Success stories

Alumni champions inclusive education

According to the 2015 census there are over 40,000 people with a disability in Timor-Leste. Many, especially those living in remote rural areas, don’t have access to education and are denied the chance to learn and develop their talents. Those living with vision impairment are especially disadvantaged, as people generally haven’t heard of braille and […]

Australia Awards Alumni bring clean water to rural communities in Maubisse

Friends since their first day at school Nelida and Maria always dreamed of working together on a community project. When they finished secondary school, with the help of Australia Awards Scholarships, Maria studied for a bachelors degree in Environmental Science & Business Law at The University of Western Australia, whilst Nelida’s degree in Civil Engineering […]

Building a business and creating new jobs

Tome Hula Muda Goncalves from Liquica was interested in the design of buildings and cars from an early age. At twenty he studied civil engineering at university in Surabaya but, when his family home burned down during the 1999 post referendum crisis, he returned to Timor-Leste. Back in Timor he got a job with an […]

Australia Awards Alumni and Member of Parliament has big plans to develop Timor-Leste’s Information Technology

Dr Abel Pires da Silva, Australia Awards Alumni and Member of Parliament, has big plans to develop Timor-Leste’s Information Technology. He started his journey to improve his countries information and communications technology when he was just 12 years old and first realised how much he liked computers. At 14, leaving his Aldeia in the mountains […]

Australia awards alumni and former oil industry official’s burning passion for education

Australia Awards alumni Cristina Yuri Rebelo dos Santos Costa joined the oil and gas industry after she graduated but always had a burning passion for education. She set up a school for 4-6 year olds in Dili, Timor-Leste and also has a successful career as a Senior Adviser for Trade Invest Timor-Leste in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Small Grant Awardee’s quest to increase food production

Timor-Leste is a fertile country yet many people don’t have enough nutritious food to eat. Current farming practices aren’t maximising crop production, a high percentage of food is imported and child stunting due to poor nutrition persists. Marcal Gusmao, Australia Awards alumni and UNTL researcher and lecturer, is on a quest to change this.