MOZAMBIQUE: Partnership Between Women's Ministry and Red Cross

The Mozambican Ministry of Women's Affairs and Social Welfare signed in Maputo on Monday a partnership agreement with the Mozambique Red Cross (CVM) to formalize cooperation in implementing actions to improve the lives of vulnerable groups.

This includes actions to protect women, the elderly, the disabled, drug addicts, and the chronically ill. The two institutions will also cooperate in activities to prevent and fight against child abuse and provide psychological and social support to the victims of natural disasters.

The document was signed between the Minister of Women's Affairs,Yolanda Cintura, and CVM General Secretary Americo Ubisse.

Speaking during the ceremony, Cintura said "The Ministry and its cooperation partners have in common the noble mission to improve the living conditions of their target groups by developing programmes to support and promote direct assistance to groups of people in need of social, psychological, material and moral support".
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She believed that increasing the number of social actors involved in assisting vulnerable groups and integrating them into the development of the country will help fight against poverty and social exclusion.

For his part, Ubisse promised to honour the agreement in the field. "The CVM will not disappoint", he said. "It will do all in its power to honour the agreement". A press release from the Ministry says that, under the agreement, it will assist the CVM in applying the Social Welfare Policy and strategies defined by the government for assistance to vulnerable groups of people, and will cooperate with the CVM in planning its interventions.

For its part, the CVM pledges to inform the district health and welfare services about people in need of social support, and also to design social projects based on its own plans and priorities and those of the Ministry.