By: Dionísio Babo Soares*
This opinion piece is prompted by the ongoing debate surrounding the civil service reform proposed by the Civil Service Commission of Timor-Leste. Various criticisms of the proposal have been expressed by commentators and some government institutions, several of which have entered the public domain. This article does not seek to take sides in that debate. Rather, it offers a broader institutional perspective on why reform remains necessary and why the proposed carreira única deserves serious consideration.
Timor-Leste’s civil service is the oldest institution of the country’s modern administrative system. It was originally established under Law No. 8/2004 of 5 May (Statute of the Civil Service). Adopted shortly after the restoration of independence, the law laid the foundations of a professional public administration by embedding the principles of merit, legality, impartiality, professionalism, integrity, and service to the public interest. For a newly independent state rebuilding its institutions after decades of conflict, these represented significant achievements.
Over time, however, the administrative system that developed under the 2004 framework became increasingly fragmented. Ministries and public institutions retained considerable autonomy over recruitment, promotion, personnel management, and career progression. Although the legal principles remained common, their implementation differed considerably across institutions. Career advancement largely occurred within individual ministries, recruitment standards evolved unevenly, training opportunities varied, and the mobility of public servants between institutions remained limited. Consequently, the civil service evolved as a collection of separate institutional careers rather than as a unified professional public service.
This fragmentation has produced significant institutional consequences. Different ministries developed divergent personnel practices, reducing consistency across government. Professional development depended heavily on the priorities and financial resources of individual institutions. Administrative mobility remained constrained, limiting the Government’s ability to redeploy experienced officials in response to changing national priorities. More importantly, fragmented personnel systems increased the risk of inconsistent application of merit principles and weakened the development of a shared professional identity among public servants.
These challenges are not unique to Timor-Leste. Comparative research on post-conflict governance shows that many young states initially adopt decentralised personnel arrangements in response to urgent administrative demands. As public institutions mature, however, fragmented career systems often become obstacles to effective governance. Administrative coherence, rather than institutional autonomy, becomes increasingly important for improving policy coordination, strengthening professionalism, and enhancing public trust.
The proposed carreira única seeks to address these shortcomings by establishing a unified civil service governed by common recruitment standards, transparent promotion procedures, standardised professional development, and greater mobility across government institutions. Rather than treating ministries as separate employers, the reform recognises that all public servants ultimately serve the same state and should therefore belong to one professional civil service.
Criticism of the proposal has generally centred on three concerns. First, some argue that greater centralisation could reduce ministries’ flexibility in managing their personnel. Second, others contend that a unified career structure may weaken technical specialisation by placing excessive emphasis on general administrative competencies. Third, some professional advisers serving within the Government have expressed concern that the reform could make it more difficult to recruit highly specialised experts from outside the civil service in areas where domestic expertise remains limited.
These concerns deserve careful consideration, but they should not be regarded as grounds for rejecting the reform. Rather, they highlight the importance of designing a unified career system that combines common standards with sufficient flexibility to accommodate the diverse operational requirements of government while preserving the principles of merit, transparency, and professionalism.
One common misunderstanding is that a unified career necessarily eliminates professional specialisation. In reality, it separates career administration from technical assignment. Public servants may enter through a common merit-based recruitment system while subsequently developing specialised expertise through higher education, professional certification, sector-specific training, and practical experience. Engineers remain engineers, doctors remain doctors, diplomats remain diplomats, economists remain economists, and lawyers remain lawyers. What changes is not their profession but the institutional framework governing recruitment, promotion, ethics, and career management.
Nor does a unified personnel system require excessive operational centralisation. Ministries continue to determine technical priorities, manage programme implementation, and supervise professional performance. The Civil Service Commission establishes common standards for recruitment, promotion, ethics, and career development while allowing ministries to retain responsibility for technical management within their respective sectors. Such arrangements are common in modern civil services and strengthen institutional consistency without undermining ministerial effectiveness.
The concern regarding professional advisers is particularly relevant to Timor-Leste’s circumstances. Since independence, the Government has benefited considerably from the contributions of international and national advisers in areas such as petroleum governance, public financial management, digital transformation, infrastructure development, international law, climate policy, public health, and economic reform. Some advisers have questioned whether a unified career system might reduce the Government’s flexibility to recruit highly specialised professionals whose expertise cannot yet be developed domestically.
This concern reflects a legitimate practical consideration, but it does not undermine the rationale for the carreira única. On the contrary, it reinforces the importance of distinguishing between the permanent civil service and specialised advisory functions. A professional civil service should constitute the institutional backbone of government, providing continuity, neutrality, accountability, and administrative memory. Alongside this permanent structure, the Government should retain the flexibility to recruit fixed-term advisers and technical specialists whenever specialised expertise is temporarily unavailable within the public service.
For Timor-Leste, such a hybrid model is particularly appropriate. As a small state with limited human resources, it is unrealistic to expect that career civil servants can immediately staff every emerging area of public policy. The Government will continue to require specialised advisers in highly technical fields, particularly those that are evolving rapidly due to technological change and global economic transformation. Their contribution, however, should extend beyond providing technical advice. They should mentor Timorese officials, transfer knowledge, strengthen institutional systems, and contribute to the long-term development of national capacity. In this way, advisers complement rather than substitute for the permanent civil service.
This conclusion is supported by three complementary perspectives in contemporary public administration.
First, the Neo-Weberian State argues that effective governments require strong professional bureaucracies characterised by merit-based recruitment, institutional continuity, administrative neutrality, and public accountability while remaining responsive, innovative, and performance-oriented. For developing democracies such as Timor-Leste, the priority is not to reduce the role of the state but to strengthen its institutional capacity. The carreira única reflects this objective precisely.
Second, State Capacity Theory emphasises that sustainable development fundamentally depends on capable public institutions. State capacity encompasses the ability to recruit competent officials, retain institutional knowledge, coordinate policy implementation, and adapt to changing circumstances. For small states with limited human resources, these capabilities are particularly valuable. A unified career strengthens state capacity by facilitating mobility, promoting organisational learning, and embedding professional expertise within permanent institutions rather than allowing it to depend excessively on individual office holders or external advisers.
Third, Strategic Human Resource Management views recruitment, promotion, professional development, and leadership succession as integrated investments in institutional capability rather than isolated administrative processes. Fragmented personnel systems inevitably produce fragmented investments in human capital. By contrast, a unified career enables government to establish common competency frameworks, coordinated training programmes, systematic leadership development, and coherent succession planning. Such an integrated approach is especially important in Timor-Leste, where developing and retaining highly qualified public servants remains a strategic national priority.
The comparative experiences of Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, and Angola reinforce these conclusions. Although each country has developed its civil service according to its own constitutional and political context, all combine professional career systems with the recruitment of contractual advisers and specialised technical experts where necessary. Their experience demonstrates that career civil servants and professional advisers are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they perform complementary functions within a coherent public administration. Timor-Leste’s reform follows this broader Lusophone administrative tradition while adapting it to national realities.
The long-term benefits of the carreira única extend well beyond personnel management. It promotes transparency by standardising recruitment and promotion, reducing opportunities for inconsistent personnel practices, and strengthening public confidence in government. It encourages mobility across institutions, allowing scarce expertise to be deployed where national priorities require it. It fosters a shared professional identity among public servants, reinforcing ethical standards and institutional cohesion. Most importantly, it contributes to building a capable state whose administrative institutions are professional, resilient, and increasingly self-reliant.
For Timor-Leste, civil service reform should pursue more than administrative efficiency. Its ultimate objective is institutional maturity. The permanent civil service should provide continuity and stability across political cycles, while specialised advisers should contribute technical knowledge that is progressively transferred to national officials. Such a balanced approach enables the Government to benefit from external expertise without creating long-term dependence upon it.
The transition from the fragmented career structures established under Law No. 8/2004 to a unified regime de carreira única therefore represents the next logical stage in Timor-Leste’s state-building process. The reform addresses longstanding institutional weaknesses while preparing the public administration for increasingly complex governance challenges. Although implementation will require careful planning, sustained political commitment, and continuous institutional learning, the long-term benefits are likely to outweigh the transitional costs. A professional, unified civil service, supported, where necessary, by strategically recruited advisers, offers the most appropriate institutional model for a small state seeking to strengthen its governance while preserving the flexibility needed to respond to emerging national priorities. Viewed from this perspective, the carreira única is not merely a reform of personnel management. It is a strategic investment in Timor-Leste’s future as an effective, accountable, and resilient democratic state.
*The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and are presented for academic discussion and educational purposes. They do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any institution with which the author is affiliated.
