Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are free in Mozambique, and access to them is relatively easy, but for many HIV-positive Mozambicans the real challenge is a far more basic problem of finding enough food. ARVs are powerful drugs that need to be taken with nourishment. Regular and nutritious meals are also needed to help the body's own defences fight the opportunistic infections associated with AIDS.

Portugal has cancelled $393.4 million of Mozambique’s debt. An additional loan agreement of $148 million was promptly signed. Mozambique gained its independence in 1975, after 500 years of Portuguese colonisation. The new government inherited an economy that was under-developed and poor, with 90% of its population illiterate. To reverse this situation, the government embarked on ambitious development programmes with the view to reducing poverty and developing the economy.

This study investigates the role of men in reproductive and contraceptive changes in urban Mozambique by analysing man-to-man communication on family planning issues. According to the author, the literature on issues related to family planning in sub-Saharan Africa does indeed recognise male partners' opinions and choices as an important factor in shaping couple's reproductive and contraceptive practices.

The number of children orphaned by AIDS has doubled since 2003, and the high rate of HIV prevalence has dented Mozambique's growth rates, a new report has found. The 2008 HIV and Nutrition Status Report on Mozambique, funded by the World Bank, said an estimated 441,000 children younger than 18 had lost one or both parents to AIDS in 2007, twice the number in 2003.

A month ago, 47-year-old Catarina Manungo was the owner of a two-bedroom house in Boksburg, where she lived with her four children and a grand-daughter. A few short weeks later, Manungo and her two youngest children find themselves living in a tent in the Maputo neighbourhood of Matola Garre.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/379/48636drink.jpgWater and Sanitation are critical elements in a sustainable livelihood strategy as it is directly related to issues of access to and control over natural resources as well as basic infrastructure and services. It has been noted that the problems of water and sanitation affect more than 800 million people- 15 percent of the world’s population and most of these are in the South of Sahara (ibid). For interested parties to come up with approaches to curb this problem, there is need to have a clear understanding of the interconnectedness of the two. Thus, the benefits of water will not be seen unless attention is also given to sanitation (Anderson 1996).

However, this article is not going to look at the approaches to overcome the water and Sanitation problem. It is going to focus at the role gender plays in Mozambique in the supply of water and Sanitation. Lastly, it will conclude with recommendations to the responsible authority so that they can be in a position to take an active part in ensuring that the Mozambican citizens have the right to better water supplies and sanitation conditions.

THE MOZAMBICAN SITUATION

Through the 2007-8 budget, the Government of Mozambique has clearly defined water, sanitation and urban development as one of its priorities. This is no other than sustainable development of the population life through the improvement of its life conditions. Thus, this brings to focus the importance of water supply and sanitation for the entire population. The National Campaign launched in February is coordinated by the Ministry of Health, together with its partners (governmental institutions, International Agencies and NGO national and international). The general objectives of this Campaign were;

- To contribute for the change of hygienic habit of the citizens. - To improve the individual hygienic conditions, conscientise and appeal people in order to change behaviour related to their habit of individual and collective habits of hygiene.

- To concretise its efforts and calls for the participation and involvement of all the citizens to promote better water supply and sanitation.

THE ROLE OF GENDER IN THE WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION

As far as water supply and sanitation in Mozambique are concerned, gender plays a paramount role. In most African cultures, it has been noted that women are the most responsible for the use and management of water resources, sanitation and health at the household level. Mozambique is not exception.

WOMEN

Both in cities and rural areas, women have the responsibility of fetching water and educating children hygienic matters. Women and girls are often obliged to walk many hours every day queuing in water points in the cities or walking long distances to fetch water, mainly in the rural areas, while men are rarely expected to perform such tasks. As they are linked to the house chores, they are mainly the ones who bear the heavy burden of trying to provide it to the family. They make sure that the laundry is done, flowers and gardens are watered and animals are given water. Women do little as far as building water sources (Water fountains) are concerned. The same applies to sanitation. They are not the ones who build the toilets (pit latrines) but they take an active role in making sure that they are clean. They also participate in community activities while men were linked to the culture.

MEN

Men are generally concerned with the building role. They are the ones who make sure that the water structures are built. In the rural area, they are the ones who dig wells and build them. They are also responsible when it comes to digging and construction pit latrines. Unlike women, they do not take an active role in maintaining the structures.

Given the fact that the Mozambican society is male dominated, most of the decision-making regarding the issue of Water and Sanitation lies in the hands of men. On the other hand women are given less opportunities to air their views and ideas on those issues. This makes them not heard. Therefore, they have very little contribution as far as this issue is concerned.

SUCCESS AND CHALLENGES

The latest report assessing progress on water and sanitation in Mozambique noted that rural water supply coverage grew significantly out of 1.055 planed water sources the number of spread water sources was 1.529. The rate of coverage also has shown the increase of rural and urban water 48.5% and 40% respectively. This gave access to drinking water to more than 9.871.523 families.

On the other hand the coverage of sanitation also increased to 47% in urban areas. Within the scope of decentralization of funds, the sector defined a new role in each level and started the process of decentralization of funds of District and Provincial levels to help with the implementation of the strategic plan of rural water and sanitation.

However the audit of performance on water for 2006-2007 found problems in finance management, a weak performance in relation to revenues, a lack of data on fund use, and lack of desegregated datas on gender in terms of access.

Nevertheless, water supply within the rural and urban communities can greatly reduce time and efforts for women looking for water.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Given the role of gender in the supply of water and sanitation in Mozambique, here are some of the recommendations we can make;

- The management of water and sanitation becomes the most important strategy resource essential for the sustainable life and achieving of the sustainable development in our country and the government should stump its efforts to up lift the lives of its citizen. It should also see to it that priorities are given to the right people. There have been situations of a project failing because attention was targeted at the wrong people.

- There is need to offer equal opportunities for sharing ideas and views for both men and women regarding water and sanitation issues.

- There must be enough consultation to the targeted people or communities be it in the urban or rural areas.

- All the gender needs should be addressed from the planning stage up to the evaluation.

- All responsible NGO working for the improvement of water supply and sanitation should work collectively to combat this problem.

- As both men and women play very significant roles in the society, there must be avenues to enhance educative programs in which the roles of both parties are stressed. There is need also to overcome the presumption of female inferiority.

- It is also important to recognise the different roles played by man and women whenever we design the project or in the planning thus can increase chances for project sustainability and at the same time for the development of the country.

*Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

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Police in Mozambique have been accused of killing and torturing people with near total impunity. The human rights group Amnesty International has published a report saying the Mozambique police appear to think they have a licence to kill. The group says officials have responded to rising crime rates with often lethal force, but that they almost never face criminal proceedings.

More than one-sixth of Mozambique's 9 000 teachers are dying of HIV/Aids each year, lowering the quality of education and jeopardising future development, a government official told Reuters on Tuesday. Education and Culture Minister Aires Aly said in an interview that the pandemic had become a national emergency, eroding a critical human resource that is key to the poor Southern African nation's economic development.

The Zambezi, Púngoè, Búzi and Licungo River basins in central Mozambique registered heavy rains during the past 48 hours, including 185mm in Beira City. River levels rose slightly but remain below alert levels. The rains are a reminder that the rainy season is not over yet and officials are warning populations that live and work near the central region rivers to move themselves and their belongings to higher ground.

A powerful cyclone has hit parts of Mozambique, killing at least seven people and forcing thousands families from their homes. The state-controlled national broadcaster said on Monday that four districts in the northern Nampula province were being battered by heavy downpours and strong winds of up to 200km per hour.

AIFO an Italian NGO is looking for a doctor for a project in Nampula (Mozambique). The person will be looking after the leprosy-tuberculosis programme. The person should be Portuguese speaking and have experience in infectious diseases in Africa. More specific training in leprosy and Tuberculosis can be arranged. Salary will depend upon the qualifications and experience. Inially a one year contract will be proposed that can be renewed. Interested persons should send their CV to
[email][email protected]

The Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) with LAMBDA, which is a gay organisation in Mozambique, is hosting a third Leadership Institute conference in Maputo, Mozambique. Taking place between 24 and 29 February, the conference will discuss among other things the work that CAL does, the African Feminist Charter of Principles, HIV and Aids, gender, sexuality and violence against Women.

Multiple ideas would well articulate a constantly changing world’s vision and open Imaginary Lines to individual experiences in which the validation of the individual emotional and creative spaces can be reclaimed and legitimised within a collective public environment. This, however, would be based on the principle that cultural pluralism promotes tolerance, acceptance and mutual respect.

Artisanal fishing provides a critical source of food and income to thousands of Mozambicans, but the ever-increasing local and international demand for fish, combined with rapidly depleting stocks, is putting increasing strain on this way of life. The UN Food and Agriculture Programme (FAO) has estimated that small-scale fishermen, who caught 84,065 tonnes of fish for the domestic market in 2000, will need to catch 171,040 tonnes to help meet local demand by 2025.

A truck packed with 40 children was intercepted in the central Mozambican province of Manica this week, sparking concern over increased child trafficking and the urgent need for effective legislation to address the problem. "All the children are now in the protective custody of social welfare authorities in Chimoio [in Manica Province]. While investigations are underway, authorities have been trying to contact their parents," the UN Children Fund's (UNICEF) Thierry Delvigne-Jean told IRIN.

Among the Third World solidarity posters adorning the walls of the Valley Peace Center in Amherst, Massachusetts in the early 1970s was one particularly striking photo of a handsome, heroic Mozambican Frelimo guerilla. Above him the text read: Stop The Cabora Bassa Dam! I had no idea why we should stop it, but if the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique said so, that was good enough for me.

The dam sits astride the fourth-largest floodplain in Africa, and dam officials must decide whether to hold back or release water. In either case, it’s not helping. “There are 250,000 people living downstream of the [Cahora Bassa] dam, “ said ActionAid’s Mozambique director Alberto Silva, “This is the second year they will lose everything.”

Mozambique's control of the dam may eventually work out if purchasers like Zimbabwe are able to make payments – a very big if. Nevertheless Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries, has to figure out how to control not only the Zambezi, but also the Cahora Bassa and the volatile 500 million cubic meters of water churning behind it.

If only they had stuck to their original plan and stopped the dam. Among the Third World solidarity posters adorning the walls of the Valley Peace Center in Amherst, Massachusetts in the early 1970s was one particularly striking photo of a handsome, heroic Mozambican Frelimo guerilla. Above him the text read: Stop The Cabora Bassa Dam! I had no idea why we should stop it, but if the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique said so, that was good enough for me.

Fast forward to November 27, 2007. In the dam city of Songo on the Zambezi River, Mozambique took over complete control of Africa’s second-largest dam from Portugal. In a formal ceremony attended by neighboring heads of state – including Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi – Mozambican President Armando Guebuza declared, “The last mark of 500 years of foreign domination in our country has finally been removed.”

Maybe. In the 1970s, Frelimo had made the Cahora Bassa (as it’s now spelled) a high-priority target. Not only was the dam a project of the Portuguese colonial government, but it linked the Zambezi River to white Rhodesia, and was supported by apartheid South Africa and financed by transnational firms like General Electric and Siemens.

In 1975, the Portuguese relinquished political control over Mozambique but not over the dam. Nominally, Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa owned the dam , but Portugal retained 82% of the equity of the company. Nevertheless, South Africa encouraged the right-wing U.S.-backed Renamo guerillas to continue attacking the dam in hopes of overthrowing the leftist Frelimo government. Now, in an ironic switch, Frelimo had to defend the dam.

According to researchers Allen Isaacman and Chris Sneddon, the revolutionary movement never wanted it, but “sought to domesticate the ‘white elephant’ of Cahora Bassa for its own developmental purposes.” Said Isaacman and Sneddon, “Stuck with the dam, the newly installed FRELIMO government had little alternative but to discard its long-term opposition to the hydroelectric project. In a radical departure from its previous stance, it hailed Cahora Bassa as a symbol of liberation which would help the people of Mozambique achieve economic prosperity, transform the strategic Zambezi valley and bring the impoverished nation a new source of hard currency by exporting energy to markets throughout the region, not just to South Africa.”

The Cahora Bassa does bring in money, but it’s extremely costly environmentally, and it’s uncertain whether the country will actually make money on the operation. According to Agence France Presse, “Control of the dam is expected to fetch the African nation more than $150 million annually.” But, noted Mozambican Energy Minister Salvador Namburete, “From these $150 million a year, we are going to pay over 15 years a loan of $700 million (471 million Euros) from a Franco-Portugal Calyon/BPI bank consortium taken to buy the part of capital held by Portugal.”

In any case, it may not be worth it. Right now, the East African country is, according to Reuters, being hit by “the worst flooding to hit the country since 2000-2001, when 700 people died and half a million were driven from their homes.” As the United Nations World Food Program begins airlifting emergency supplies to flood victims, the Cahora Bassa is providing little in the way of flood control.

The dam sits astride the fourth-largest floodplain in Africa, and dam officials must decide whether to hold back or release water. In either case, it’s not helping. “There are 250,000 people living downstream of the [Cahora Bassa] dam, “ said ActionAid’s Mozambique director Alberto Silva, “This is the second year they will lose everything.”

Mozambique's control of the dam may eventually work out if purchasers like Zimbabwe are able to make payments – a very big if. Nevertheless Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries, has to figure out how to control not only the Zambezi, but also the Cahora Bassa and the volatile 500 million cubic meters of water churning behind it.

If only they had stuck to their original plan and stopped the dam.

*Alec Dubro, creator of The Washington Pox, is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus, where this article first appeared.

*Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Heavy rain is forecast and floodwaters in Mozambique are likely to rise again, the international anti-poverty charity ActionAid has warned. Water levels in the Zambezi valley could rise above the peak they reached on 10 January, the agency said, and 200,000 people could be affected if the heavy rain forecast for Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique from 26 January materialises.

For years, the coal-mining town of Moatize, in the northern Mozambican province of Tete, has been a ghost of its former self, but this is about to change. Its railroad is closed and the purpose-built prefabricated neighbourhood, called Berlin after long-disappeared German miners, now houses local residents. Like much of Mozambique's extractive industry, the decades-long civil war resulted in large-scale damage to infrastructure, and the region's mineral wealth was all but ignored.

Mozambican officials have now confirmed what people living in the Zambezi valley and along other rivers have suspected for at least a week: that in terms of water levels, the 2008 seasonal floods are worse than those of nearly a decade ago. However the authorities and the Mozambique Red Cross (MRC) have been working flat-out in a so-far successful operation to move people away from immediate danger – especially along the Zambezi.

Four more people have drowned in Zimbabwe, bringing to 31 the numbers killed in flooding caused by a month of heavy rains, which have also claimed two lives in neighbouring Mozambique, according to various reports on Friday. In Zimbabwe, three people travelling in an ox-drawn cart were swept away by floodwaters in an area in northern Mashonaland West province, the state-run Herald reported.