Canada will donate €1.3 million to a sustainable and gender integration project for displaced people in Mahata neighbourhood, Pemba, Cabo Delgado, led by international organisations, the Canadian High Commission announced in Mozambique today.
In a statement, the High Commission of Canada explains that a pilot project will be led by UN-Habitat and implemented together with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), aiming to “promote lasting urban solutions for internal displacement, establishing the bases for the sustainable and voluntary local integration of internally displaced people in Pemba and surroundings”.
“Employing an innovative new methodology to sustainably address the pressures caused on host communities and IDPs by the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado, the project encompasses a diverse set of activities aimed at strengthening social cohesion, facilitating livelihood opportunities, improve living conditions and strengthen the institutional capacities of local authorities and communities,” the statement adds.
High Commissioner of Canada in Mozambique, Sara Nicholls, said that “the start of construction of this space designed in an innovative way” represents “an important milestone” and counts on “[the] solid and significant involvement of the internally displaced people and the host communities in their conception”.
“It is specifically designed to help facilitate lasting solutions for the empowerment and resilience of women and girls. I look forward to seeing how this project will continue to create economic opportunities for the people of the Mahate neighbourhood, including improving cohesion between host communities and displaced people,” Sara Nicholls is quoted as saying.
Canadian High Commission funding for the project totals two million Canadian dollars (€1.3 million), and follows a year of implementation “which reached an important milestone after having identified the most urgent needs of the community” .
“As first steps in the implementation of the project, participatory assessments and community consultations were carried out in the Mahate neighbourhood, with the aim of analysing the coexistence between communities and the integration of the displaced community, especially women and girls, as well as the accessibility of services and infrastructure,” it explains.
It also underlines that Canada “wishes to highlight the importance of investing in lasting solutions in northern Mozambique”, with a focus “on gender-sensitive development in scenarios susceptible to conflict, to guarantee sustainable living conditions for both internally displaced people and women”.
The announcement made today also marks “the beginning of efforts to build and rehabilitate a new physical infrastructure in Mahate”, conceptualised and elaborated “with the active participation of internally displaced people and host communities, with a special focus on women and girls”.
“Based on the principles of participatory design and formulated in collaboration with the displaced and host communities, this intervention will improve the community’s infrastructure, serving as a central hub to address specific community concerns and issues,” the High Commissioner advances.
According to the institution, since the Palma attacks in 2021, Canada has been implementing “small-scale” projects in Cabo Delgado to support the affected populations, “with a focus on protecting and supporting women and girls, while efforts are being made by government authorities and partners to restore stability”.
Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for almost six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.
The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near natural gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.
The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and cost around 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
Lusa
