Supporting Entrepreneurship and Employment for Women and Youth (SEEWAY)

Summary

Timor-Leste has 74% of its population under 35, and 36% of the youth population aged 15-24 is not employed. There is a significant percentage of youth not in employment, education or training for various reasons. And studies have shown that even among the university graduates, there is lack of soft skills that are in demand in the job market. With the impact of COVID-19, on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), further job loss has happened. This project aims to address some of these issues. A long-term investment in human capital is needed to produce skilled human resources to meet the labour market demand—something that is beyond the scope of this proposal.

Background

Timor-Leste has 30% of the population living below the national poverty line and 46% living in multidimensional deprivation and poverty. 70% of Timor-Leste’s population live in rural areas, most of whom (64.2%) are dependent on subsistence agriculture – poverty among rural population is particularly high. According to UNFPA, 78% of the people between the age of 15 to 64 were not employed (or economically active), of which around 36% were youth aged 15 to 24 years. Unemployment among youth is notable – Timor-Leste is the country with 74% of population under 35 (Census 2015), and 20.3% of the youth population aged 15-24 (Labour Market Outlook 2018) is not engaged in employment, education, or training (NEET). More efforts are needed to develop MSMEs to increase employment and income opportunities particularly for women, people with disability, unemployed youth, poor and vulnerable communities. Also, a follow-up socio-economic impact assessment will be useful to evaluate the situation in 2021 that can inform the policy decisions and budgets.

Project Outcome

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Project Details