TIMOR-LESTE: Working to Tackle Unemployment
By Matt Crook

DILI - Tackling unemployment has been one of the main stumbling blocks in the statebuilding process in Timor-Leste, a half-island nation of about 1.1 million people.

Nowhere is the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of achieving decent employment for men, women and young people more crucial than for a young, post-conflict nation like Timor-Leste, which has a population heavily weighted towards its youth. Forty-five percent of its people are aged 15 years and below, according to the Population Reference Bureau.

Indeed, the violence that erupted on the streets of the capital Dili in 2006 was partly due to the frustration of large groups of unemployed, disenfranchised young people who felt let down by their government and the international community.

With the nation now at peace nine years after independence in 2002, the drive is on to bolster the capacity of the Secretariat of State of Professional Training and Employment (SEFOPE), the government institution tasked with getting people working. The unemployment rate has been estimated at more than 20 percent in urban areas, says the country’s national youth employment plan.

With about 70 percent of the population still living in rural areas, it's been a difficult task to get people to move away from familiar subsistence farming activities. A lot will depend on maintaining support for the country's skills training providers and micro-finance institutions, many of which are ill-equipped to get people working. It's an almighty task to get the people of Timor-Leste engaged in gainful employment, but through various projects scattered around the country, there are clear signs of progress.