Timor-Leste
The newfound state of Timor-Leste, with a population of only one million inhabitants has suffered huge human and social costs as a result of its 25 year independence struggle with Indonesia.
Loyalists and militias backed by the Indonesian military destroyed much of the country's infrastructure including irrigation and water supply systems when it became clear that the people of Timor-Leste would vote for independence.
They left behind a country in ruins that is slowly re-building itself with international help.
The climate of Timor-Leste is characterised by extreme conditions with little or no rain falling in the north of the island for almost eight months of the year.
When the rains finally come they can bring with them large-scale flooding which washes pollution into the waterways. Because of this water quality is often poor with urban water pollution a serious issue in some cities.
A climate favourable to mosquitoes and poor sanitation in the cities means that malaria is one of the major causes of death and has a large impact on economic and educational development.
The United Nations estimates that only just over half of the population has access to safe water and only just over a third have acces to sanitation facilities.
Stories from the field
This case study explores WaterAid's experiences in Aileu and Liquica with the use of two very different approaches to sanitation: subsidies and Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS). Whilst WaterAid is in the early stages of CLTS, it is clear that the approach is already making an impact and presents a major opportunity for effectively changing behaviour, engendering community-initiated action to stop open defecation and creating demand for latrines without the use of external subsidies.
This case study was part of Sharing Experiences publication which captures the experiences and lessons learned in developing sanitation services, and includes case studies of sanitation projects throughout Asia and the Pacific.A joint International WaterCentre and WaterAid publication ( PDF File 162KB)
WaterAid in Timor-Leste
WaterAid has been in Timor-Leste since 2005 and we now play a significant role in the rural water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. WaterAid actively participates in a number of government led sector sharing and coordination meetings and forums. This is vitally important as large inroads into the access needs of the population will only be addressed if the whole sector works together and builds capacity to scale up our activities.
WaterAid is working with the Government of Timor-Leste to increase its capacity and skills base in the area of water, sanitation and improved hygiene, in order to address the current lack of capacity within Government, local NGOs and private service providers. This is the major hurdle to effective and sustainable delivery of WASH in rural areas of Timor-Leste. WaterAid provides regular training and day-to-day mentoring and support to our local implementing partners, but the local skills deficit limits the rate at which our programs can be expanded. We have developed formal partnership agreements with a number of local organisations which will provide our partners with a degree of long-term certainty, through which we hope to be able to address the long-term capacity development of our local partner organisations.
On a very positive note, in addition to their own resources, the Timor-Leste government is receiving significant external support to the rural WASH sector from both the Australian (AusAID) and United States (USAID) governments. WaterAid has established strong relationships with both these programs and is well placed to play a collaborative and catalytic role in maximising the potential benefits of this level of support, in both local building and scaling up of implementation activities. Indeed, the next few years should prove to be exciting times, as the possibilities of harnessing the financial and technical resources that now are available to the rural WASH sector are realised.
In 2008 WaterAid’s total program expenditure in Timor-Leste was $637,576 with 3,800 water and 3,800 sanitation beneficiaries.
WaterAid began working in Timor-Leste in 2005. WaterAid and Plan Australia have been working in partnership to implement a water and environmental sanitation program.
The program aims to deliver sustainable, community managed water and sanitation services to rural communities in Aileu District as well as health and hygiene education in Aileu, Baucau, Manatuto and Lautem Districts.
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What we do
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