95531 March 28, 2010
Timor-Leste: Promoting youth empowerment and inclusion by expanding skills and
opportunities for youth groups



                                                                                    Approval Date: 1 July 2008 

                                                                                    Closing Date: 31 December 2011

                                                                                    Total Project Cost: US$2.12 million

                                                                                    Donors: World Bank (International Development
                                                                                    Association)—US$2.12 million

                                                                                    Implementing Agency: Timor-Leste Ministry of State
                                                                                    and Administration and Territorial Management




         Promote participation of youth in local development and social life.
           Maximise the participation of female youth by specifically facilitating their participation in community development
         efforts.
           Strengthen the capacity of government institutions, especially the State for Youth and Sports, in order to allow them
         to better support young people.

BACKGROUND
Youth played a seminal role in the violence that erupted in 2006 which saw hundreds of thousands people displaced, property worth
thousands of dollars destroyed, hundreds injured, and dozens killed. In the absence of a concerted effort to provide opportunities for
youth to engage meaningfully with communities and government in national recovery and development efforts, the risk of youth
marginalisation from development and civic life will persist.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Youth  Development Project will support the Government’s efforts to  address the social, economic and political factors that led to
the involvement of youth in the crisis of 2006 and in the ongoing social instability present since then.

The opening paragraph of the National Youth Policy emphasises that “young people are key elements in the sustainable development
of the country”, and goes on to state that “the energetic and dynamic transition of young people to adult life is a valuable resource for
the development and empowerment of the country”.

The National Youth Policy sees young people as potential contributors to local and national development. The first of the six strategies
specified in the National Youth Strategy is to mobilise young people to better serve their communities.

There are two components to the project:

The first component is Operationalising the National Youth Policy, implemented by the Secretariat of State for Youth and Sports
(SSYS). This component focuses on:

       Strengthening SSYS’s ability to develop, implement and coordinate youth-related policies  and programs, including the
       establishment of a unit to administer the National Youth Fund within SSYS; and
       Enhancing SSYS’s ability to work with youth groups, organisations and youth centres, and support youth initiatives.

The second component is Youth for Local Development, implemented by the Ministry of State and Administration  and Territorial
Management. This includes:

       Facilitating the participation of rural youth in community development activities and local development processes.
       Supporting the Ministry to establish a mechanism to distribute small grants to youth in sucos (villages) and aldeias (hamlets).
LOCATION
The project initially takes place in Bobonaro and Lautem districts, and then gradually scales up to cover the rest of the districts.

RESOURCES
  Project Details
  Project Documents
  Download Project Flier (369kb pdf)

CONTACT
World Bank Task Team Leader

Ingo Wiederhofer
Senior Operations Officer
iwiederhofer@worldbank.org