In December 2004, Professor Muhammad Yunus visited East Timor at the invitation of Foreign Minister of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta. Professor Yunus was invited to address a National Workshop on “Millennium Development Goals and Eradication of Poverty – the Role of Microcredit” organized jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Peace and Development Foundation and UNDP in East Timor.
The visit was a follow-up to earlier contacts between Grameen and Professor Ramos-Horta, who has given part of his Nobel Peace Prize money to begin a microcredit project in East Timor in September 2000. Professor Ramos-Horta is seeking Grameen’s assistance to scale up the JRH microcredit project, implemented by Timor Aid, as well as to build up microfinance sector in general in this impoverished island nation.
The national workshop was inaugurated by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri on 7 December. Professor Yunus noted in his address that Timor Leste had a tremendous opportunity to overcome poverty, because of its small population, abundance of natural resources, and the international good will it has generated. East Timor has the advantage that microcredit programs, which have been effective in reducing poverty around the world, already exist in Timor Leste and also enjoys the support of the government. He noted that a population of 900,000 means that there are 120,000 families in Timor Leste, of whom 50% percent are poor. With an achievable target of 60,000 families, Timor Leste has a historic opportunity to be the first country to meet, family by family, the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015.
 (From left to right) Nobel Laureate Jos é Ramos-Horta, Anna Pessoa, Lamiya Morshed, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, and Prof. Yunus in East Timor |
East Timor , officially known as Timor Leste, became independent in May 2002. The national development plan of Timor Leste focuses strongly on poverty reduction and sustainable and equitable economic growth, since 40% of the population is estimated to live on less that US$ 0.50 a day. Seventy five percent of the population live in rural areas and a majority of those rely on subsistence agriculture. The UNDP human development index for East Timor is the lowest for Asia.
According to AMFITIL, the national association of MFIs in Timor Leste, the microfinance coverage of MFIs in Timor Leste is currently 17,304, with a total loan portfolio of US$ 1.5 million. The largest microfinance organization reaching more than 7,000 poor families is Moris Rasik, run by Helen Todd, author of “Women at the Center” a book on Grameen Bank.Timor Aid’s JRH project currently reaches 800 members.
Grameen Trust and Timor Aid are expected to sign an MOU shortly for collaborating on a Build-Operate-Transfer project in Timor Leste.
Report by Lamiya Morshed
