Publication: Timor-Leste Workforce Development : SABER Country Report 2013
Loading...
Published
2013
ISSN
Date
2014-09-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Timor-Leste, a young country with a young population, has enjoyed rapid growth driven by a booming oil sector. However, the country still faces significant challenges such as a high poverty rate, a lack of infrastructure, high levels of unemployment among the youth and critical human resource constraints. The skills shortage has been felt throughout the economy, starting with the oil and gas sector where a large proportion of workers are foreign. Developing a skilled workforce is a necessary step to stimulate the incipient private sector and attract foreign investment.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2013. Timor-Leste Workforce Development : SABER Country Report 2013. Systems Approach for Better Education
Results (SABER) country report;2013. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20092 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Bulgaria : Workforce Development(Washington, DC, 2014)This report presents a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of Bulgaria's workforce development (WfD) policies and institutions. The results are based on a new World Bank tool designed for this purpose, SABER-WfD. SABER-WfD is part of the World Bank's initiative on Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) whose aim is to provide systematic assessment and documentation of the policy and institutional factors that influence the performance of key areas of national education and training systems. The SABER-WfD tool encompasses initial, continuing and targeted vocational education and training that are offered through multiple channels and focuses largely on programs at the secondary and post-secondary levels.Publication Jordan Workforce Development : SABER Country Report 2013(Washington, DC, 2013)Human Development in Jordan has witnessed significant progress over the past two decades, in line with Jordan s vision to become a regional leader through leveraging its strong human capital base into a skills, knowledge and innovation driven economy. Evidence of progress on this front is provided by the advancement of the country s human development and education indicators. Between 1980 and 2011, the Human Development Index (HDI) value increased by 29 percent, the adult literacy rate reached 92.6 percent; the primary school completion rate hit 100 percent and combined gross enrolment reached 79 percent. In the decade prior to the global financial slowdown of 2008 and the subsequent political unrest in the region, Jordan experienced rapid economic growth, outperforming the MENA average.Publication Vietnam Workforce Development : SABER Country Report 2012(Washington, DC, 2012)Since Vietnam launched its economic reforms in 1986, the country has enjoyed more than two decades of rapid economic growth with concomitant reductions in poverty. In the coming years, as Vietnam looks to strengthening its global competitiveness and sustaining its record of rapid growth, it faces critical challenges. Poor labor market outcomes and low productivity remain important concerns that stem in part from the paucity of job-relevant skills among workers and the limited opportunities for workers to acquire or enhance their skills. The government s response to these challenges is encapsulated in two key documents which align closely with the country s Strategy for Socioeconomic Development approved by the National Assembly. The first is the Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategy (2011 2020), approved in 2011, which defines strategic targets for workforce development and offers guidance and solutions to meet the targets. The second document, the Vocational Training Development (VTD) Strategy (2011 2020), approved the following year, sets forth a roadmap for achieving specific targets in vocational education and training (VET).Publication How Does the Short-Term Training Program Contribute to Skills Development in Bangladesh?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-09)Skills development is one of the priorities for national economic development strategies of Bangladesh. The vision 2021 of the Government of Bangladesh gives the highest priority to building a large base of skilled workers in order to achieve a poverty-free middle-income country by 2021. The skills development sector is highly complex due to multiple service providers, a vast spectrum of target audiences, a large range in modalities of service provision, and varied emphases in terms of skills levels and types. The short-term training, a formal channel of six months training, is an important instrument for bridging the gap between the needs of the labor market for increasing the pool of skillful workers and the aspiration of the students for finding a good job. In order to assess the performance of short-term training and interventions by Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP), a tracer study was conducted between December 2013 and January 2014. Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP) is jointly financed by the World Bank, Canada and the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), which started in 2010 for contributing to Bangladesh’s medium to long-term objective of developing its human resources as a cornerstone of its strategy for poverty alleviation and economic growth. It supports competitively selected 42 public and 8 private short-term training institutions for improving the quality of training and providing opportunities to the disadvantaged youth for obtaining skills from the select training providers.Publication Republic of Korea : Workforce Development(Washington, DC, 2013)The Republic of Korea vaulted in less than three generations from being one of the poorest countries in the world to becoming a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This economic transformation has attracted considerable admiration and inquiry. One of the key factors for Korea's success was the provision of skills to support industrialization and economic diversification. This report takes advantage of a new World Bank diagnostic tool to examine the development of the Korean system for Workforce Development (WfD) from 1970 to 2010. The findings are intended to document good practices, lapses and key breakthroughs and generate insights that can be used to enrich dialogue on WfD policy in the World Bank's partner countries. The tool is based on an analytical framework that identifies three functional dimensions of WfD policies and institutions: strategic framework, which refers to the praxis of advocacy, partnership, and coordination in relation to the objective of aligning WfD in critical areas to priorities for national development; system oversight, which refers to the arrangements governing funding, quality assurance and learning pathways that shape the incentives and information signals affecting the choices of individuals, employers, training providers and other stakeholders; and service delivery, which refers to the diversity, organization and management of training provision, both state and non-state, that deliver results on the ground by enabling individuals to acquire market-and job-relevant skills. These three dimensions constitute a closed policy-making loop and, when taken together, allow for analysis of the functioning of a WfD system as a whole. This report focuses specifically on policies in the area of WfD.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Rwanda Economic Update, April 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-01)Rwanda’s economy remained resilient in 2024, with GDP growth reaching 8.9 percent, driven by strong performances in services, industry, and a rebound in agriculture. Despite strong export growth, the current account deficit widened due to decline in official transfers. This necessitated continued reliance on forex inflows from FDI and external concessional borrowing. Inflation moderated, averaging 4.8 percent in 2024, due to lower food prices and tight monetary policy, allowing the central bank to ease interest rates by reducing the Central Bank Rate (CBR) from 7.5 percent to 6.5 percent in 2024. The fiscal position improved with higher tax collections supporting fiscal consolidation, though public debt is projected to peak at 80 percent of GDP in 2025, despite reduced borrowing needs, before gradually declining, driven by past deficits and exchange rate depreciation. Rwanda’s agriculture sector remains a cornerstone of the economy, employing 43 percent of the workforce and contributing 27 percent to GDP. Despite diversification beyond traditional cash crops like coffee and tea, agricultural productivity remains constrained by land fragmentation, limited mechanization, post-harvest losses, and climate change impacts. While agricultural exports account for 37 percent of total export revenues, trade remains vulnerable to price fluctuations, and regional market integration is underdeveloped. The sector has much more potential to deliver higher growth, better jobs and boost forex earnings. Part 2 of this report focuses on how to unlock this potential. It examines key drivers of agricultural productivity, including input use, irrigation expansion, mechanization, and digital innovation, while evaluating persistent challenges such as limited access to finance, weak extension services, and climate vulnerability. It assesses policy efforts under the Fifth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA5), which aims to modernize production, enhance market access, and transition toward a more private sector-driven model. Key recommendations include strengthening seed systems, expanding irrigation, investing in agro-logistics, improving financial access, and implementing regulatory reforms to attract private investment. By addressing these structural bottlenecks and aligning policies with regional and global trade opportunities in the East African Community (EAC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Rwanda can build a resilient, competitive, and sustainable agri-food sector that supports economic transformation and food security.Publication Women, Business and the Law 2016(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-09-09)By measuring where the law treats men and women differently, this book shines a light on how women's incentives or capacity to work are affected by the legal environment and provides a basis for improving regulation. The fourth edition in a series, this book examines laws and regulations affecting women’s prospects as entrepreneurs and employees in 173 economies, across seven areas: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit, going to court, and protecting women from violence. The report's quantitative indicators are intended to inform research and policy discussions on how to improve women's economic opportunities and outcomes.Publication Timor-Leste Economic Report, July 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-25)Timor-Leste’s economy continued its recovery in 2022, expanding by 3.9 percent, fueled by public consumption and investment. Private investment rose from an exceptionally low level while net exports continued to be a drag on growth. Headline inflation soared in March 2023 at 9.6 percent, spurred by significant increases in food and non-food prices. High inflation is part of a global trend driven by prices of tradable goods. Within Timor-Leste, the government’s policy of enforcing higher excise taxes on tobacco products, implementing import taxes, and applying excises to sugar and sugary beverages, partially drove the inflationary trend. To advance a reform agenda, the new government may want to consider institutionalizing fiscal consolidation through robust fiscal rules. Both revenue mobilization and expenditure rationalization efforts should not only be maintained but also enhanced. Given that significant increases in public spending have had a limited impact on Timor-Leste’s medium-term economic growth, it is possible to sustain growth levels with a reduced budget.Publication Democratic Republic of Congo Urbanization Review(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018)The Democratic Republic of Congo has the third largest urban population in sub-Saharan Africa (estimated at 43% in 2016) after South Africa and Nigeria. It is expected to grow at a rate of 4.1% per year, which corresponds to an additional 1 million residents moving to cities every year. If this trend continues, the urban population could double in just 15 years. Thus, with a population of 12 million and a growth rate of 5.1% per year, Kinshasa is poised to become the most populous city in Africa by 2030. Such strong urban growth comes with two main challenges – the need to make cities livable and inclusive by meeting the high demand for social services, infrastructure, education, health, and other basic services; and the need to make cities more productive by addressing the lack of concentrated economic activity. The Urbanization Review of the Democratic Republic of Congo argues that the country is urbanizing at different rates and identifies five regions (East, South, Central, West and Congo Basin) that present specific challenges and opportunities. The Urbanization Review proposes policy options based on three sets of instruments, known as the three 'I's – Institutions, Infrastructures and Interventions – to help each region respond to its specific needs while reaping the benefits of economic agglomeration The Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a crossroads. The recent decline in commodity prices could constitute an opportunity for the country to diversify its economy and invest in the manufacturing sector. Now is an opportune time for Congolese decision-makers to invest in cities that can lead the country's structural transformation and facilitate greater integration with African and global markets. Such action would position the country well on the path to emergence.Publication Vietnam(World Bank, Hanoi, 2020-05-01)Following from Vietnam’s ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in late 2018 and its effectiveness from January 2019, and the European Parliament’s recent approval of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and its subsequent planned ratification by the National Assembly in May 2020, Vietnam has further demonstrated its determination to be a modern, competitive, open economy. As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis has clearly shown, diversified markets and supply chains will be key in the future global context to managing the risk of disruptions in trade and in supply chains due to changing trade relationships, climate change, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks. In those regards, Vietnam is in a stronger position than most countries in the region. The benefits of globalization are increasingly being debated and questioned. However, in the case of Vietnam, the benefits have been clear in terms of high and consistent economic growth and a large reduction in poverty levels. As Vietnam moves to ratify and implement a new generation of free trade agreements (FTAs), such as the CPTPP and EVFTA, it is important to clearly demonstrate, in a transparent manner, the economic gains and distributional impacts (such as sectoral and poverty) from joining these FTAs. In the meantime, it is crucial to highlight the legal gaps that must be addressed to ensure that national laws and regulations are in compliance with Vietnam’s obligations under these FTAs. Readiness to implement this new generation of FTAs at both the national and subnational level is important to ensure that the country maximizes the full economic benefits in terms of trade and investment. This report explores the issues of globalization and the integration of Vietnam into the global economy, particularly through implementation of the EVFTA.