16 February 2023 Pemba – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and key actors from the Government in Cabo Delgado concluded yesterday a series of joint consultation sessions in the city of Pemba. The aim of the consultations was to share and align strategic priorities for the future, especially the coming year, as well as identifying additional opportunities for collaboration on the provision of humanitarian assistance, recovery and reconstruction efforts, as well as addressing drivers of conflict and displacement and promoting solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in northern Mozambique.

Consultations are a key component of IOM’s efforts to develop and implement strategies in close collaboration and support of the government, ensuring programs closely align to the country’s priorities.

The consultations in Pemba took place between a delegation of the IOM Senior Management Team in Mozambique, led by the IOM Chief of Mission Dr. Laura Tomm-Bonde, and a delegation of the Government in Cabo Delgado, comprising of delegates from the Cabo Delgado Secretary of State and Governor’s Offices, the Agency for Integrated Development of Northern Mozambique (ADIN), the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), the Mozambican National Immigration Service (SENAMI), the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management (INGD) and the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), as well as various district administrators and provincial directors of different government departments as well as the Pemba City Municipality.

Both the Government and IOM presented overviews of their strategic plans, assessed needs and outlook for the coming year, followed by a fruitful discussion on how to further align activities and programming to respond to the needs of the people in northern Mozambique.

Over the past five years, IOM has been implementing a comprehensive and multisectoral assistance in response to the ongoing complex crisis in northern Mozambique, which has seen the displacement of over 1 million persons. “IOM is committed to support the Government of Mozambique by providing a comprehensive and inclusive response to displacement-affected communities, while at the same time laying the foundations for sustainable solutions for the reconstruction and development of Cabo Delgado,” said Dr. Laura Tomm-Bonde, IOM Chief of Mission in Mozambique. "Only through strong collaboration, coherence and complementarity we can address the structural challenges the province faces”, she added.

“Reconstruction requires collective commitment; it requires integration and social cohesion of the affected people and to understand the needs of the population; to precisely identify the population groups on the move, their motivations, their transit and concentration points. All this requires coordinated work, and we welcome IOM’s proposal for strategic alignment and strengthening the institutions in the management of forced population movements”, said H.E. Valige Tauabo, Governor of Cabo Delgado.

The consultations will contribute to IOMs commitment to accelerate the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (HDPN) programming as well as to the implementation of the Government of Mozambique's strategies such as the Reconstruction Plan for Cabo Delgado (PRCD 2020-2024), the Northern Resilience and Integrated Development Program (PREDIN) as well as the Government Five-Year Plan 2020–2024, the Policy and Strategy for Internal Displacement Management (PEGDI) and the National Development Strategy 2015–2035 in addition to other relevant sector specific policies and programmes.

For more information, please contact:

Maria Toro at IOM Mozambique, Tel: +258 841201126, Email: mvillace@iom.int