By Alex Ray/UNDP Timor Leste

Despite being in the Asia-Pacific region, where Coronavirus spread earliest, by early May 2020, Timor-Leste had recorded only 24 cases of Coronavirus.

Proactive government and NGO responses to the virus escalated in mid-March as the rate of community infections spiked globally, including in places with direct travel to Timor, such as Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. This meant the activation of the UN’s crisis management team – usually reserved for dealing with armed conflicts.

Community fears about the disease and the capacity of Timor’s health system to handle the crisis saw many international development staff leave Timor-Leste. For United Nations agencies however, the importance of their role came to the fore, with the WHO, UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women allocating resources to support the government’s response.

“This type of crisis reminds of why the UN was established in the aftermath of WWII,” said the UNDP Resident Representative Tuya Altangerel. “The UN has a long and special relationship with Timor-Leste and we are very proud that the UN is not leaving, that we are here to stay, and that we will be the last to leave.”

On March 12, the UNDP, WHO and UNICEF rapidly mobilised to contribute to the government’s launch of a National Prevention of Coronavirus Campaign.

Acting before any confirmed Coronavirus cases had been found, the clear priority was to spread clear and accurate information about how to prevent the disease, focusing on personal hygiene essentials to #stopthespread.

With official health briefings from the WHO and handwashing workshops by UNICEF, in under 48 hours the UNDP printed over 40,000 brochures to be distributed among the country’s 12 municipalities.

“Our government partners know that when we commit to printing and producing thousands of brochures for each municipality, then UNDP is definitely the agency that can get the job done,” said Ms Altangerel.

As the situation intensified with the government’s declaration of a “state of emergency” and complete border closures by April 1, the UNDP was able to offer further critical assistance.

“Our close relationship saw us sign a $5.7 million agreement to procure COVD-related equipment like PPE, oxygen and ventilators, as well as other essential medicines and commodities,” added Ms Altangerel.

“Our global reach and operations mean we have advantages in supply-chain management and procurement. We get better prices and the government knows we are very transparent in our procurement processes. Our long-term agreements are also with medical suppliers that are quality assured,” said Ms Altangerel.

Knowledge-sharing within the UNDP is also helping countries like Timor-Leste to learn from other offices such as Iran and China on how best to respond to the crisis.

UNDP China was one of the first responders assisting the government in China and they have assisted Timor-Leste in managing key pharmaceutical procurement needs.

The UNDP has an ongoing decentralisation project, in partnership with KOICA, which already had a collaborative partnership with the Ministry of State Administration [MSA], which is in charge of providing guidance and support to all municipalities. “Our permanent presence in eight of Timor-Leste’s 12 municipalities also means we can help information and materials reach communities in most of the country,” said Ms Altangerel.

Adapting to change, inside and out

From March 12, the UNDP also begun implementing social distancing and more frequent hand-washing and surface cleaning among its staff as an introduction to its broader Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should normal work arrangements be disrupted.

Staff began preparing to work from home, and to work in the office on a rotational roster to decrease density. UNDP projects also had to halt all large gatherings and thus make many practical arrangements to program activities, including limiting domestic travel.

The capital Dili was particularly badly flooded in mid-March, with many staff homes damaged. “This sped-up our adaptation,” said Ms Altangerel. “We wanted to allow staff to look after their homes and prepare themselves so we also offered salary advances, assisted with work from home logistics, and provided training on new software.”

Even without Coronavirus, other tropical diseases have also affected staff and their families, with a major dengue outbreak hospitalising several staff and infecting more than 900 Timorese.

Local Solutions

To understand more about the non-health impacts of the virus and its disruptions, the UNDP has allocated specialist staff to conduct a socio-economic impact assessment in the coming weeks.

Local communities are also offering up resilience measures that the UNDP has been working to up-scale. The youth-focused teams at Knua Juventude Fila Liman and Accelerator Lab have made progress on 100% local hand sanitiser production and distribution by formalising existing networks and capacities.

Similarly, the UNDP is directly supporting capacity expansion for community group “Suku”, who sew re-usable masks and employ women and girls with a disability.

The UNDP is also working with the State Secretary for the Environment to improve food security and domestic value chains by supporting farmers growing locally-suitable vegetables. This includes supplementary plans to distribute bulk fresh vegetables to vulnerable and remote communities.

The UNDP has also continued its awareness campaign with public messaging on social media. This includes videos produced with the WHO and UNICEF on COVID-19 prevention; the role and rights of children; and a children’s hand washing song, with more to come.

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