UNTimorLeste 2025 Bulletin

Partnership, Progress, & Power of Multilateralism

As 2025 concludes, I would like the resilience that continues to define Timor-Leste’s development journey – built on government ownership, partnerships with communities, development partners, and of course the United Nations – to deliver services, strengthen institutions, including on  international norms, enable social protection, build climate resilience, promote human rights, women’s empowerment and ensuring no one is left behind..
 

I am proud, as UN Resident Coordinator, to report that across the country, UN agencies, in a coordinated and through joint analysis and initiatives, continued to support national  efforts to strengthen food security, a national priority, especially on climate smart agriculture to improve productivity, strengthen market access, support access of farmers to technology and financing, and of in closing gaps in the national schoolfeeding program. UN agencies in 2025 supported health and wellbeing programs, and through UN suppirt, achieved a malaria-free Timor-Leste, a more effective health systems infrastructure to bring medicines and care closer to communities, increase access of all pregnant women and babies to maternal health  services, improve early childhood education, continued to support women tais weavers, integrating agriculture, empowerment, livelihoods and cultural heritage and strengthening communities ability to build and manage disaster resilient rural infrastructure. I am gratified to note that UN’s work remained centered on inclusion, ensuring that women, young people, persons with disabilities and those at risk of being left behind remain at the heart of development in achieving the SDGs.
This was also a landmark year for the United Nations. Under the Secretary-General’s UN80 Initiative, Timor-Leste and the UN jointly celebrated the Organization’s 80th anniversary, a global call to renew trust in multilateral action and reaffirm our shared commitment to peace, dignity and sustainable development. The celebration with Government highlighted not only 80 years of the UN, but more than 20 years of partnership here in Timor-Leste.
 

2025 was also a pivotal year for the UN in Timor-Leste as we co-developed with government, and for the second time, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2026 -2030, which was approved by the Council of Ministers.  This important framework is a roadmap for UN’s next phase of partnership in Timor-Leste, to address existing and persistent development challenges on inequalities, food systems transformation, diversification of the economy, on climate resilience including unlocking climate financing and enhancing governance.
 

As we move into 2026, the UN remains fully committed to accompanying Timor-Leste on its acceleration of the SDGs given that we have only 5 years to 2030. Timor-Leste and through its next chapter as an ASEAN member presents an opportunity to reach its development targets. 
 

I would like to express my appreciation to our government partners, especially the Municipal Authorities, for their leadership in co-designing solutions and strategies, our bilateral development partners for the funding snd belief in the multilateral system that the UN represents and of course the communities which we work in – for trust, partnership and mutual accountability. 
 

Funmi Balogun
UN Resident Coordinator in Timor-Leste