On Wednesday, March 6, the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources (MOPRH) handed over five schools, three health centers and 800 houses to the communities affected by cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019.

These are infrastructures built under the Recovery Mechanism Program (MRF), through the Idai and Kenneth Post-Cyclone Reconstruction Office (GREPOC), with the support of UNDP and the European Union in financial, material and human resources for the recovery of livelihoods and resilient reconstruction of infrastructures.

Of the schools built, four are located in the city of Beira and one in Mutua, Dondo district, namely Estoril Secondary School, Agostinho Neto Comprehensive Primary School, Palmeiras Comprehensive Primary School, Matacuane Comprehensive Primary School and Chipinde Comprehensive Primary School.

There is also the handover of the Sengo health centers, the Chinamacondo health center, in the district of Dondo, the Manga Loforte health center (external block and pharmacy), in the city of Beira, as well as 800 homes, of which 538 are conventional and resilient new constructions and 262 rehabilitated, in Sofala province.

At the handover ceremony, Carlos Mesquita, Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, said that the rehabilitation and/or construction of homes and schools had enabled more than a thousand families in the affected communities to have access to decent and resilient housing, while 10,955 pupils now had access to education in decent and safe classrooms, which allowed them to have the right psycho-pedagogical conditions for the ideal teaching and learning process.

"We ask you to conserve these infrastructures, that they not only serve as an educational venue, but also an opportunity for talents to emerge in various sports and cultural areas. I would like to thank our partners, especially the donors of the Recovery Mechanism Program (MRF), for offering words of comfort and immediately channeling their support to alleviate the suffering of the affected communities, in coordination with the Government of Mozambique," said Carlos Mesquita.

For their part, António Maggiore, ambassador of the European Union and Edo Stork, resident representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), also defended the need to preserve the infrastructures delivered and pledged to continue their support, not only for disaster issues, but also for various development initiatives in Mozambique.

"Our role as partners is to help improve the health and education conditions of disadvantaged people, so that communities can develop more sustainably," concluded António Maggiore.