Bringing public services closer to people: Timor-Leste completes its nationwide Balkaun Úniku network

For many citizens, interacting with the State can mean travelling long distances, visiting several institutions, completing multiple forms and repeatedly presenting the same documents. These obstacles are more than administrative inconveniences. They cost families time and money, disproportionately affect people living in rural and remote areas, and can prevent the most vulnerable from accessing the services and rights to which they are entitled.

The completion of Timor-Leste’s network of 14 Balkaun Úniku, or one-stop shops, demonstrates how a different approach is possible. By bringing government services together in accessible locations across the country, the Government is making public administration simpler, closer and more responsive to  citizens’s everyday needs.

This milestone is not only about opening 14 buildings or service counters. It represents a change in how public policy is conceived: instead of asking people to navigate the structure of government, government is increasingly reorganizing its services around the needs of people.

From administrative reform to a nationwide service network

UNDP has supported this process as part of a progressive and coherent partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste on decentralization, local governance and administrative modernization.

The foundations were laid through an EU-funded programme implemented by UNDP between 2020 and 2024. This first phase supported the development of the legal and institutional foundations for decentralization, strengthened municipal capacities, expanded access to information through the Municipal Portal, and established ICT facilities in municipalities. Together, these efforts helped create the conditions for public services to become more accessible beyond Dili.

Building on this foundation, the Government invested approximately USD 5 million in a second phase implemented with UNDP support. This phase focused on designing and establishing the national network of 14 Balkaun Úniku shops and creating the Centre for Administrative Modernization. The Government’s leadership and financing were essential in transforming the one-stop-shop concept into a nationwide public-service infrastructure.

UNDP supported the Government throughout this journey—not only with project implementation, but also with technical advice, institutional coordination, infrastructure and equipment, digital solutions, capacity development and the design of a service-delivery model focused on citizens. The partnership brought together national and municipal institutions around a shared goal: making government work better for the people it serves.

The completion of all 14 shops means that Balkaun Úniku is no longer a pilot or an isolated innovation. It is now a national network with the potential to become the Government’s closest and most visible point of contact with citizens throughout Timor-Leste.

Putting people at the centre changes everything

People-centred public policy begins with a simple question: what does a person actually experience when trying to access a public service?

From the perspective of a ministry, a birth certificate, identity document, business licence or social benefit may belong to different institutions and administrative procedures. From the perspective of a citizen, however, these services are often connected moments in one life: registering a child, entering school, finding employment, starting a business, supporting a family or accessing assistance in later life..

When services are designed only around institutional mandates, citizens are left to connect the pieces themselves. A people-centred approach reverses this logic. It asks institutions to coordinate, share responsibility and organize services around people’s life events and needs.

This is what makes the Balkaun Úniku model potentially transformative. A well-functioning one-stop shop can mean fewer journeys, lower transport costs, less time away from work and family, shorter waiting periods, fewer repeated documents and clearer information. It can also make public services easier to access for older persons, persons with disabilities, women with care responsibilities, citizens with limited literacy, and communities living far from the capital.

These practical improvements build something equally important: trust. When people can obtain a service fairly, predictably and with dignity, public institutions become more tangible and credible. Each successful interaction strengthens the relationship between citizens and the State.

Connecting physical access with digital transformation

The Balkaun Úniku network also provides a strong foundation for the next stage of Timor-Leste’s administrative modernization: the digitalization and integration of public services.

Digital transformation cannot simply mean putting existing procedures online. If a complicated process is digitalized without being redesigned, it may remain complicated—and may become even less accessible to people without devices, connectivity or digital skills. In Timor-Leste, where a significant share of the population still has limited digital literacy, physical and assisted channels will remain essential.

Balkaun Úniku can bridge this divide. Through a hybrid approach, citizens can benefit from digital government even when they cannot independently use an online platform. Trained staff can help people access services, complete procedures and understand requirements, while the Government progressively connects systems behind the counter.

Through the EU-funded Dalan Digital Project, UNDP is supporting this next phase of reform. The objective is to help government systems communicate securely, reduce duplication, improve accessibility and gradually apply the “once-only” principle, so citizens are not repeatedly asked to provide information that the State already holds. The Balkaun Úniku physical network and Balkaun Úniku Digital can therefore evolve together as complementary channels of one integrated public-service system.

The technology is important, but it is not the final objective. The true measure of success is whether a mother can register her child more easily; whether a young person can obtain the documents needed for education or employment; whether an entrepreneur can formalize a business with fewer obstacles; and whether an older person or a citizen in a remote community can access support without making an expensive journey to Dili.

A platform for the future

Completing the 14 Balkaun Úniku shops is a major achievement, but it is also the beginning of a new chapter. The next challenge is to deepen the range and quality of services available through the network, connect participating institutions, establish common service and accessibility standards, strengthen staff capacities, monitor citizen satisfaction, and ensure that no one is left behind.

The network also creates opportunities for mobile services, stronger links with municipal governance and new forms of citizen participation. Over time, Balkaun Úniku can become more than a place for administrative transactions. It can become a trusted civic space where people obtain information, receive support, provide feedback and engage more directly with public institutions.

Timor-Leste’s experience offers a powerful lesson: public-sector transformation does not begin with institutions, procedures or technology. It begins with people.

When government looks at services through the eyes of citizens, barriers that once appeared inevitable can be redesigned. Institutions can work together. Technology can serve inclusion. Public investment can translate into time saved, opportunities created and rights made accessible.

By completing a nationwide network of 14 Balkaun Úniku shops, the Government of Timor-Leste has created an important foundation for a more accessible, inclusive and responsive State. 

UNDP is proud to have accompanied this journey and remains committed to supporting the Government as it connects physical and digital services around the needs, dignity and aspirations of every citizen.