Agreement with Nova allows data-based governance – Mayor of Quelimane

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Agreement with Nova allows data-based governance – Mayor of Quelimane

3:22 CAT | 23 Jun 2022

Photo: Manuel de Araújo on Facebook

Quelimane City Council, in Mozambique, and the Nova University of Lisbon have devised a cooperation agreement in the area of climate which allows public policies to be drawn up on empirical data collected by researchers, Mayor Manuel de Araújo has told Lusa.

“Public managers often make decisions that are not based on facts, because they do not have the means to gather them,” Araújo told Lusa following his participation in the 2022 NOVAFRICA Conference on Economic Development, which ends today in Carcavelos, Lisbon.

“The cooperation agreement with Universidade Nova makes it possible to draw up public policies that will influence what is happening,” the mayor explained, citing as examples the studies that are being carried out on climate change and the use of bicycles in Quelimane.

University researchers are working on several projects in the city, one of which concerns climate change, Araújo said.

“They present us data that we were not able to systematise, while working towards their master’s or doctorate. They also transfer knowledge to municipal employees,” Aráujo explained.

Another area in which Nova researchers are working is the use of bicycles in Quelimane city, which has the highest number of these vehicles per capita in Mozambique.

“It is necessary to understand this phenomenon, to know where they are from, what they do, what they earn, and we do not have the capacity to carry such studies. The university sends its students, who share with us their results, and in this way we improve our knowledge about our situation. This cooperation has served as a lodestar for the governance process,” the mayor concluded.

In Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo told Lusa in February, in addition to being a means of transport, the bicycle “has become an instrument of inclusion and employment”, with around 5,000 young people employed by dint of bicycles adapted to carry passengers.

“The most popular means of public transport in Quelimane is the bicycle taxi,” revealed the mayor, explaining that the back of the vehicle – which, in some electric models, is occupied by the battery – in Mozambique is made into a second seat.

“Riding a bicycle in Quelimane has become fashionable; people are proud of it. And cyclists, who were once despised by the police, are today called ‘the sons of Araújo’ (…) In southern Africa and in English-speaking countries, I’m called ‘the cycling man’ – the city mayor who rides a bicycle,” he observed.

During his February visit to Portugal, Manuel de Araújo signed cooperation agreements in areas such as training and mobility with the municipalities of Coimbra, Leiria, Cantanhede and Agueda, the latter being in the Portuguese district of Aveiro, which has a history of manufacturing bicycles.

📢#NOVAFRICA22 LAST PARALLEL SESSION starts in 10 minutes. Where will you be? #EconTwitter pic.twitter.com/Ryph2PDXD0

— NOVAFRICA (@novafrica) June 23, 2022