01 February 2003
The United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) supports development initiatives in Mozambique with a project focused on promoting and strengthening non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) working in development and gender issues. In 2002, the project's participating NGOs and CBOs received training in negotiation, planning and monitoring skills and in the evaluation of development projects and activities at the community level. The partners established coordinating mechanisms and produced a manual on participatory methodologies. Micro-business projects were also initiated covering 16 groups consisting of nearly 500 men, women and youth. The next phase of the project will focus on the continued strengthening of the NGOs and CBOs in civic education and income generating activities.
In the Country Cooperation Framework for 2001-2005, the main areas of development are democratic governance, poverty reduction, the environment, HIV/AIDS, information and communication technology (ICT), and crisis prevention and recovery. Activities within HIV/AIDS will increase in Mozambique, and it is estimated that more than 100 UN Volunteer posts will be created in the next two years to join the fight against the disease. All current UN Volunteers are encouraged to take part in HIV/AIDS activist training and to mainstream HIV/AIDS advocacy into their work plans. As the majority of UN Volunteers work at the community level, they have the ability to communicate the HIV/AIDS message with and through project participants.
UN Volunteers' current contribution to Mozambique
Currently, there are 73 UN Volunteers in Mozambique participating in a number of activities. Thirty-four national UN Volunteers are working as food aid monitors with the World Food Programme (WFP). Ten additional UN volunteers are project monitors with the WFP Food Aid Initiative in Mozambique and an additional ten national UN Volunteers are supporting the promotion and strengthening of NGOs and CBOs project as community development workers, animators and promoters. In the area of support to health care programmes and initiatives, four international UN Volunteers with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) work as nurse tutors at the National Health Science Institute, three UN Volunteers are working in the field of HIV/AIDS education and awareness and one international UN Volunteer works with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as a provincial coordinator for a malaria project.
Mozambique's contribution to UN Volunteers
There are seven Mozambique's working as international UN Volunteers. Three are in Angola -- two work as humanitarian field officers supporting the coordination of humanitarian assistance in the military quartering and family areas in Angola, and one works as a UNV protection officer with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); three are placed in Timor-Leste working as a camp manager, vault custodian and a district adviser respectively; and one UN volunteer is in the Democratic Republic of Congo working in the transportation section as a UNV vehicle mechanic and transportation assistant.
Promotion of volunteerism
Following the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) in 2001, the Mozambican Government, in coordination with the country's local IVY committee, agreed to establish a National Volunteer Committee with a central secretariat in the capital and offices in each of the10 provinces. The Committee will extend its reach to all youth and volunteer organizations, including those with a national and international focus. UNV will play a key role in setting up the Committee, and it will participate as an official member at meetings and other events. During International Volunteer Day (IVD) 2002, UNV Mozambique held a seminar on the promotion of volunteerism and its relation to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Youth and volunteer organizations from all over the country attended the seminar.
