Timor-Leste

With an economy almost solely dependent on oil, the Government of Timor-Leste sees tourism as a priority area for economic diversification. In 2020, our Tourism Development Program developed a web portal to provide information to businesses about the implications of current government laws and the state of emergency during Covid-19. The Foundation also conducted an economic impact assessment, 2020 Economic Impact of Covid-19 on MSMEs and Timor-Leste’s Tourism Sector, to inform the country’s economic response. To strengthen the country’s tourism sector and promote coffee tourism as a niche, the Foundation supported the country’s National Coffee Association in providing training to 11 coffee businesses and promote Timor-Leste coffee in Australia and the U.S. through online resources.

In Timor-Leste, 59 percent of women report experiencing sexual and/or physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime, and violence against women and children represents more than half of all cases reaching the courts. But many women and children lack support to bring their cases to the police and the courts. With funding from Australian DFAT, we are working through the Nabilan (Ending Violence Against Women) Program to support court monitoring and advocacy to ensure thousands of cases are being adjudicated in accordance with the law. Nabilan also funds a local women and children’s legal aid organization, ALFeLa, to help victims. These efforts assisted more than 260 new clients while continuing to support over 2,000 existing clients.