Asia Foundation Appoints Héctor Salazar Salame as Country Representative in Timor-Leste 

November 2, 2021 — The Asia Foundation announces the appointment of Héctor Salazar Salame as the country representative in Timor-Leste. With 15 years of experience in governance and social protection systems, industrial/labor relations, community participation, and electoral processes, Héctor is well equipped for work in Timor-Leste.  

Héctor joins the Foundation after serving five years as team leader for an Australian-funded program supporting the Government of Indonesia in strengthening its social protection system. This included enhancing national poverty data management, developing a national social protection strategy, designing new social assistance programs such as a universal child grant in Papua Province, as well as researching the socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19 to aid in the design of response and recovery efforts.   

Earlier in his career, Héctor served as the founding executive director of the Southeast Asia regional office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab based in Jakarta. There, he expanded funding bases and grew the office’s portfolio of expert-informed impact evaluations in sectors ranging from health to agriculture. He also worked with policymakers to translate findings into evidence-based policies.  

Prior to his time in Southeast Asia, Héctor served as a senior advisor to The Center for Economic Opportunity in the New York City Mayor’s Office, contributing to the design and implementation of innovative poverty reduction programs. He also served as a senior program assistant at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, working on election observation and political party strengthening programs. 

Héctor holds a master’s degree in City Planning focused on Political Economy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He also holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from James Madison University. Originally from Mexico, Héctor is natively fluent in English and Spanish. He also has advanced proficiency in Bahasa Indonesia. Among his honors and awards, Héctor was a Henry Luce Scholar in Indonesia, an MIT Human Rights and Justice Fellow, and a New York City Urban Fellow. 

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia. Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, our work across the region addresses five overarching goals—strengthen governance, empower women, expand economic opportunity, increase environmental resilience, and promote international cooperation. 

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