Since 1999, USAID has supported the development of electoral and political processes in Timor-Leste. IFES is one of the partners helping USAID do the job. IFES assisted Timor-Leste’s poll bodies to supervise the 2004 suco elections and the 2007 national elections. With another USAID partner Belun, IFES also monitored and reported on election-related violence during and after the 2007 parliamentary election period and sponsored community activities to promote peace and resolve conflicts. Several months after the elections, IFES and Belun continue to work to cool political tensions in Timor-Leste’s communities.

Concern that political tensions in Timor-Leste could lead to more violence inspired a new IFES project that seeks to teach citizens about the laws that govern peaceful political transition.

The young democracy was rocked by street clashes last year, after results from a parliamentary election showed a close race between the then ruling Revolutionary Front of Independent Timor-Leste, or FRETILIN, and the opposition National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, or CNRT. FRETILIN won a plurality of the vote, but CNRT was quick to form an alliance with another party and a coalition, creating the Parliamentary Majority Alliance, or AMP.

A month-long stalemate over the right to form the next government persisted for a month, with each party favoring different interpretations of the Constitution. Almost a year later, political tensions remain high in the country.

Mike Clegg, an IFES specialist in constitutional law, wrote a paper that described the President’s role in the process according to the Constitution. It illustrates how the President’s decision was indeed constitutional. Parts of that paper now form the basis of IFES’ civic education project that was launched on February 25.

The project design needed to account for the fact that more than 40 percent of Timor-Leste’s population is illiterate. In addition, it needed to explain a complicated topic like constitutional law in a way that could be easily understood by average citizens.

The solution was to design an information booklet with colorful illustrations and large visual charts that represent concepts such as proportional representation and political alliances. The booklet is being used by local educators, trained by IFES, who are conducting face-to-face awareness sessions through the first week in May.

The civic education campaign is underway in the districts of Dili and Baucau, two of the largest population centers in Timor-Leste and flashpoints for election-related violence. The campaign directly works with young people attending university or high school, among others. The median age in Timor-Leste is 21 years old.

Educators conduct trainings in the students’ classrooms, with the hope that many students will return home and share the booklet and lessons with their families. The IFES campaign is designed to reach 18,000 people, including local leaders, martial arts groups, and people internally displaced by factional violence over the last two years.

Mary Lou Schramm, IFES’ chief of party in Timor-Leste, said she hopes the civic education campaign will help citizens better understand how their votes determine who will be in Parliament and who is constitutionally entitled to form the Government after a national election.

“Citizens will hopefully be able to better weigh the post-election claims of political actors,” she said. “That will help contribute to democratic stability and reduced conflict in this young nation.”

The role of development assistance in effectively helping reduce tensions in communities is the focus of the first-of-its kind series of conflict assessments conducted by USAID partner Belun in 53 sucos across the thirteen districts of Timor-Leste.

Belun, a local non-government organization that counts as partners 150 local groups across Timor-Leste, presented the findings of the report to Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres, U.S. Ambassador Hans Klemm, and new USAID Representative Mark Anthony White on April 5, 2008 at the ETDA Business Center in Comoro, Dili.

According to Belun’s study, the conflicts encountered by communities across Timor-Leste stem from a combination of economic, political, social and external factors, with youth (primarily male) unemployment identified as the most prevalent conflict factor. Other economic factors include natural disasters in relation to production levels and food security and low income levels. Political and institutional issues raised included lack of infrastructure, poor access to information, and political parties reinforcing tensions within communities. The most common social factor was land and property disputes, although domestic violence also figured significantly.

“This is a very important work as this is an attempt to better understand the conflict in Timor-Leste,” U.S. Ambassador Klemm said in his remarks, adding that current USAID programs respond to specific issues raised in the report: youth unemployment, lack of information and land and property disputes. The Ambassador mentioned USAID’s JOBS Opportunity program that offers job training to youth in the districts; USAID’s support for the development of independent media in Timor-Leste; and the Strengthening Property Rights program—through which USAID is working with the Ministry of Justice to draft and implement a land law for Timor-Leste.

The assessments were conducted from February-September 2007 and made use of a comprehensive methodology that included research, focus group discussions and interviews for each suco assessed.

Each assessment includes specific recommendations to address the conflict factors identified and meet the development needs of the community. BELUN intends to support implementation of these recommendations through the USAID-supported NGO Sector Strengthening Program.

The assessments as a whole comprise a database of information that can be used to develop Early Warning and Early Responses mechanisms to prevent and respond to conflict.

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