According to a press release from the Mozambican Planning and Development Ministry, received by AIM on Wednesday, the project is to boost the capacity of the rural communities in Mozambique, primarily on the processes of local communities' development.
With this initiative, the Mozambican government effectively wants to seek turning the districts into the centre of country's development, by strengthening the capacity of the rural communities on spearheading the development process.
In fact, the Mozambican government's Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA) establishes the district as the centre of Mozambique's development and outlines concrete actions that have to be taken concurrently to improve the rural communities.
To that end, the government has allocated an annual budget of seven million meticais (about 280,000 USD) to each district for the implementation of projects for local development and job creation - this sum will be increased in 2008. The rationale for concentrating the anti-poverty efforts in the districts is to create conditions for the districts to overcome poverty through a process of appropriation.
The document also states that special attention will be paid to development of integrated mechanisms to improve the access to information and other resources required for the development of the productive capacity at the community level.
The project will be launched on Thursday in Maputo, and both representatives of the Mozambican government and ADB are expected to attend the ceremony, that is expected to be chaired by the Mozambican Planning and Development Minister, Aiuba Cuerenia.
SOURCE: AIM
