Together with poor farmers and popular organizations in Mozambique, we fight for the poor’s access to basic necessities such as water, land, schooling and health.
25.3 million inhabitants
More than half live on less than 7 kroner a day.
6 out of 10 can read and write
Life expectancy: Women: 54 years. Men: 52 years
Location measured by prosperity and development: No. 180 of 188 countries
President: Filipe Nyusi (since January 2015)
A 16-year civil war, which ended in 1992, destroyed Mozambique’s health and education system, leaving the country as one of the poorest in Africa . Civil society and popular movements are weak because it has taken a long time for the country to emerge from the shadow of the civil war.
At the same time, the government is overhearing the criticism of citizens and civil society about the major problems that still exist with the school and health services in rural areas.
MS ‘WORK IN MOZAMBIQUE
WOMEN
The women of Mozambique , like many of their African sisters, live in a male-dominated society. When public services do not work, it is often the women who suffer.
In Mozambique , the risk of a woman dying from having a child in the world is 250 times higher than in Denmark. The Chibutu area has one of Mozambique’s highest incidences of HIV because many of the men migrate and work in mines in South Africa. Then they infect their wives with STDs when they come home for Christmas visits. This means that many women are ill and debilitated during pregnancy, and it is catastrophic when the health clinics do not have the resources to provide the necessary treatment and run out of e.g. antibiotics and the medication that can protect newborns from becoming infected with HIV during childbirth.
That is why Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke works with local partners to improve conditions. Among other things, it deals with to increase the number of midwives and qualified health workers in the local maternity wards and to ensure better hygiene and vital medicines. At the same time, women’s groups and local authorities must be involved in demanding better conditions and prioritizing maternal health in the area, respectively. Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke will use the money from Danmarks Indsamling 2014 for this project.
YOUNG
According to A2zgov, democracy as a way of life may sound abstract, but it becomes very concrete when you live in a place that does not have democracy at home, in schools and in society.
We work to put democracy on the timetable in primary school, so that future generations can grow up with an understanding of equal treatment, the right to basic necessities such as water, school and health, as well as the right to be an active participant in society.
Young people have so far not had a clear voice in Mozambique . We work with our partners to change that. The wishes and needs of young people must be heard by the decision-makers, and the young people must be active in the local councils and act as agents of change.
One of them is Osvaldo Buque . He got tired of waiting for the authorities to show up in his village in a poor part of Mozambique . Therefore, he jumped at the chance when one of the local partners of Intercultural Cooperation offered to train 30 young aspirants in the Namaacha district. Here he learned, among other things. on Mozambique’s law on decentralization, planning and the arts to present a problem to the locals.
