Mozambique: USAID rehabilitates Bilibiza Agrarian Institute – AIM report

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Mozambique: USAID rehabilitates Bilibiza Agrarian Institute – AIM report

1:00 CAT | 20 Jul 2021

Photo: U.S:. Embassy in Mozambique

The US Government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has rehabilitated the Bilibiza Agrarian Institute, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

A press release from the US Embassy in Maputo on Monday states that the rehabilitation covered several blocks of the institute’s campus making it possible to welcome back 300 students after the Institute closed following a terrorist attack against the campus in January 2020. Now, says the Embassy, the students enjoy a quality education that will give them the knowledge and skills to work in the agricultural sector.

The small town of Bilibiza is in the district of Quissanga, which was ravaged by the jihadists in early 2020. To allow the Institute to reopen, it was moved entirely to Chiure district in the south of the province which has so far been untouched by terrorism.

The rehabilitation and resumption of classes are the first steps in the longer-term recovery of the Bilibiza Agrarian Institute. The institute also plans to use the surrounding land as agricultural demonstration plots, so the students can complement their skills outside of the classroom.

In January 2020, terrorist groups attacked to the district of Quissanga, in the central part of the Cabo Delgado province, where they raided the school facilities in the town of Bilibiza, Chiure district has thus become a safe haven. Prior to the attack, it was the primary training school for agricultural technicians in the province and was a source of pride for the local community and the region.

The government provided the Institute with an unused facility in Chiure. The buildings needed repairs, which prevented the institute from reopening for more than a year.

USAID’s “Tuko Pamoja” program, which supports livelihoods in Cabo Delgado, worked with the institute to complete rehabilitation by July, just in time for the school to reopen its doors to 300 students who will continue their studies.

Established in 1982, the school has trained thousands of graduates from Cabo Delgado who are now working in both public and the private sector, where they have introduced farmers to improved agricultural techniques and have provided guidance to local communities on how to improve their agricultural yields.

The embassy says that the US is investing more than 100 million dollars in Cabo Delgado for a wide range of community resilience and humanitarian assistance programs.

In collaboration with the Mozambican authorities, the embassy adds, the US Government provides more than 500 million dollars in annual assistance to improve the quality of education and healthcare, promote economic prosperity, and support the country’s overall development.

Source: AIM