News

Timor Leste, December 2005

Livelihoods Programme

The purpose of the consultancy was to provide a final evaluation of a three year Livelihoods Programme which had been working in two remote sub-districts and to make recommendations for the new and more extensive programme that was to follow.
Since early 2003, the Irish NGO Concern has been running a pilot programme to support the re-construction and development of livelihoods in two of the most inaccessible sub-districts of Timor Leste. In November 2005, Mick Howes of IMA visited the programme to evaluate the progress that had been achieved and to make recommendations as to how operations could be extended to the entire districts in which the original locations were found. The evaluation began with an attempt to re-construct the history and core of the initiative.
Following an initial period, during which a wide range of views were canvassed and community-based plans devised, a series of activities were unfolded. In many places, groups had come together to terrace hillsides and counter soil erosion by adopting more sustainable agricultural activities, with Concern providing tools, seeds and technical advice. Other people had been helped to re-build their livestock holdings, to start co-operatives to run rice and maize mills, or to adopt improved methods of crop storage. Women had been encouraged to open small shops supplying a range of local needs and then to re-invest their profits in saving schemes. Pipelines had been installed to bring safe drinking water close to people's homes, school buildings rehabilitated, local roads improved and literacy classes conducted. Small-scale fish breeding, food processing, and tree nursery schemes had all been explored.
The overall findings of the investigation were encouraging. The technical standard of service delivery appeared in general to be high with good attention to detail and quality. The principle that people should be expected to do as much as possible for themselves had generally been followed, and a process of empowerment, extending to both men and women, was underway. National members of staff were enthusiastic, committed and taking on increasing amounts of responsibility. Good and transparent relations had been established with wider stakeholder constituencies, including monitoring committees, local leaders, local government at Sub-district and District level, and other NGOs.
But almost inevitably, in an experimental programme operating under very difficult conditions, certain problems were also apparent. There had sometimes been a tendency to proceed in a somewhat top-down, technology transfer mode, which had devalued the potential contribution of local knowledge. There had been an excessive reliance upon groups to promote activities and build civil society, and an overly standardised approach to working with groups. There had not been a significantly strategic approach to the selection and sequencing of activities in particular locations. A start had been made in addressing the extremely complex issue of gender, but a more consolidated effort was needed. Systems for the gathering, analysis and presentation of information about activities were somewhat rudimentary. A series of recommendations were made then about how these issues could be addressed as the programme embarks on its new more geographically extensive phase.