MOZAMBIQUE
UNCDF has been present in Mozambique since 1994, working to broaden national policy framework for decentralization and local governance, and embrace the complexities of the multi-dimensional food security needs.
Today, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.
In collaboration with the Mozambican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MINEC) and the EU, UNCDF is advising local governments to identify and access funding for local economic development. The project, part of a €25 million joint action with the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and Italian Agency for International Cooperation (AICS), aims to enhance inclusive local governance and improve socio-economic conditions. UNCDF’s role is to bring civil-society organizations and local governments together to identify and address local needs in Mozambique and facilitate peacebuilding through social inclusion. Through these partnerships, UNCDF aims to increase awareness and to strengthen the capabilities of sub-national political, administrative, and civil society actors. (2020 - 2024, €3.20 million).
Based on the Contribution Agreement signed with the European Union on the 14th of December 2020, UNCDF in Mozambique is implementing the ‘Local Development for the Consolidation of Peace in Mozambique (DELPAZ), Local Governance (LG) Sub-programme’ in conflict-affected districts--jointly selected by the EU and Government of Mozambique (GoM) - within the three provinces of Sofala, Manica and Tete, from 2021 to 2024.
Additionally, UNCDF’s Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) programme reinforces government systems to channel global climate adaptation financing to the local level, to cope with the increased cost of building resilience against climate change and natural disasters. LoCAL is currently engaged in 17 districts in Mozambique. For the current five-year period (2018-2023), a total of $25 million has been committed to reinforce locally based climate-resilience development finance in Mozambique.
Moreover, the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development (MITADER) has launched the “Building Local Climate Resilience” programme in Mozambique (MERCIM) in a strategic partnership with the European Union, and technical assistance by UNCDF in March 2019.
MERCIM is aimed at supporting local development initiatives in the ‘last mile’ of Mozambique. Taking into consideration the fact that Mozambique is highly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, the project is designed to strengthen Government capacity to reduce climate vulnerability through improving the delivery of climate resilient basic services to rural communities and enhancing knowledge-based decision-making processes. The programme is expected to run until 2022.
