The ERA Agro-Forestry project organized its Inception Workshop for presentation of the progress achieved during the first 5 months of implementation. The project is a component of the partnership established between Timor-Leste, the European Union (EU), Germany and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The partnership aims to contribute to the sustainable development of Timor-Leste, improving rural access and the creation of employment and economic opportunities, and reducing food insecurity and malnutrition in rural areas through agro-forestry development.

In its inception phase, the project developed strategies to stimulate the enrolment of the local communities in the activities of the project, and to promote gender equality and social inclusion. Guidelines for the selection of private sector construction contractors for training and execution of road rehabilitation an maintenance works were also defined.

The first road for inclusion in the project was identified in the Administrative Post of Baguia in the Municipality of Baucau. The 10.43km road connects the three sucos of Defauasi, Alaua-Leten, and Alaua-Kraik, being critical to serve the life and the work of 925 families and around 2,400 people. In the present conditions, the road is passable only in dry weather, leaving the sucos without motorized access during raining periods, representing a dramatic constraint for the economic development of the area. The rehabilitation works to be conducted by the ERA Agro-Forestry will upgrade the road to become an All-Weather Road that will allow the movement of motor-vehicles in all weather conditions. The estimated total cost of the works is USD 900,000.

The vast majority of the poor populations of Timor-Leste is concentrated in the rural areas. Several factors contribute for their poverty, such as the limited capacity for appropriate and sustainable management of the agriculture and forest resources, and an acute scarcity of employment and economic opportunities. However, and above all the other factors, poverty in rural areas is the result of isolation.

"In our global economy, opportunities are triggered by information, knowledge, and access to markets and services. To remain isolated from this local and national networks is the ultimate form of poverty. This is the reason why agro-forestry development requires team work to put in place appropriate responses to the multifaceted and complex challenges associated with the process, and the reason that inspired the design of the Partnership for Sustainable Agro-Forestry," said Ms Michiko Miyamoto the ILO Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

"We speak about roads, but we think about people. The roads identified for rehabilitation will be selected taking in consideration criteria of connectivity and potential for economic development and job creation. The roads rehabilitated by the Project will be a vehicle to bring people to markets and services, and markets and services to people" said Mr Simon Le Grand, Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Timor-Leste.

More than 6,000 workers and their families will benefit directly from the Project through the creation of 450,000 worker-days of employment, with a minimum of 30% reserved for women, representing an ambitious but strategically decisive target. In a Project in which an important part of the success depends on the capacity to establish synergies between the agro-forestry activities and the improvement of the rural access roads, promoting women participation is truly fundamental. Nobody better than them can understand the difficulties associated with rural development, and nobody better than them is prepared to contribute to accelerate development with their hard work and ideas based on intensive experience.