Timor-Leste
About Our Work in Timor-Leste
In Timor-Leste, we partner with local and national government agencies, civil society organizations, the private sector, and communities to strengthen governance and evidence-based policymaking, diversify the oil-based economy, advance citizen rights and access to justice, and ensure the safety and security of all people.
Contact Information
News from Timor-Leste
Learn about our latest work and development approaches.
What We Do
Tatoli! Public Perception Survey
Since Timor-Leste’s independence in 2002, local and international organizations have worked to strengthen its fledgling democracy and civil society through public opinion research. To meet this need, The Asia Foundation publishes the Tatoli Survey. (Tatoli means “message” in Tetum.) The survey represents the opinions of citizens age 17 and over.
Protecting women and children
In Timor-Leste, 59 percent of women report experiencing sexual 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.
Strengthening tourism in 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.
Recent Publications
Tatoli! A Survey of the Timorese People – 2025 Results
State of the Media: Timor-Leste 2024
Timor-Leste
Upcoming Events
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Staff in Timor-Leste
Mission-driven and multidisciplinary, our staff bring a broad range of talents and backgrounds to their work every day.
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Héctor Salazar Salame
Country Representative, Timor-Leste
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Heidi Arbuckle
Deputy Country Representative, Timor-Leste
