Maputo, Sept. 18, 2026 (Lusa) - The United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) new cooperation programme for Mozambique through 2030 aims to reduce poverty, create jobs, strengthen climate resilience and promote economic diversification away from extractive sectors, with €89 million in investments earmarked for these areas.
The UNDP's 2027–2030 programme, which Lusa saw on Friday, identifies poverty, climate vulnerability and insufficient job creation as key opportunities to enhance the country's development. It states that 60.7% of Mozambicans live in multidimensional poverty and a further 16.9% are considered vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
A main target for 2030 is reducing the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line from 81% to 65%. The UNDP also aims to support 24,000 people through vocational training, lifelong learning and digital skills programmes and to benefit 16,571 people through income-generating initiatives.
The programme also aims to improve the performance of 2,100 businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, by enhancing access to finance, markets, value chains and investment opportunities.
The UNDP explicitly states that it aims to help Mozambique transition to an economic model based on «job-creating» sectors and one that is increasingly diversified beyond extractive resources, given that these account for 42% of the country's exports but have weak links to the rest of the economy and limited capacity to create jobs.
The UNDP's assessment notes that agriculture continues to provide a livelihood for 73% of the national workforce, whilst 95% of jobs remain in the informal sector, adding that 19.2% of young people are not in employment, education or vocational training.
«The UNDP will support the country in moving towards a climate-resilient and nature-positive growth model, built on diversified, job-creating sectors, rather than continued reliance on extractive industries,» the document states.
The programme, running until 2030, has an indicative total budget of $174.4 million (€148.7 million), of which $104.6 million (€89.2 million) will support programmes for economic transformation, job creation, climate adaptation, sustainable management of natural resources and the recovery of areas affected by conflict.
The organisation believes that economic transformation should be accompanied by more effective use of natural resources and by growth models that are more resilient to the effects of climate change.
The document notes that Mozambique ranks among the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change, occupying 156th place out of 187 countries assessed by the ND-GAIN index.
According to the UNDP, environmental degradation and extreme weather events continue to undermine ecosystems, agriculture and long-term development prospects, particularly affecting communities dependent on natural resources.
The planned measures include expanding marine protected areas, strengthening early warning systems for natural disasters, supporting local climate adaptation and mobilising international climate finance.
The programme also aims to rehabilitate 150 essential infrastructure projects in conflict-affected areas and to support the reintegration of 750,000 internally displaced persons and other vulnerable populations.
In the energy sector, the UNDP intends to expand access to renewable energy in remote areas, increasing the number of beneficiaries from 242 to 12,000 by 2030.
The document, approved by the UNDP Executive Board in August, also aims to help the government mobilise resources from international climate finance mechanisms, including the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund and the Global Environment Facility.
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