The literature on unpaid care work – and unpaid work generally – in Timor-Leste is relatively sparse, generally limited to small sections of research focused on other areas of community life. As such, this Rapid Care Analysis (RCA) was conducted to better understand patterns and perceptions of unpaid care work at the local level. The RCA is an approach designed for Oxfam International (OI) to explore relationships of care, identify work activities performed by men and women and their estimated work hours, identify gender roles and patterns, and identify options for reducing or redistributing care work.

The various RCA tools are designed to be participatory, increasing visibility and improving community members’ understanding of unpaid care work patterns, so that care work is recognised and redistributed, and the women, women with disabilities and children of a community will be fairly represented in the economy and in society.

The overarching goal of the RCA is to uncover the less-understood issues that might detract from a woman’s participation in humanitarian and development programming.

This research was commissioned by Oxfam in Timor-Leste and funded through the Hakbi’it Project, which is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). The field work was led by Milena da Silva with support from Oxfam partners Masine Neu Oecusse (MANEO), Binibu Faef Nome (BIFANO) and Kdadalak Sulimutuk Institute (KSI). Analysis and report conducted by Bridging Peoples (https://bridgingpeoples.com).