CRS in Mozambique

Mozambique is a tropical country with over 2500 kilometers of coastline along the Indian Ocean. The country gained independence in 1975 after almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony. The country suffers periodic cyclones and tropical storms which cause property destruction and economic disruption.

Catholic Relief Services is a facilitating partner to the national-level Caritas Moçambicana and several diocesan-level Caritas members. CRS provides operational, technical, and program management support to these sister Caritas organizations. CRS has worked closely with Caritas members in each affected diocese to support comprehensive emergency relief and recovery efforts in response to Cyclones Idai and Kenneth.

CRS' History in Mozambique

CRS established an office in Mozambique in 2017 at the invitation of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique. Since then, CRS has been delivering emergency and development programs in Mozambique that build trust, strengthen livelihoods, and support disaster and conflict-affected communities through their recovery.

Through its close partnership with Caritas in Mozambique, CRS has comprehensive geographic reach into communities in every province across the country. CRS brings decades of diverse technical expertise and experience in local capacity strengthening which improve the quality of Caritas' programming approaches.

CRS is a world leader in market-based approaches for humanitarian response and often uses these in Mozambique. These provide affected families with cash or vouchers to buy critical relief items, such as food, shelter and hygiene products, in local markets where shops are functioning. This helps support the recovery of the local economy and enables families to buy the items they need most. Where markets have been destroyed and shops are not available, CRS supports Caritas to distribute supplies directly to people in need.

As part of its flagship project for 2021, Protect and Rebuild, CRS partners with Caritas Pemba to provide emergency food rations, emergency shelters, shelter repair kits, emergency latrine structures, distributions of non-food items like soap, and agriculture inputs to conflict-affected families and internally displaced persons in Cabo Delgado. CRS also supports IDP and host family participation in hygiene promotion sessions to mitigate the risk of contracting COVID-19 and other communicable diseases. Protect and Rebuild is primarily supported by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance with additional support from Latter-day Saints Charities, Islamic Relief USA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Beyond emergency programming, CRS has developed a variety of programs in peacebuilding, microfinance, and conservation agriculture. CRS is working with the national Caritas organization as well as strategic dioceses to implement CRS’ approach to peacebuilding and social cohesion in partnership with the Institute for Peace in Africa. The program targets youth and religious leaders in conflict areas. CRS is also supporting a national program for Savings and Internal Lending Communities; a microfinance approach CRS currently employs and served an estimated 3.7 million people worldwide in more than 44 countries in 2020. As part of its conservation agriculture approach, CRS is running a pilot program for green-manure cover crops in a drought-stricken diocese in southern Mozambique aiming to improve yields through soil nutrition improvement.