Mozambique

Region

Country ID

The wider objective of the project is to enhance quality drainage for residents of Beira that protects them from inundation. This is done through institutional capacity development within SASB (Beira Autonomous Sanitation Unit). This institutional assistance will facilitate improved tertiary drainage and urban planning by SASB in the city of Beira in addition to improved donor coordination by SASB. This all to help prevent flooding in the city of Beira, so it is both linked to water management and disaster risk management.

On the 31st of May we finished the Field-Level Leadership (FLL) programme in Beira in collaboration with the World Bank and funded by RVO. FLL is a multi-agent leadership development approach, aimed at creating a broad cadre of change champions at all levels in the public service delivery agencies. In pilots implemented and evaluated by the World Bank, this approach has demonstrated positive changes in the attitude and behaviour of public agency officials, and significantly improved organizational performance.

The city of Beira has daunting challenges. It is prone to experience the effects of climate change and recurring cyclones have become a reality. At the same time a growing number of people are settling in the city coming from the countryside, who still need to get used to life in the city and adapt from what they are used to in a rural context. The growing informal settlements have led to the fact that two thirds of the city consist of informal peri-urban areas around the 'cement city', with unfavourable living conditions often located in areas at risk of flooding.

The Strategic Partnership between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and VNG International is 5-year programme, focused on 4 thematic priorities: Security & Rule of Law, Migration, Local Revenue Mobilisation, and Integrated Water Management. This programme, called the Sustainable Development through improved Local Governance (SDLG) programme, is currently being implemented in 9 countries (Burundi, Mali, Palestina, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Iraq, and Mozambique).

Beira is Mozambique's fourth-largest city, with approximately 530,000 inhabitants. Like all the country's cities, it is growing quickly. Mozambique's urban population has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Mozambique is a relatively poor country, with around three-fifths of its 30 million people living below the USD 1.90/day poverty line. It is among the African countries most vulnerable to climate change.

A kitchen window blown from its frame; rain slanting horizontally inwards; part of the roof torn into the sky;
tropical storm Idai struck the home of Peter van Tongeren on 14 March this year. The experience added an extra
dimension to his subsequent role in the reconstruction of Beira, the city in Mozambique where he lives and works.
Van Tongeren, VNG International associate expert for the RVO and DEALS programme, told his tale during the lunch

Despite global progress in fighting poverty there are problems of inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, conflict, migration and refugee flows. The need has never been greater to develop to balance prosperity with social well-being and environmental protection. Several international conferences in 2015 set out new global agendas to deal with these challenges. There is global recognition that local governments have a significant role in implementing the agreed agendas with other state and non-state organisations.