Timor-Leste

TIMOR-LESTE: Working to Tackle Unemployment

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

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, [...]

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Timor-Leste and a Lethargic New Generation

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

The Irrawaddy
By MATT CROOK
JULY 14, 2011
DILI—It was a humid night and I wandered home in the dark, cursing the government of Timor-Leste for yet another power cut in Dili, the country’s tiny capital. I was lumbering up the road to my house, illuminating my path with my mobile to avoid the crater-like potholes, when I [...]

Posted in The Irrawaddy, Timor-Leste, Youth | Comments Off

TIMOR LESTE: Future Lies in the Young Nation’s Hands

Friday, July 8th, 2011

DILI – Timor-Leste is a young nation in every sense. Nine years after achieving formal independence in 2002, ending 24 years of savage occupation by the Indonesian army, half of its population of 1.1 million is under the age of 18. Many of its children lost friends and relatives during the Indonesian era and its [...]

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Fragile states speak up on aid spending

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Guardian Poverty Matters blog, Friday 1 April 2011 — About a year ago, officials from seven fragile states met out of donor earshot to compare notes and air their grievances about how billions of dollars of donor money has been spent on peacebuilding and statebuilding over the years.
Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, was the perfect place to [...]

Posted in Aid, Guardian, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

Emilia Pires

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Monocle Issue 41 Emilia Pires Finance Minister PDF

Posted in Monocle, Politics, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

East Timor’s ‘Nuniversity’

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

The Irrawaddy
By MATT CROOK
JANUARY 18, 2010
LAUTEM — The nuns were creating an almighty din. In one room there was a sister getting down with a keyboard, while in another there were a couple of nuns bashing out chords on guitars.
While not the most gifted musicians of the Catholic Church, the sisters’ real talents lie in [...]

Posted in Employment, The Irrawaddy, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

Forecast 2011: Flashing the cash seen as the path to success

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Monocle December 28, 2010 — Dili
Writer: Matt Crook
They may not yet have flat roads, regular electricity or a constant water supply, but work on Timor-Leste’s first mall is almost complete. While it’s all systems go in the capital, Dili, where high-end developments are sprouting in the most unlikely places, two-thirds of the country who live [...]

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Road repairs a boon to villages

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

DILI, 22 November 2010 (IRIN) – Timor-Leste’s government is engaging rural communities to improve the country’s road network, which is almost 60 percent unpaved, to create jobs and develop vital infrastructure.
The TIM-Works Project, being implemented by the Secretariat of State for Vocational Training and Employment, with technical assistance from the International Labour Organization (ILO), is [...]

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Snipping Away at Youth Unemployment

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

DILI, Nov 11, 2010 (IPS) – In a small city where most of the 22,000 inhabitants rely on subsistence farming to put food on the table, one young woman has gone against the grain with a business venture that embodies the changing times in Timor-Leste, South-east Asia’s newest and poorest nation.
‘I’ve felt a big change [...]

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Millennium development goals: Fragile states claim summit outcome off-target

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Also run by The Guardian.
DILI, Sep 23, 2010 (IPS) – Calls by fragile states for greater focus on addressing conflict and fragility have been largely ignored in the outcome document of the millennium development goals (MDGs) summit in New York, but critical donors are at least listening to the growing rumble of voices from developing [...]

Posted in Aid, Asia, Guardian, IPS, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

About me

I work for Plan in Bangkok. I was a freelance journalist based in Southeast Asia (mostly Timor-Leste). I recently did my MA at SOAS. You can read my stories here on this website. Find out more about me here or contact me