[{"bbox": [85, 154, 323, 187], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 220, 216, 248], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 266, 1134, 374], "category": "Text", "text": "Timor Leste is situated in Southeast Asia and it is one of the world's youngest countries, independent since 2002. According to the results of the 2022 Population and Housing Census, the country has about 1.34 million inhabitants, 63% living in rural areas. Timor Leste is a low income country with GDP per capita at USD 2,741.4 in 2021³, with 42% of the population still living in poverty."}, {"bbox": [96, 384, 1134, 545], "category": "Text", "text": "According to the last Labour Force survey in 2021⁴, among the 809,000 people in age of working (from 15 years old), 234,000 are formally and informally employed or self employed (involved in market oriented activities). 440,000 are not considered as employed but they are involved in household care work such as subsistence farming, fishing, processing food for storage or collecting firewood. Remaining people are retired or not working for personal and family reason. Average salary for employees is USD 248 per month. Remittances and subsides must be also considered as important sources of livelihood for the population."}, {"bbox": [96, 555, 1134, 743], "category": "Text", "text": "The national government runs on a semi-presidential system, with the popularly elected president sharing power with a prime minister appointed by the National Parliament. The country maintains a policy of international cooperation, and is a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, an observer of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and an applicant for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership. The annual budget is EUR 2.03 billion in 2023. It mainly supports recurring spending (77%). 8.6% is invested in capital spending ⁵. More than 80% of the budget comes from use of the interests of their Sovereign Petroleum Fund (EUR 19.2 billion); the rest is coming from taxes and international aid."}, {"bbox": [96, 753, 1134, 862], "category": "Text", "text": "The Government has an increasing interest in boosting the private sector and diversifying the economy through the development of sectors such as agriculture, industry and tourism. Sustainable and climate resilient economy is a priority highlighted in a number of the Government's own policies. These Government strategic priorities are indicated in their Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 and Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan."}, {"bbox": [96, 872, 1134, 1007], "category": "Text", "text": "The EU is a long lasting development partner of Timor Leste. Based on the last Government Strategic Development Plan and Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan and taking into account priorities of the EU at global and regional level, it has been decided to focus on two priority areas of cooperation as indicated in the MIP 2021-2027: green development and governance. Within the green development component the EU and Government agreed to have a specific emphasis on agro-forestry."}, {"bbox": [96, 1017, 1134, 1259], "category": "Text", "text": "Timor Leste has faced multidimensional challenges on land use management, including deforestation, land degradation and poverty. Agro-forestry is recognised as one of the viable options for balancing the socio-economic needs and ecological functions of the lands in Timor Leste. The EU has a significant experience in this sector. Recently the EU was supporting the implementation of a large agro-forestry programme Ai Ba Futuru (GIZ, EUR 14.2 M), and currently there are two EU funded projects in the area: an agro-forestry and carbon farming project Rai Matak (Oxfam, EUR 2.7 M) and a technical assistance to the Government in climate change and carbon farming (Alinea, EUR 2.2 M). In the second semester 2023 a complementary Action on Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) in agro-forestry will be implemented (EUR 7 M). In the long run EIB is exploring the potential of future interventions in this sector."}, {"bbox": [96, 1268, 1134, 1377], "category": "Text", "text": "There is a large potential to develop agro-forestry in the country (35,000 ha according to ADB sources⁶) in term of climate resilience, income and food production. A value chain approach in the sector can create employment, empower women and support more modern agriculture using technology such as digitalization. There is a potential complementarities with major stakeholders involved in the sector (ADB, UNDP, DFAT and JICA)."}, {"bbox": [96, 1387, 1134, 1468], "category": "Text", "text": "The EU considers that agro-forestry is one of Timor Leste's top initiatives (pitch: \"working toward green and sustainable development of the agro-forestry sector for the whole population\") and the Action will be a core part of this flagship. It contributes to priority area 1 of the MIP: Green and sustainable economic recovery and"}, {"bbox": [85, 1548, 419, 1573], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ https://data.worldbank.org/country/TL"}, {"bbox": [85, 1573, 492, 1598], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ Timor Leste Labour Force Survey 2021 Report"}, {"bbox": [85, 1598, 309, 1622], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ World Bank report, 2022"}, {"bbox": [85, 1622, 455, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/13/1/41"}, {"bbox": [608, 1656, 623, 1678], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "4"}]