Year 5 Third Quarterly Report: Strengthening Property Rights In Timor-Leste

The project, managed by Tetra Tech ARD, has been ongoing since 2007 with a total budget of $9.876 million. The project's objectives include improving investment and economic growth, promoting social cohesion, and achieving political stability. The project has been implemented through a series of interrelated activities in five task areas: Public Information Awareness, Land Policy Laws and Implementing Regulations, Support to a National Land Body, Land Administration, and Dispute Resolution, Mediation and Processes for Competing Claims to Land. The project has successfully promoted the brand "Ita Nia Rai" ("Our Land") with a corresponding logo that is now nationally recognized. By October 2011, the project had over 50,000 parcels in the database from urban centers in each of the 13 Districts. The project has also paid special attention to women's ownership rights, improving land administration systems, eliminating overlapping legal and judicial systems regarding land administration, reducing competing claims over property rights, and promoting transparency in land administration. The project has worked closely with the District and National Offices of the National Directorate of Land, Property, and Cadastral Services (Direccao Nacional de Terras, Propriedades e Servicos Cadastrais, DNTPSC) within the Ministry of Justice. However, the project has faced significant challenges in the current quarter, including a dramatic decline in Ita Nia Rai activities under the administration of the Ministry of Justice. The Minister's authority was suspended in April, and she was tried in May and convicted in June of corruption-related crimes. The current leadership of the National Office of the DNTPSC has continued to oppose the program's activities, leading to poor motivation and capacity at the DNTPSC. Salaries for Ita Nia Rai personnel were delayed significantly, resources were unavailable, and little or no overall coordination or planning took place. The project's sustainability is at high risk, and the country's peaceful election and inauguration of a new President in the past quarter has laid the groundwork for a transition to a new government. However, the Ita Nia Rai Program under the Ministry of Justice still lacks a confirmed and qualified Manager, an accompanying management structure, independent oversight, and high-level government public commitment to sustaining it. The USAID-funded technical assistance provided by the project helps to mitigate the severity of these deficiencies, but it ends largely at the end of August as the technical team concludes their contracts and conclusively by the end of September.