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MANILA, PHILIPPINES
If you would have justice over past wrongs, govern yourself and succeed. It is with that old wisdom in mind that an observer might understand efforts at nurturing an infant civil administration in Timor-Leste.
Independence from Indonesia in 2002 revealed a people filled with hope, many noble words, and a shortage of the administrative skills needed to govern a country. However, an innovative program supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is closing the skills gap by devising homegrown plans for governance.
TRAINING PROGRAMS Getting local views on governance
Called the Capacity Building Program for Local Authorities (CPLA), the project has set itself apart from others by taking time to involve community officials and suco (village) chiefs in design and implementation.
“This program is different. Because of my involvement from the start, I feel a sense of ownership of the project,” says Florindo Pereira, Director of the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP).
Building on the work of an ongoing technical assistance grant, implemented by INAP, ADB is providing $550,000 to train newly appointed district and subdistrict officers and village leaders in service delivery. It will also reinforce training for officials who have already been through the program.
The work began in 2002 with an intensive assessment of needs, conducted throughout the country, using a technique that guaranteed 100% participation of those involved in assessment workshops.
Two teams made up of 15 people were sent out as trainers to Timor-Leste’s 13 districts. A needs analysis was done and, by 2003, a training curriculum was prepared.
To date, five training modules have been field-tested and completed. They are based on the actual needs of local authorities and include subjects such as problem solving, practical math and quantitative techniques, cooperation and communication skills, and leadership and management.
As of the end of May 2004, the project had conducted 24 training courses involving over 465 people, building a critical mass of local trainers who will manage district-based and continuous training programs.
"This program is different. Because of my involvement from the start, I feel a sense of ownership.... "
- Florindo Pereira Director of the National Institute of Public Administration and trainer in the program
Indeed, trainers have just begun the first courses at the lowest level of government in the country, the village. In addition to the training courses, suco chiefs attended workshops where they outlined their major issues and concerns, and their perceived main training needs.
“This is the first time that I have attended a training program. It was very useful for me,” said Macario dos Santos, suco chief in the village of Eukisi, in Lautem district.
Timor-Leste has over 500 subnational authorities that serve as the frontline partners to the program: its 13 districts, each headed by a district administrator, are divided into 67 subdistricts, also each with its own administrator. Its 450 villages are headed by the suco chief. Additionally, each district has its own development and personnel officers, among other officials.
A well-functioning government, close to the people, ensures that a project is better developed and implemented, service delivery is more focused, and personnel are more accountable, says Amarnath Hinduja, former Resident Representative in ADB’s Special Liaison Office in Timor-Leste, and the initiator of the project.
Adds Mr. Pereira of INAP, “Other donors did not involve stakeholders in their training programs. So after their workshops, we did not know what was going on.”
CPLA is strengthening the civil service in close consultation with officials like Mr. Pereira—at subnational levels of government—by providing training in problem solving, practical math, and cooperation with others. Local government players are gaining critical understanding of communication, management of information, leadership and management, project development, and local government administration.
The program underscores several important lessons: any strategic framework for intervention in a country should be linked to national development priorities and be formulated in close partnership with stakeholders.
And the process cannot, and should not, be fast-tracked. It takes time to help people acquire skills. Such a program “cannot be a one-shot deal imposed from above by central authorities, or worse, by any external agency,” write ADB project officers.
GETTING READY TO GOVERN Community leaders stand firmly behind the program
“The methods provided in the training courses are highly relevant to my everyday work. I believe that all participants involved can easily understand them, which is not often the case with other training courses,” says Nila Paula De Jesus M. Lay, a subdistrict community development officer.
Many other training courses are theoretical, but CPLA meticulously identified the areas where local officials lacked skills.
Project officers have also been able to interest other funding/development agencies in implementing certain components. For example, in April, the United States Agency for International Development financed a study tour to the Philippines, which has been decentralizing government in favor of local autonomy for over a decade now. Eighteen local authorities from Timor-Leste, including several district officers and deputy district officers, took part.
The tour inspired one district official, Leonel Carvalho, to launch a project in his district to rehabilitate the environment, using awards for best practice to encourage villages to compete among themselves in repairing environmental damage.
Maria Borges, Advisor for Human Resources Development of the United Nations Development Programme, says of the program, “It has been conducted in a low-key, professional, but very effective manner. I have seen the teamwork developed in INAP and, over the past several months, seen the dedication of the team in working with the local authorities.”
In Timor-Leste, nation building begins at the local level.
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