UNV Programme

The mission of the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) represented through the UNDP country office is to support the development initiatives in Mozambique

by advocating for the concept of Volunteerism for Development and Peace,
by integrating Volunteerism for Development into development planning and programming, and
by mobilizing volunteers.

In the current United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), the main areas of development intervention for the UN in Mozambique are governance, economic development, human capital and HIV/AIDS. Within the pillar of governance, civil society organizations and structures are be recognized and involved in the development agenda of the country.

In the beginning of 2010, there are 54 UN Volunteers in Mozambique participating in a number of activities within UN agencies. There are 39 national UN Volunteers (NUNVs) and 15 international UN Volunteers (IUNVs).

UNV Resources

• Civil Society Empowerment (UNDP): USD 50,000 for 2009

Advocating for the concept of Volunteerism for Development

The UNV Mozambique has a special focus on the promotion of volunteerism. Since the start of its operations in Mozambique, UNV has established and maintained contacts and partnership with different national stakeholders and members of civil society to advocate the integration of volunteerism in programmes and projects as well as identifying opportunities where volunteerism could be integrated development. In this way it intends to increase capacity at national level to manage volunteer programs.

In 2010, UNV programme supported the Government in setting up a National Volunteer Programme, which will strengthen civil society organizations and traditional authorities, and involve them in the support of the national strategy against poverty at both on national and decentralised level. A Memorandum of Understanding on a National Volunteer Agency was signed with the Government. The agency to be established will promote a law on volunteerism, coordinate between Government and civil society organizations, and train national organizations for volunteer projects and management.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite the significant achievements made to date by Mozambique, the country is faced with many development challenges with a compounded effect of “the triple threat” of HIV/AIDS, recurring natural disasters and weakened national capacity.

One of the main strategies to tackle the capacity challenges is to examine and utilize the existing and available national human resources within the country. These latent human capacity assets include the youth, the unemployed, the retirees, and the retrenched personnel that can be sourced from the public service, private sector, civil society, and the Diaspora.

Looking at the history of Mozambique, one approach that could be utilized to unleash or tap the latent capacity within the country and in Diaspora would be through volunteering. It has been long established that volunteerism reinforces capacity development, through enhanced participation, fostering ownership, improving accountability, promoting governance, and ensuring sustainability. That is why, the setting-up of the national volunteer structure and its operationalization is among the key activities of the UNV Country Team.

The UNV Mozambique is one of the nine country offices that is implementing the recent UN Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions.

History

The UNV programme has been supporting development initiatives in Mozambique since 1979. From 1999-2002, UNV carried out a project that focused on promoting and strengthening non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) working in development and gender issues. In 2002, the NGOs and CBOs received training in negotiation, planning, monitoring and evaluation and in carrying on activities at the community level. The partners established coordinating mechanisms and produced a manual on participatory methodologies. Micro-business projects were also initiated covering 16 groups consisting of nearly 500 men, women and juveniles.

UNV Mozambique country team