storage models for Timor-Leste.  Working with local manufacturers, The project prepares the market for its new metal-based seed storage system.  In partnership with village agriculture extension officers, Effective Seed Storage trains farmers in better post-harvest handling techniques in Ainaro and Manufahi. Sixty-thousand households extended their food self-sufficiency by 2.1 months per year, reducing the lean season by one-third, while seed losses decreased by 87 percent. The project also increases access to financial services, which has helped more than 4,900 households gain access to financial services.  

Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security and Reducing Disaster Risk Through the Promotion of Conservation Agriculture (OFDA) 

USAID’s Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security and Reducing Disaster Risk through the Promotion of Conservation Agriculture activity enhances household food and nutrition security and improves rural livelihoods through a reduction in crop losses caused by the increasing frequency and severity of droughts, associated with climate change and variability. The activity also leads to a more sustainable increase in agricultural productivity of the Timorese farmers.