US$1 million donation from Prince Aga Khan to aid Mozambique flood victims

The donation by the Ismaili leader is intended to support the emergency response in Mozambique, prioritising the stabilisation of livelihoods, rapid health assistance, and interventions related to water, sanitation and hygiene. The focus will be primarily on Gaza province, in the south of the country, one of the areas most affected by the flooding, according to a statement sent to Lusa. “The assistance now being made available will make a concrete contribution to addressing serious problems in the supply chain of essential medicines, improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation services, as well as distributing agricultural resources to enable affected families to resume food production and restore their livelihoods,” reads the statement issued by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

Implementation of this support programme for affected communities will be carried out directly by the Aga Khan Foundation Mozambique, in coordination with the Mozambican authorities. The AKDN had previously delivered 43 tonnes of various goods to support flood victims. According to the Aga Khan Development Network, the 43 tonnes consisted of food items, hygiene products, clothing, school materials and family tents, which were handed over to the president of the National Institute for Disaster Management and Reduction (INGD), Luísa Meque.

Based on updated data, the AKDN operates in 30 countries and currently coordinates around 1,000 programmes and institutions, the first of which were established a century ago. It presently employs 96,000 people worldwide, of whom 1,748 are in Mozambique. The network’s main projects in Mozambique focus on the education, health, infrastructure and industry sectors, operating primarily in Cabo Delgado province under a cooperation agreement signed in 1998, according to previous information from the institution.

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Among its key projects is the company MozTex, an AKDN investment that has, for more than 15 years, sought to revitalise Mozambique’s textile industry, a sector in which the country was once considered a “giant” in southern Africa. The total number of deaths in the current rainy season in Mozambique has risen to 228, with more than 863,000 people affected since October, according to an update released on Thursday by the disaster management institute. There are also 12 people missing and 321 injured.

Flooding in January alone caused at least 27 deaths and affected 724,131 people, while Cyclone Gezani, which struck Inhambane on 13 and 14 February, resulted in four additional deaths, according to INGD data on the rainy season. A total of 14,815 houses were partially destroyed, 5,906 were completely destroyed, and a further 183,812 were flooded during the current rainy season. In just over four and a half months, 272 health units, 81 places of worship and 677 schools were affected.

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