Mozambique

With 46% of its population living below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, poverty remains widespread in the country, dependent primarily of subsistence agriculture. Around 15% of children five years old and younger are malnourished the average life expectancy at birth is just 53 years.

Located on the coast of Southern Africa, and bordered by Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Swaziland, Mozambique is a country with a population of 25.9 million. After five centuries of Portuguese colonization, Mozambique gained its independence in 1975. However, it was not until 1992 that the country experienced political stability.

Our Work in Mozambique

In Africa, The Hunger Project works to build sustainable community-based programs using the Epicentre Strategy. An epicentre is a dynamic centre of community mobilisation and action, as well as an actual facility built by community members. Through the Epicentre Strategy 15,000-25,000 people are brought together as a cluster of rural villages — giving villages more clout with local government than a single village is likely to have and increasing a community’s ability to collective utilise resources. The epicentre building serves as a focal point where the motivation, energies and leadership of the people converge with the resources of local government and non-governmental organisations. Over an eight-year period, an epicentre addresses hunger and poverty and moves along a path toward sustainable self-reliance, at which point it is able to fund its own activities and no longer requires financial investment from The Hunger Project.

Mozambique has three epicentres. Together, these epicentres serve a total population of 40,884 partners in 9 villages. There are, on average, six female committee members and six male committee members per epicentre.

The Hunger Project has been working in Mozambique since 2006 and is currently empowering community partners in three epicentre areas to end their own hunger and poverty. Through its integrated approach to rural development, the Epicentre Strategy, The Hunger Project is working with community partners to successfully access the basic services needed to lead lives of self-reliance and achieve internationally agreed-upon markers of success, such as the Sustainable Development Goals.