Timor-Leste
Located on the island of Timor in southeast Asia, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is one of the world’s youngest nations, established in 2002. The island is divided between Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, and Indonesia. Roughly the size of Connecticut, Timor-Leste’s terrain is mostly mountainous, with plains along the coasts. Since gaining independence, Timor-Leste has struggled to rebuild its infrastructure and generate jobs. Among the lowest-income countries in East Asia, it relies heavily on foreign aid. Oil and gas make up 95% of government revenues, but the industry has done little to create jobs, since there are no production facilities in the country.
Stories in Timor-Leste
Santina wants more girls to experience that same feeling. And she has big plans for her own future. “I now want to be prime minister … I want my voice to be heard."
One of Cristina’s key areas of focus is ending child marriage and teenage pregnancy in her community. Fortunately, her family is very supportive of her work. “My family support me to the absolute maximum, encouraging me to take part in the training Plan offers because it can help my life in the future.”
Cristina is encouraging girls to get involved with the decisions that affect them. “The change I really want to see, is for a woman to become the president of Timor-Leste.”
Thinking about her future, Cristina hopes to be a leader herself one day. “I have the capacity to lead and have a good mentality. I really want to continue my studies, specifically about politics and one day, I hope to become a minister for my nation.”
It’s also hard to make time for studying, with all her responsibilities at home. As the eldest daughter born into a farming family, Etelfina is responsible for looking after her younger siblings, doing household chores and helping out on the farm. She looks forward to life returning to the way it was before.
Through our global COVID-19 response, Plan has provided resources for girls like Etelfina, so that they aren’t left behind. We’ve distributed thousands of home learning kits and solar radios, so students can listen to broadcasts of their lessons from home.
“As many other girls, I feel unsafe with everything closed. It’s difficult for girls to get menstrual and hygiene products. Also, it is hard to access health services because everyone is currently focusing on COVID-19 rather than other things,” Etelfina says.
“However, I have taken part in training sessions run by Plan International to learn about my reproductive health rights and gender-based violence. This training helped me learn how to protect myself, so now I know how to report cases of violence if something happens to me. It helps me feel confident that I can protect myself.”
Plan International has been working in Timor-Leste since 2001.
Plan stats in Timor-Leste
Office & operations
Plan Timor-Leste’s country office is located in Dili, with program unit offices in Aileu and Ainaro.
Technical areas:
Health, youth empowerment and disaster risk management and preparedness.
Number of sponsored children
As of June 2020, people like you sponsor 19,653 children in Timor-Leste through Plan International.
When you sponsor a child through through Plan, you form an incredible friendship.
But that’s just the beginning. With Plan, you also have the unique opportunity to:
Send her birthday gifts and cards.
Give her special holiday presents called Little Treasures.
Subscribe her to Plan’s educational kids’ magazine, Sunny Days.
— Visit her (when travel restrictions are lifted), with individual travel assistance from us.
Each gift offering is safely hand-delivered by us, and given to your child with personalized cards from you. It’s likely that the child you sponsor will have never seen anything like these gifts, and they’re available year-round to make the bond between you and your sponsored child even stronger.
Meet a child to sponsor