The Government, through the Minister of State Administration, Jorge da Conceição Teme, signed on June 17th, a new cooperation program with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
The new Governance and Subnational Development Program (GSDP) was designed in order to contribute towards poverty reduction and local development.
According to Jorge da Conceição Teme, the Subnational Governance and Development Program lasts for four years, from 2014 until 2018, and will be a contribute towards the implementation of decentralization across the territory of Timor-Leste and will also improve participation and increase local ability in service delivery.
The Minister added, that this support aims to help the Timorese in being authors of administrative development, at central or national level. Timor-Leste, nowadays, needs to invest in the preparation of human, natural and financial resources.
Noura Hamladji, the UNDP representative for Timor-Leste, referred that this joint program between UNDP and UNCDF is based on the results of the Local Governance Support Program (LGSP), particularly on what concerns to the support provided to the Government on the development and implementation of policies and strategies of decentralization and also through the consolidation and reinforcement of the subnational planning on investments, financing and implementation.
The Subnational Governance and Development Program (SGDP) will be implemented during four years, from July 1st, 2014 until June 2018, with a budget of USD$17.454.141,00.