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A Peaceful Climb From Poverty
FrontLines - November 2009
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A child leans on a tree in the village of Ampivini near Nampula
where a USAID program has taught families to improve the
health of their children by feeding them peanuts, sesame, millet,
and eggs.
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Natalia, a shy fifth-grader in Ampivini near Nampula, shows a
visitor her schoolbooks. Mozambique education is conducted in
Portuguese, although most people speak local, tribal languages.
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MAPUTO, Mozambique—
This African country is slowly
rising—it was the poorest country
on earth 15 years ago and
now it is the fourth poorest. Yet
since a vicious civil war ended in
1992, it has been living in peace.
While Sudan, Somalia,
Democratic Republic of Congo,
Uganda, and other African countries
seem unable to end conflicts
that drag on for decades, the 21
million people and many tribes
in Mozambique appear to have
decided violence is not the way
to deal with their differences.
“This is not a crisis country, it
does not make a lot of noise, but
it is a huge country working to do
a lot of good things,” USAID’s
director in Mozambique, Todd
Amani, told FrontLines.
It’s been 25 years since USAID
opened its office in Maputo, the
capital of a nation that is nearly
twice the size of California and
has 1,500 miles of Indian Ocean
beaches. The Agency spent in that
quarter century some $2 billion
helping the country develop, deal
with emergencies, fix roads and
railroads, fight an epidemic of
HIV/AIDS, increase agricultural
exports, improve the healthcare
system, develop the business sector,
and demobilize soldiers after
the civil war.
“Donor assistance got this
country back on its feet after
15 years of a civil war that killed
one million people,” said Todd
Chapman, chargé d’affaires
at the U.S. Embassy here. He
served here in 1994 and sees
improvements to markets, roads,
and buildings since the end of
the war.
With more than 150 employees
to carry out Agency programs,
USAID spending is increasing
to almost $186 million in
2009—mainly for fighting HIV/
AIDS—along with about $100
million the United States contributes
via the World Bank, African
Development Bank, International
Monetary Fund, the Global Fund,
and U.N. agencies.
The U.S. Millennium
Challenge Corporation is also investing $507 million over
five years.
Education is a new USAID
priority as the country has tripled
elementary school enrollment from
2 million to 6 million in the past
four years and must train more
teachers and build more schools.
Natalia*, a shy 11-year-old
girl in the northern town of
Ampivini, shows a visitor her
school books—Portuguese language,
Mozambique history,
math, and the other subjects typical
of classes around the world.
But only half of adults can
read and the struggle for quality
education remains a challenge.
Some 80 percent of the people
live in the countryside and the
average person needs to walk
for many kilometers to reach the
nearest health clinic. There are
only 600 doctors for 21 million
people and most of them live in
the cities.
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A child leans on a tree in the village of A child pushes his homemade wagon, which uses old drink cans
for wheels.
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Some 85 percent of the country’s
arable land has not yet been
farmed. And where crops are
grown, they are largely tended
by hand tools and without fertilizer
or improved seeds that could
vastly increase yields.
The country provides its landlocked
neighbors Zimbabwe,
Zambia, and Malawi with transport
corridors of road and rail
so they can export and import
through Mozambican ports. But
excess water from the Limpopo,
Zambeze, and Save Rivers that flow toward the ocean periodically
floods these corridors and vast
areas of the country. USAID has
helped save many lives through
preparing for these floods.
September marked the start
of the fourth general election
campaign since 1995 when the
RENAMO rebel movement—
backed by anti-communist,
apartheid South Africa and whiteruled
Rhodesia (now known as
Zimbabwe)—agreed to compete
for power as a political party
against the still ruling leftist
FRELIMO party.
While RENAMO’s political
future remains in question, this
year a breakaway faction formed
the MDM party (Democratic
Movement of Mozambique),
which appears to have gained
popular support. However, the
Election Commission partially
disqualified the MDM over technical
issues in its paperwork—a
move that U.S. Chargé d’Affaires
Chapman criticized as violating
the spirit of democracy.
“Mozambique is an adolescent
democracy. [However], it
is a sound place to do business
and advance U.S. interests,”
said Chapman Sept. 15, just as
the White House announced
that Leslie Rowe would be
the next U.S. ambassador to
Mozambique. ★
*Last name has been withheld
for privacy reasons.
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
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