Situation of Mozambique
Situated along the Indian Ocean, Mozambique is a vast country in the Southern Africa region covering almost 800,000 square kilometres and benefiting from more than 2,500 kilometres of rich coastline. Forest and woodlands make up about 70 percent of the country. The majority of its 20 million people live in rural areas (70% rural versus 30% urban). Half the population are children under 18 years of age.  

Following independence from Portugal in 1975, Mozambique went through a devastating civil war with more than 1 million people killed or maimed and 5 million people displaced, including 1.7 million refugees. After the signing of a peace accord in 1992, the country managed to achieve political stability and rapid growth at an impressive pace. Mozambique held its third legislative and presidential elections in 2004 and continues to experience strong economic growth, averaging 7-8 per cent over the past five years.    

The politically stable climate during the past decade has been conducive to improving the well-being of children and women. The proportion of people living below the poverty line decreased from 69 per cent in 1997 to 54 per cent in 2003, exceeding the target set out in the country first Poverty Reduction Strategy (PARPA). This decline led to a considerable reduction in child mortality, better immunisation coverage, increased access to primary education and decreased illiteracy.    

Levels of child poverty are high, with 58 per cent of children living below the poverty line. Child well-being varies greatly across the country, with acute disparities in provinces, area of residence, sex and household level of poverty and deprivation. The country still relies heavily on foreign assistance. Foreign aid represents 15 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product –compared to 6- 8 per cent for the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa– and about half the annual State Budget.

The main challenge to development is the vulnerability of the country to the combined effects of the ‘Triple Threat’: protracted drought, HIV/AIDS and weakened capacities. Mozambique suffers from recurrent drought, particularly in semi-arid areas, which has led to pockets of food and nutrition insecurity and reduced access to safe water and sanitation. The country is also prone to sudden emergencies, such as cyclones and floods. However, HIV/AIDS is the most serious threat facing Mozambique. The pandemic is threatening to reverse the development gains of recent years. The rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence among adults aged 15-49 has been steadily increasing over the past few years, from 12.2 per cent in 2000 to 16.2 per cent in 2004. In 2006, an estimated 1.7 million people are living with HIV or AIDS and the disease is claiming over 120,000 lives each year. The pandemic continues to compound the crisis of increasing numbers of orphaned and vulnerable children. Of 1.6 million orphans, 20 per cent are due to AIDS.    

Map

Legend showing Provinces.

1. Niassa; 2. Cabo Delgado; 3. Nampula; 4. Zambézia, 5. Tete; 6. Manica; 7. Sofala; 8.Inhambane; 9. Gaza; 10.Maputo

This is Mozambican Map; the symbol shows the place where our program is running. Chimoio is a City where is our office. Catandica is a rural area where we have a field for gardening, there we grow vegetables. We expect to use the garden as a garden school, to teach OVC and community around to grow nutritional food, plants that resist droughts as well. The distance separate Chimoio and Catandica is 160 km.

At that place we have infrastructures made using local material with involvement of local community including their local authorities.

We are very excited by what can be accomplishing in future on this program, especial on local community development, as the community took ownership of the project activities.

During our visits to OVC homes, we fund expectations on children’s faces hoping to get support from us…