1 Executive summary

Timor-Leste’s Strategic Development Plan aims to have a prosperous and strong nation by the end of 2030. Decentralization is the approach to provide services to the citizens close to their homes through One-Stop-Shops and seamless government principles. These single access points will offer citizens information and services in a consolidated and integrated manner through selected service delivery channels.

To achieve the goal, the municipality level was selected as the contact point for the public service provision as municipalities are the closest to the end users with the best knowledge of their needs and expectations. Although there is strong political will at the highest level of the government to implement One-Stop-Shops in the municipalities, and municipalities are eager to start the service provision, the actual implementation itself has not yet started. The existing legislation has been changed and a new one adopted, but government entities are not very eager to delegate their powers to municipalities, and a specific regulation covering all aspects of One-Stop-Shops is missing. End users must still travel to the capital of the country or to the centre of the municipality to submit applications and to get their documents to the respective authorities. The Government of Timor-Leste should choose the best feasible option for the public service provision by considering the experience of other countries with a similar background. Even if there is no universal One-Stop-Shop (OSS) model suitable for all circumstances, and each country must adopt the model most suitable for them, lessons can be learnt from previous projects. The success of OSS implementation relies on clearly defined goals and measured Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), as well as well-motivated stakeholders and cooperation with service owners and service providers. Proper functioning of the OSS depends on customer-centric service provision to which government agencies are devoted. Even if digital by defaultis the main driver of OSS implementation, traditional channels must remain available for those who are not ready or cannot use digital means. Building of a successful OSS contains several phases and parallel activities. It is important to focus on the development of the digital service provision platform, but it is equally important to aggregate information about the services in parallel. This enables all groups of the society to get to know their rights and practice them. Digitalization helps save resources, but if the connectivity between different government entities is not good enough or missing, the expected benefits and value remains a dream. In addition, it is equally important not just to connect the country to the world, but to connect its citizens and enterprises to the government, by providing secure and reliable communication channels, both digital and analogue. The current study aims to suggest the best feasible model of OSS for Timor-Leste by considering all previously mentioned enablers, barriers, and lessons learned by countries with a similar background. Not all objectives can be reached at once and piloting of the OSS in different phases enables to learn from the mistakes fast and to adjust the implementation plan when and where needed. The authors agree that local municipalities are the best starting point for service providers. Moreover, a strong cooperation and coordination between the central government, ministries, and local municipalities regarding the management of the One-Stop-Shops must be built for the project to succeed. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for governing and coordinating, service owners, service providers and municipalities establish the necessary environment for a successful pilot.

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Then, the next steps to start the pilot are: • assigning government entities responsible for the OSS implementation, including the governing body • choosing a municipality for the OSS pilot • deciding the reach of the pilot • choosing the services for the OSS pilot • adjusting legislation to support the pilot • preparing an implementation project with a relevant budget and timeframe • redesigning service processes to eliminate the steps which do not create value for the citizens • deciding on what the role of the municipalities is after the decentralization (mediator, decision maker or both), and adjust the legislative framework accordingly. A detailed roadmap is included in the costed roadmap.

Key recommendations

It is recommendedto use a single door solution, where all services (information services, face-to-face services)are offered to citizens in one facilityand are customercentric. An OSS employee can act asa mediatorora decision maker depending on the complexity of the service.

If decision-making is not delegated, thenthe representatives of ministries responsible for services will provide the service insteadof an OSS employee. Responsibility for the operation of the service centreremains within the competence of the local municipality.

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