Mozambique  - IOM is training an inter-ministerial group in the Government of Mozambique to enable it to forge a national diaspora engagement strategy.

The training marks the beginning of a 12-month IOM Development Fund-backed programme: Institutional Capacity Building for Diaspora Engagement in Mozambique. Under the programme, IOM will support an inter-ministerial group led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct a diaspora mapping, develop a diaspora engagement strategy and establish an outreach programme to begin diaspora engagement.

The inter-ministerial group acts as an advisory board to the Institute for Mozambican Communities Living Abroad (INACE) - a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Other participating ministries include Education, Women and Social Action, Labour, Youth and Sport, Culture, Public Works and Housing, the Department of Immigration in the Ministry of Interior, and the Customs Department.

Tomorrow (13/2), the group will reconvene for a half-day roundtable meeting to agree on the work plan and roles and responsibilities to achieve the targets of the programme through December 2013.

These activities include a national consultation on diaspora engagement, scheduled to take place half way through the year, at which government, private sector, and civil society representatives will convene to endorse a national diaspora engagement strategy.

During and since the end of the civil war in 1992, many Mozambicans opted to leave Mozambique in pursuit of better economic opportunities abroad. The migration has depleted the economy of skilled professionals in key social and industrial sectors, including as healthcare, education and engineering.

According to 2010 World Bank estimates, approximately 11.7 million Mozambicans have migrated and the majority are highly educated. In 2000, for example, the emigration rate of tertiary-educated Mozambicans was 45.1 per cent.  

The top destination countries for Mozambican migrants are South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Portugal, Swaziland, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Spain.

For further information please contact

Katy Barwise
IOM Maputo
Email: kbarwise@iom.int
Tel: +258 82 83 15585