Maputo , January 2012 -  Mozambique and Vietnam share many of the same concerns when it comes to natural hazards. Flooding in major river basins is an annual problem in both countries; flash floods and cyclones also occur regularly; drought is a frequent issue; and with potential sea-level rise as a result of climate change impacts both countries, with their long coastlines, are particularly vulnerable. A group from the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) visited Vietnam in September for new ideas and visions for adaptation to the realities of Mozambique. The group was hosted by the Disaster Management Centre within the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 

Maputo, December 2011  - The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, gathers environment ministers and negotiators from 195 countries from 28 November to 9 December. The Kyoto protocol,the world’s only binding climate agreement, expires at the end of 2012, and talks in Copenhagen and Cancún in the past two years have failed to replace or renew it.
Besides taking a national position at the negotiations, Mozambique also participates as a member of two negotiating blocks, the Africa Group and the G77 plus China. As a region, Africa is the least responsible for climate change but will be the most affected. Africa has been speaking with one voice but is struggling to be heard. In the negotiations, the African Position is:

Nampula, November 2011 -  Amina Raimundo, 30 years, is the Chief Extension Worker of Lumbo Millennium Village Team support, a women’s group working for the improvement and diversification of the food diet of two to five year-old children in Lumbo Millennium Village School in Ilha de Moçambique . Amina and two dozens of volunteers use typical products of the coastal districts of the province of Nampula such as maize flour, cassava flour, sesame oil, eggs, roasted peanuts and fish. Amina learned about techniques for cooking for children in a previous assignment in an international NGO project.

Maputo, November 2011 – The United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), launched yesterday November 2, worldwide, the Human Development Report 2011, “Sustainability and Equity: A better future for all”. Past Reports have shown that living standards in most countries have been rising - and converging - for several decades. The 2011 Human Development Report (HDR 2011), projects a reversal of the progress if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify. Particular, the least developed countries are at risk of diverging downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050.

Cabo Delgado, October 2011  - In democracies, the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) is to speak on behalf of their members and monitor the exercise of power. The CSOs represent the people in large and often defend the interests of the most vulnerable populations. UNDP’s project “Empowerment of Civil Society Organizations” develops the capacity of Mozambique’s CSOs to enable them to effectively participate in policy dialogue with the Government and other stakeholders on governance and economic development issues, as well as implementation of the Poverty Reduction Action Plan (PARP). This will be achieved through training and provision of simplified analytical information on national economic development policies.

Pemba, Cabo Delgado, September 2011 – Earlier this year, Mozambique achieved an important milestone in the protection of women’s rights due to a new law against domestic violence. Six months after a massive awareness campaign is launched in order to ensure an effective implementation. The “Law on domestic violence against Women” was approved in July 2009 as a result of joint collaboration between Civil Society Organizations, the Parliament of Mozambique and the United Nations. Although it is a useful instrument in terms of protection against domestic violence, the law doesn’t have regulations thus is subject to different interpretations.

Maputo, September 2011  – The UNDP has published Global Human Development Reports since 1990. The first Mozambican National Human Development Report was published in 1998. These reports have contributed to and informed the public debate on critical development issues in Mozambique. On September 23rd, the process of drafting the 2012 Mozambican Human Development Report was launched. The topic for the 2012 Report is “Employment”. In her speech at the launch ceremony, the Resident Representative of the UNDP in Mozambique, Ms. Jennifer Topping, encouraged an inclusive and participatory drafting process of the report to ensure its high quality and relevance for the Mozambican context.

Maputo, September 2011  – The project supporting the Chibuto Millennium Village has increased its efforts to improve access to credit in order to encourage new entrepreneurial ventures. The latest months have been marked by the consolidation of the referred microcredit system at the Chibuto Millennium Village, which has seen an increase in the amounts given to beneficiaries.

Maputo, September 2011  - Mozambican journalists covering the activities of the Parliament in Mozambique have since the beginning of September, an association committed to promote “cluster specialization”.  The Parliamentarian journalists’ Network of Mozambique (REJOPAM) was formally inaugurated on September 2nd with the election, in Maputo, of its main structures.  REJOPAM is made up of 27 journalists, who normally work in the Mozambican Parliament.

Maputo, August 2011  - Recognizing that civil society groups are often closer to the communities that government development programmes want to reach, the Government of Mozambique has recently upped its efforts to create a formal partnership with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to facilitate development of climate changes policies.