Community development projects must be self-sustainable – Minister Nhambiu

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Community development projects must be self-sustainable – Minister Nhambiu

2:30 CAT | 08 Feb 2017

Google Earth / Molumbo, in Zambezia province

The Mozambican Minister of Science and Technology, Higher and Technical Vocational Education (MCTESTP), Jorge Penicela Nhambiu, acknowledges that one of the challenges of community development projects in the country is its self-sustainability after initial funding.

Speaking in Maputo on Monday at the opening of the Millennium Villages National Program (PNVM) steering committee meeting, Jorge Nhambiu said that it was necessary to identify concrete actions that would guarantee the sustainability of community development projects, including Millennium Villages.

Image result for nhambiu — Minister Jorge Nhambiu

Minister Nhambiu pointed to the Millennium Village in the Molumbo district in Zambezia province, central Mozambique, which should become self-sustaining so that after 2020 there will be no discontinuity in its development.

“We also want to remember that this millennium village (Molumbo) comes at a time when the country has already established six (millennium villages). The positive experiences of these villages should inspire us in their implementation and the negative aspects should provide lessons for better performance,” he said.

In August 2014, the government inaugurated the Molumbo Sustainable Village Project, co-funded by the Islamic Development Bank for US$11 million over a five-year period, and which is expected to benefit approximately 140,000 inhabitants in 20 district communities.

Based on agriculture, health, education, water and sanitation, infrastructure and agro – processing, the project is part of the efforts that the government has been making to improve the living conditions of communities through the use of research, technologies and innovations.

Molumbo Administrator Engrácia Massina said that the project was positively changing the lives of the district population.

“I believe that the project will bring a major boost to the economic development of the district” Massina told AIM after the meeting, naming corn, butter beans, tobacco and soy as “big crops” being developed in her district.

One of Molumbo’s challenges is to combat exports of Mozambican produce to Malawi which, after processing, bears the name of the neighbouring country.

The government inaugurated the Millennium Villages National Program in 2006 to strengthen community capacity through the transfer of technologies and innovations.

At present Mozambique has seven millennium villages: Chibuto and Lionde in Gaza, Lumbo and Itoculo in Nampula, Malua and Molumbo in Zambézia, and Chitima in Tete.

Source: AIM Moçambique