As in other societies in Southeast Asiaand the Pacific, customary social organization featuresstrongly in rural Timor-Leste. As well as providing avenuesfor conflict resolution, the influence of customary systemsextends to land tenure. As the state, development partners,private investors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs),and others seek to promote rural development in Timor-Leste,they will be forced to engage in some way with customaryownership and use claims which prevail in the districts. Afurther dimension of the subsistence nature of theTimor-Leste economy is the fact that the use of contracts inconnection with agribusiness transactions is rare. Thispresents a further challenge to the objective of increasingprivate sector investment in the rural economy. Based onfield visits, this Justice for the Poor (J4P) briefing notelooks at the rural economy of Timor-Leste and considersapproaches that could help promote productive and equitablerelationships between communities and other ruraldevelopment partners and contribute to mutually beneficialrural development outcomes.
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