The First Lady of the Republic, Gueta Selemane Chapo, received former Olympic champion Maria de Lurdes Mutola in Maputo on Tuesday to discuss ways of strengthening the partnership between her office and the Lurdes Mutola Foundation (FLM).

The main focus of the audience was the development of national sport and the empowerment of Mozambican girls, with the emphasis on two competitions as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant (HCB) and National Independence.

"We've come here to invite the First Lady to take part in our race in Chimoio [in Manica province]. We have two competitions, one in Chimoio on May 30th and another on June 23rd in Songo [in Tete province], which will be the grand finale of HCB's 50th anniversary," announced Lurdes Mutola, highlighting the symbolic importance of these events for the country.

In addition to the invitations, the audience served to consolidate a strategic collaboration between the FLM and the Office of the First Lady, focusing on the use of sport as a tool for social transformation.

"At the same time we came here because we have a partnership with the Office of the First Lady, which is to develop our sport here in Mozambique. We were well received and we hope that everything works out and that we work to develop our sport," said the former athlete.

Lurdes Mutola stressed that the philosophy of this partnership is aimed at strengthening women's soccer and athletics, as priority areas for the integral development of youth. "The philosophy of our partnership is to develop sport in Mozambique, particularly women's soccer, as well as athletics itself," she said.

In addition to the competitive aspect, the initiative has a strong social component. "It's very important to take care of our girls, our girls in the country, because as everyone knows Mozambique is a country that has disadvantaged girls in families, sometimes they get pregnant very early, and through sport we thought it was very important, sport can help a lot to delay this process of early pregnancies," she stressed.

The former Olympic champion recalled that the Foundation she runs has already developed projects to directly support girls in vulnerable situations, such as the two homes built in Magude, in Maputo province. "We've already built two homes in Magude, and the homes ended up with the Magude District Government, and we want to continue in this area, to see if Mozambique continues to grow," she said.

During the meeting, the former athlete learned about other initiatives carried out by the First Lady's Office, especially in the field of education. "I learned that it has also done a lot of work to help girls, it has given scholarships, for example, to many girls. There are girls studying abroad who have been awarded scholarships here by the First Lady's Office," she revealed.

Mutola also highlighted the impact of the internal scholarships awarded by the same office. "I've also heard that there are more or less 200 scholarships for girls within the country, and I think it's a good initiative. The First Lady and her office are on the right track," she added.

With the support of her foundation, created in 2001, Lurdes Mutola has led initiatives such as "Sport for Life", "Passabola", "Mutola Legends" and "Mutola Cup", which aim to empower women and develop talent in sport. "We want to develop the country, and we want to see the girls develop," she concluded. (Press Release)