The Special Administrative Region of Oé-Cusse (and the Special Zone of Social Market Economy (RAEOA-ZEESM TL) aim to diversify the economy through inclusive and participatory socio-economic and environmentally sustainable development initiatives. RAEOA) - ZEESM TL aims to serve as an incubator for sustainable policies that can be implemented as a tool to drive development within the region and other areas of Timor-Leste.  

Five years into its creation, RAEOA - ZEESM TL has achieved substantial progress towards achieving sustainable development including improving the provision of public services such as electricity, infrastructure for communication (roads, port and airport), education, economic development, health and governance. Currently, RAEOA-ZEESM TL has embarked on an ambitious process to prepare a new Regional Strategic Plan (RSP) for Oé-Cusse that will guide public investment for the next 5 years (2019-2023) and accelerate sustainable and inclusive development.

The development of the Oé-Cusse Regional Strategic Plan aims to promote a common vision of the region while establishing priorities for future investment. The Plan summarises the key needs identified and highlights the core ideas captured by communities during public consultation and prioritisation exercises. With the technical support of UNDP Timor-Leste, public consultations were held in the 18 sucos of Oé-Cusse to gather views from men, women and children, and inform community members about the plan and future priorities. More than 500 community leaders participated in the consultation process, including representatives of women and young people, private sector and civil society. The President of Authority of RAEOA – ZEESM TL, HE Dr. Mari Alkatiri, focused attention on the appropriation of the Regional Strategic Plan by the communities. Dr. Alkitiri stated: “Every family in the Oé-Cusse region should be part of the development process, not only with their work and participation, but also becoming a partner of the development of the region”.

The strategic plan covers five major pillars include the social sector, economic sector, infrastructure development, urban planning, governance and institutional modernisation. Clear goals, objectives and targets have been defined for each pillar with the aim of ensuring results-based management and alignment between the Oé-Cusse regional strategic plan and the Timor-Leste strategic development plan 2011-2030, national sectoral plans and annual action plans. In relation to the sequencing of the SDGs in the context of the RSP, Goals 1 to 11 and Goal 16 will be addressed in the next 5 years (2019–2023). Goals 12–16 will be addressed in the future as part of a subsequent medium-term planning framework.

Click play on this video and discover how the participatory process of the Regional Strategic Plan for Oé-Cusse was carried out!

*Further information about the Regional Strategic Plan for Oé-Cusse can be found at the UNDP Timor-Leste webpage, where this information was originally published. To access it, please click here.