Minister of State Administration Jorge Teme with Australian Ambassador Peter Doyle
The Ministry of State Administration, representing the government of Timor-Leste, signed a Subsidiary Arrangement with the Government of Australia for continued support to PNDS, on Wednesday 7 May 2014.
The Government of Australia has been working together with the Government of Timor-Leste for many years, including supporting the creation of PNDS from 2011 to 2014.
Australia funds advisers working with the Ministry of State Administration, Ministry of Finance and Civil Service Commission to develop and strengthen the corporate systems that allow PNDS to get grants to villages and make sure the program works. This includes financial systems, human resource management, work planning, logistics and information management.
In 2013, working with Timorese training organisations, Australia trained over 400 people, many of whom now work as social, technical and financial sub-district facilitators for PNDS.
Building on the successful implementation of PNDS so far, the Australian Government will commit to continuing their support to PNDS until 2017. The total value of this support is expected to be around AU$45 million.
The agreement opens the possibility of further support to PNDS until 2020, depending on approval from the Australian Parliament.
The Timor-Leste state budget for PNDS is US$294.3 million over eight years.
