Background:

One of the primary goals of the U.S. Government (USG) in Timor-Leste is to promote stability and to create conditions for this young country to emerge as a secure, democratic, and prosperous state.  While the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste departed in 2012, the country continues to face challenges in bolstering stability, strengthening weak security sector institutions, maintaining the rule of law, and addressing gender-based violence.  USG assistance, through the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to support the Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) and security forces to institutionalize Timor-Leste’s significant progress in maintaining the stability needed for its growing population to thrive in the coming years.   

 

Summary:

USAID’s Conflict Mitigation Through Community-Oriented Policing Project, locally known as HAKOHAK, works with communities and the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) to improve security by strengthening collaboration between citizens and the police.  Funded through the Department of States’ Security and Stabilization Assistance Program, with additional support from the New Zealand Aid Programme, USAID’s HAKOHAK Project strengthens the capacity of the PNTL, civil society, and community leaders to implement effective community-oriented policing practices.  The project helps to increase the capacity of the PNTL to more effectively prevent and respond to high priority security concerns, particularly the security needs of women and girls in Timor-Leste.  

Since 2013, HAKOHAK gained traction and visibility, training suco (village) police officers in the municipalities, assisting Community Police Councils to become functional, and expanding from its original four target municipalities to eleven municipalities.  HAKOHAK has also raised awareness and provided a venue for listeners to engage with the PNTL and civil society representatives through community police public service announcement videos and call-in radio programs on Radio Television Timor-Leste (RTTL).  Since 2012, HAKOHAK has facilitated an annual National Community Policing Forum, organized in cooperation with the New Zealand Police and the United Nations Development Program.

Over the past years, one of HAKOHAK’s major impacts is the adaptation of the Community Policing concept as one of the PNTL’s priorities in its five-year Strategic Development Plan.  Encouraged by the Community Policing approach, the PNTL now strives to better collaborate with citizens.  As a result, the confidence that Timorese communities place in the PNTL has increased significantly in recent years.