On 18 April 2022, AMCOW's Executive Secretary, Dr Mbaziira, visited H.E. Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita, the new Minister for Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, the Republic of Mozambique and AMCOW Vice President Southern Africa. Also in attendance was the Vice Minister, H.E. Cecilia Chamutota.
Dr Mbaziira briefed H.E. Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita on AMCOW’s mandate, vision, governance structure, and strategic direction for 2022-2024. As part of the functions of the AMCOW Vice President, the joint convening of the 2022 Southern Africa Subregional Ministerial Committee meeting with the SADC Secretariat was discussed.
Dr Mbaziira and H.E. Carlos Alberto Fortes explored ways to mobilise partners to contribute to Mozambique’s water and sanitation policy-environment review. The utilisation of African Sanitation Policy Guidelines (ASPG) was agreed as beneficial to the process. Similarly, the subject of necessary reforms to apply the principles of valuing water and improving the investment and funding outlook for the sector was discussed.
As a downstream riparian of several major shared basins in the region, efforts to find solutions to the impacts of climate change and climate variability are of particular interest to the Republic of Mozambique. H E Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita highlighted the need to strengthen collaboration on transboundary water resources management (TWRM) across regional economic communities and river and lake basins.
TWRM holds promise for instituting effective mechanisms for dealing with recurrent flood and drought conditions in the country and the whole region. So is the need to cooperate on water infrastructure development of transboundary significance and the pursuit of nature-based solutions to strengthen water security. Promoting the use of non-conventional water resources was also discussed.
Regarding the situation in the Cabo Delgado area of Mozambique, their discussions touched on working on appropriate and practical strategies for water supply, sanitation and hygiene services provision in conflict zones.
