While displacements are rising in Mozambique due to the ongoing conflict in Northern Mozambique and natural events like Cyclone Freddy that made double landfall in February and March in the country, affecting over 1.1 million people, UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, discussed its Multiyear Strategy 2024-2026through a Validation Workshop for External Stakeholders, held on 18April in Maputo.
The validation workshop is intended to inform and support programming during the 2024-2026 period, and to strengthen UNHCR’s adaptability to the dynamic context in Mozambique.
The event was attended by 31 external stakeholders including, partners, the Government of Mozambique, Embassies, Donors, NGOs, development actors, refugees and displaced people, host community representatives as well as sister United Nations (UN) agencies. The shift from annual planning to multi-year planning in Mozambique will enable alignment to the existing UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026, to UNHCR’s Global Strategic Directions 2022-2026, and also importantly to Government plans, including the National Development Plan of the Government of Mozambique (2015-2035) and the Plan for Integrated Development in the North (PREDIN), among others.
On the opening remarks, UNHCR Mozambique ́representative, Samuel Chakwera, described the advantages of this planning model by saying“UNHCR will continue to maintain its urgent protection and assistance support for displaced and affected populations in the event of an emergency, whether that be conflict or climate related (as we all saw recently with the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy), while at the same, enabling us to drive real and sustainable solutions through analysis and strategic planning that is strongly informed by a wide range of stakeholders, including Government, humanitarian and development actors, and also the forcibly displaced people themselves and the communities that host them.”, he concluded.
In other hand, the Director of Safeguarding Division from the National Institute of Disaster Risk Management and Reduction(INGD), Adelto Chambela, stressed how UNHCR Multiyear Strategy support is vital in assisting displaced people due to natural events: “Mozambique is a country prone to natural events and INGD have been counting on UNHCR’s support in the context of emergencies and it has played a core role in mitigating the impact of these events amongst populations”, said Adelto.
With this implementation model UNHCR Mozambique expects refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, IDP returnee sand state less persons, to benefit from a more favourable legal and protection environment as well as enhanced access to national protection services which allows for enjoyment of rights in line with international standards and inclusion into national systems and national plans. In addition, by2026, UNHCR expects to have a more predictable, coordinated, and sustainable response to enhance prompt access to quality services to meet basic needs and reduce vulnerabilities to protection risks and increased access for displaced people to durable solutions.(Moz24h)
