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The International Republican Institute (IRI) opened an office in Timor-Leste in 2000, the first nongovernmental organization to work directly with political parties in the country, and the only organization to do so continuously since 2000.
IRI’s current political party program focuses on long-term party strengthening, both at the national and district level, and improving elected representatives’ constituent outreach. IRI also supports two local organizations it helped establish – the Women’s Caucus and the Center for Democracy in Action (CDA) – that work with underrepresented populations of women and youth, respectively.
In an effort to help develop a future generation of competent, democratically-minded leaders, IRI is conducting an intensive Leadership Development program, which will provide a core group of young leaders with training on both policy and leadership skills, as well as e-literacy.
IRI also works with the current government in Timor-Leste to help increase the institutional capacity of the offices of the president, prime minister and cabinet ministers.
Political Party Support
IRI provides training and support to political parties at both the district and national levels. Trainings focus on strengthening the institutional and organizational capacity of the parties, in addition to developing the leadership skills of party leaders.
As a post-conflict country, it is essential that Timor-Leste develop a healthy and competitive multi-party political environment that is able to understand and communicate the needs of the people. For this reason, IRI also provides trainings on how to enhance constituent outreach.
In 2007 and 2008, IRI collaborated with the United Nations Development Program, to hold two rounds of party strengthening trainings in every district, with national level leadership consultations taking place throughout the training period. IRI’s long-term relationships with the parties have allowed it to become a trusted resource for political party assistance across the country.
IRI’s political party program also extends to the parliament, where IRI provides support and training to the eight political party benches who made the three percent parliamentary threshold.
In August 2007, IRI held trainings with every party bench on constituent outreach, working with interest groups and coalitions. In fall 2007, IRI collaborated with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), to hold roundtable discussions with all the party benches to discuss the various proposals for changes to the election law. Going forward, IRI will help party benches and members of parliament utilize local political party structures to help improve understanding of local concerns as well as enhance communication of their message and policy to the districts.
In support of the 2007 parliamentary elections, IRI held two rounds of political party trainings on campaign strategy and message development in all 13 districts. To improve the political party poll watchers’ ability to properly monitor the election, IRI developed a manual for all political party poll watchers and trained more than 1,200 party poll watchers in all 13 districts, with three trainings in each district. A four-ply complaint form, approved by the state election commission, was developed to allow the parties to lodge and monitor the resolution of election-day related complaints at polling stations.
Women and Youth
In seeking to increase the representation and engagement of women and youth in Timor-Leste, IRI has provided support to the Women’s Caucus and CDA. The Women’s Caucus, founded in 2001, focuses on promoting political participation of women and training potential female political candidates. The Women’s Caucus has become one of the most effective women’s organizations in Timor-Leste and enjoys name recognition throughout the country. The caucus played a large role in drafting the Charter of Women’s Rights and encouraging lawmakers to address gender-related issues in the constitution.
CDA was created out of the National Dialogue, a 2005 IRI-sponsored program of dialogues and town hall meetings between the national leadership and Timorese citizens. CDA, which also maintains a library and Internet café, has held numerous workshops and seminars on topics ranging from solutions to youth political violence to how to become a journalist.
Most recently, in July 2008, the CDA along with IRI, conducted a model parliament program for university youth in Dili. The two-week program consisted of participants attending committee and plenary hearings of the real parliament, and then conducting their own committee and plenary sessions using real bills being debated before parliament. At the close of the program, the President of Parliament, Fernando “Lasama” de Araujuo thanked IRI and CDA during a full plenary session for putting together the model parliament. More than half the participants expressed an interest in running for office at the end of the program.
Leadership Development
In an effort to help develop a future generation of competent, democratically-minded leaders, IRI is conducting an intensive leadership development program, which will provide a core group of young leaders with training on both policy and leadership skills, as well as e-literacy. This program is advised by a local and international board that provides input on curriculum development, participant selection and overall strategy. Board members also serve as mentors to participants of the program, pairing participants with experts in their field.
The leadership development program has been aided by a donation of 15 laptop computers. These computers will be given to participants to facilitate their interaction with experts and mentors outside Timor-Leste, in an effort to encourage participants to appreciate the value of consultations with a wide range of people when developing strategy and policy. Use of the computers will also be used to help develop the participants’ e-literacy skills.
Institutional Capacity Building
The 2007 parliamentary elections represented the first transition between elected, civilian governments in Timor-Leste’s short history as an independent nation. To support the transition, IRI evaluated institutional weaknesses and capacity of the office to function effectively. IRI assisted the President’s office after a February 12, 2008, assassination attempt on President Ramos-Horta by helping to set-up a supporting office for medical, security, media and logistical support during the President’s recuperation in Darwin, Australia.
IRI is currently supporting media training for all cabinet ministers to improve the communication between the ministries and the press, both local and international. In addition, IRI’s media consultant is developing a media and communications manual for the ministers and their media advisors.
Rising Stars
In November 2007, IRI sent a delegation of six members of the Ministry of Economy and Development (MED) to El Salvador for a study tour on economic governance through IRI’s Rising Stars program. The delegation met with the President of El Salvador, Antonio Saca, as well as a number of former and current ministers and nongovernmental experts to discuss El Salvador’s post-conflict transition and the lessons learned.
At the end of the trip the delegation submitted a report to MED recommending local government reforms and the development of a municipal system similar to El Salvador’s.
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