Africa-Press – Mozambique. A European Union (EU) project, co-financed and implemented by Portugal’s Camões Institute, is bringing self-employment kits to young people in various districts of the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, affected in recent years by terrorist attacks.
“The support given to these young entrepreneurs today takes the form of giving them tools and instruments to work with, consumables, but also formalising their businesses,” explained Ana Cristina Paulo, general coordinator of the “+ Emprego” project.
The last of these actions to promote youth employability took place on Thursday at the Ocua administrative post, with the distribution of kits to around 45 young people from the districts of Pemba, Macomia, Chiúre, Quissanga and Montepuez.
The kits are made up of electricity, cutting and sewing, motorbike taxi, welding, internet, coffee, refrigeration, beekeeping, poultry farming and handmade soap making, delivered as part of the “+Employment” project, co-funded by the European Union and Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua.
They benefit young people trained in different parts of Cabo Delgado province, such as the Bilibiza Agrarian Institute, the Alberto Cassimo Professional Training and Labour Studies Institute, the Pemba Industrial and Commercial Institute and the Montepuez Industrial and Commercial Institute.
Ana Cristina Paulo emphasised the prompt collaboration of the various local partners involved as the “key” to the project’s success: “This combination and collaboration between partners, between entities, between the European Union, between Portuguese cooperation and between public and private institutions, diversified skills and knowledge, but also of wills, creates these effective employment ecosystems.”
The secretary of state in Cabo Delgado province, António Supeia, warned the beneficiaries to take care of the tools they receive, as a way of valuing the efforts of the government and partners, as well as making them sustainable and durable.
“With a view to empowering the young people of our province, this is an opportunity for you to start employment and in the future, create jobs, taking on more young people who will help your business develop and grow, gradually moving from micro to small business, small to medium business and so on,” said the governor.
Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts next to gas projects.
The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the conflict registration project, ACLED.
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