Sustainable schools and health centers are born in Mozambique’s Gorongosa Park

The Gorongosa Restoration Project (PRG), a public-private partnership between the Mozambican government and the Carr Foundation, is building 26 sustainable schools around the park and plans to build six health centers this year.

According to PGR, which jointly manages the Gorongosa National Park in the center of the country with the Mozambican government, this is a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with the participation of non-governmental organizations. Oikos and AVSI as implementing partners.

“The construction of 26 new schools using sustainable architecture methods continues in the six areas surrounding Gorongosa National Park. More than 15,000 primary school students will receive modern classrooms that will also serve as shelter during cyclones,” said information about the park, which Lusa had access to this Saturday.

“Of the 293 people who build the schools, 92 are women, many of them taking on new roles as masons and carpenter’s assistants. Nine work as construction technicians and mobilize the community,” he further explains.

The project is being implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Human Development: 150 classrooms (26 schools) are being built “using sustainable architecture methods”, as well as technical support from UN-Habitat.

“Mozambique is very vulnerable to extreme weather events such as Cyclone Idai in 2019. These events have significantly increased the vulnerability of communities in the Gorongosa National Park Sustainability Area, causing serious economic and social impacts such as disruptions to activities and the availability of basic health services,” the PRG admits.

Construction of six new health centers under the same Sustainable Infrastructure Project “will begin later this year in the same six districts” of the park’s Sustainable Development Zone, such as Cheringoma, Dondo, Gorongosa, Maringue, Muanza and Nhamatanda.

“In 2023, the park’s health sector reached more than 200,000 people, serving 4,500 people in Chitengo and other local clinics, and local health workers and mobile health teams carried out more than 40,000 home visits,” he highlights.

Gorongosa was Portugal’s first national park in 1960, during colonial times, torn apart between 1977 and 1992 by the civil war that followed Mozambican independence.

In 2008, the foundation of American millionaire and philanthropist Greg Carr signed a 20-year agreement with the Mozambican government to manage the park, extending it for another 25 years in 2018, which led to its renewal on several fronts, including social projects. conservation, and the number of animals has grown from 10,000 to more than 102,000.