Who We Are

We, the Mata Dalan Institute (MDI), are part of the vibrant Civil Society Organizations in Timor Leste.  Our journey began on 2000 when students under the Student Solidarity Council of East Timor established The New Day Foundation.  The Foundation was designed as venue to promote civic education program for Timor Leste’s citizens after the referendum. 

However, our work shows that the civil society needs to take bigger role in ensuring a transparent and accountable development process in Timor Leste.  Therefore, we decided to take a broader mandate and transformed ourselves into the Mata Dalan Institute in October 14, 2005. We aim to promote the accountable and transparent use of the state budget for the development at national and local level.