Mozambique

We have worked in Mozambique since 2001 to strengthen systems that improve people’s lives through education, conflict mitigation, social protection for girls, and women’s capacity building. We take an integrated, layered approach to development: a strong educational system is a critical component of a country’s growth, but better learning in schools cannot stand alone.

With a core focus on strengthening capacity and using data to measure effectiveness and refine approaches, we imbue a sense of learning in all our work and share that learning broadly with other practitioners.

Research shows that learning to read in one’s local language while concurrently developing oral language skills in the national language leads to higher literacy rates. To expand bilingual education to students grades 4-6 and support their transition to learning in Portuguese, we are leading the Improved Learning Outcomes in Primary Education (SABER) project from 2022-2027.

We implemented the USAID | Aprender a Ler (Learn to Read): Mozambique Early Grade Reading Project from 2012–2016, which strengthened learning in more than 1,000 urban and rural schools by training teachers, creating instructional materials, and designing evaluation tools to measure reading improvements.

Building on the successes of this program, we partnered with Creative Associates to implement the USAID | Vamos Ler! (Let’s Read) program from 2016 to 2022. This program assisted the Ministry of Education and Human Development to develop student’s skills in reading and writing in the local language while improving speaking and listening skills in Portuguese as they prepare for the transition to Portuguese in Grade 4.

From 2015–2020, through the USAID Força à Comunidade e Crianças project, our Bantwana Initiative, in collaboration with the Government of Mozambique, strengthened a range of local partners’ technical and financial capacity to deliver high-quality, cost-effective OVC and HIV programming.

We provided services to more than 100,000 vulnerable children and adolescents to help them thrive and grow into productive and healthy adults. We also supported the selection, training, and mentoring of more than 1,500 community cadres who continue to play an integral role in empowering vulnerable families to obtain critical health and social services.

Helping to strengthen local capacity, we are the lead international technical assistance partner for two local consortia to lead USAID/PEPFAR projects aimed at scaling up evidence-based strategies for HIV and gender-based violence prevention and response services.

In addition, we have partnered with the U.S. Peace Corps to train volunteers and their counterparts to create library programs in nine provinces throughout Mozambique. We have also worked with Gorongosa National Park to develop and implement a life skills program for girls 10–16. For both programs, we provided technical support and conducted evaluations.