Mozambique: UN Cabo Delgado support programme may be continued after 2025 – UNOPS

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Mozambique: UN Cabo Delgado support programme may be continued after 2025 – UNOPS

1:03 CAT | 19 Sep 2023

Photo: Twitter / @UNOPS_Chief

The head of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Jorge Moreira da Silva, has admitted the possibility of extending the US$200 million support programme for refugees in Cabo Delgado beyond 2025.

“The project is considered exemplary in terms of implementation. If you ask me if, when the project ends, in 2025, an extension will be necessary? I admit that yes and I think, in fact, that it is highly likely that it will be necessary to go beyond 2025,” Jorge Moreira da Silva told journalists in New York after meeting President Filipe Nyusi on the sidelines of the 78th annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Since 2022, UNOPS has led the implementation of support for more than one million refugees from all districts of Cabo Delgado, a province in northern Mozambique affected by terrorist attacks in the last six years, worth US$200 million (around €187 million) financed by the World Bank and intended for development and humanitarian projects in the region.

This is the largest humanitarian project underway in the country and the largest being developed by UNOPS in Africa, acting on the quality of life of people who fled the conflict, the well-being of these populations and host populations, but also on rehabilitation and construction of infrastructures in the areas of sanitation, water, energy, health and education, and which should be prolonged.

“Not because of any slippage – on the contrary, things are being accomplished in a timely and efficient manner – but because the needs are greater. We know that the needs of the population in that region, and the associated context, require a response that goes beyond 2025. Therefore, I sincerely hope that, with the World Bank and the Government of Mozambique, UNOPS can go beyond 2025,” Moreira da Silva acknowledged

He added that, after receiving the invitation from the Mozambican head of state, he intended to visit Cabo Delgado, “to understand, in practical terms, the needs and envision ways to go beyond 2025” as involving the “development of the economy and the creation of jobs”.

“Therefore, it is a project that has a medium-term perspective. It is not a project that ends in a year,” da Silva emphasised.

In the meeting with the Mozambican head of state, Jorge Moreira da Silva also took on the objective of expanding projects in the country. “We were talking about other projects, particularly in the energy sector. Mozambique is one of the countries in the world with the greatest potential for growth of solar energy,” he explained.

“There is a very significant potential in Mozambique for growth in solar energy, but at the same time there is still a large population without access to electricity. We need clean energy for everyone and this presupposes valuing endogenous resources, in this case energy solar energy. And this is an area where we are very interested in a partnership with the government,” he added.

“I received an invitation from the President of the Republic to go to Mozambique very soon to see the projects and also to discuss new projects. I am very happy that, as UNOPS is the largest agency with a presence in Mozambique, that the Government of Mozambique sees how very positive our work is,” he pointed out, explaining that UNOPS is the United Nations agency “that makes things happen”.

“We are not an agency that designs reforms or designs policies. That is for other agencies or for the Government (…) We are, in practice, the engineers of the United Nations. We are those who, once the projects are identified and strategies, we make it happen. And I have the greatest interest in the donor community looking more and more at Mozambique,” he said.

“It is also an extraordinary country, with potential for remarkable growth and development and that is why we are very interested in partnering with other United Nations agencies and other governments, in partnering with Mozambique,” he concluded.

In #Mozambique, we are working on transformative projects to foster peace, recovery & resilience. Such as our project with @WorldBank to uplift communities in Cabo Delgado, enhancing basic services & economic opportunities. Discussing this & more today with President @FNyusi. pic.twitter.com/9eMms27cu4

— Jorge Moreira da Silva (@UNOPS_Chief) September 18, 2023