The Portuguese embassy in Mozambique will provide training for more than 200 young people in the province of Cabo Delgado, under the +Emprego initiative, launched two years ago.
The initiative aims to create job and income generation opportunities for young victims of terrorism in that province.
A note from Portugal's diplomatic representation in Mozambique, cited by RTP (via Lusa) states that the +Emprego initiative also aims to empower local families to improve their economic capabilities by drawing benefits "directly or indirectly" from the natural gas industry.
The project, launched in 2020, is financed by the European Union in an unspecified amount and is also supported by the Aga Khan Foundation and implemented by Camões.
It is expected that for the implementation of this phase of the project the agreement will be signed already on Tuesday (12), in Maputo, in an event to be attended by the ambassadors of Portugal in Mozambique, António Costa Moura, and of the European Union in Mozambique, António Benedito Sánchez.
The initiative, which will run until December 2024, also aims to train the young people covered in matters related to the preparation of plans and basic business management, with the ambition of "providing the population with access to the opportunities generated by investments in the natural gas sector.
Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique is rich in natural gas but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
Unemployment and lack of opportunities - namely in emerging gas-related investments - have been pointed out by several observers as some of the causes for recruiting young people from Cabo Delgado to the rebel groups.
There are 784,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has allowed the rebels to recover areas where they had been present, but their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as passage or temporary refuge.