Building resilience in Mozambique A UN Resident Coordinator blog.

Grappling with climate shocks, COVID-19 recovery, and conflict, Mozambique is building resilience and overcoming many challenges, as Myrta Kaulard, outgoing UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in in the country, explains to UN News.

Myrta Kaulard, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Mozambique from July 2019 to June 2023.

Leading efforts by 25 UN entities and several partners for the last four years, she has been reflecting on efforts to achieve national sustainable development priorities that tap into Mozambique's immense resources and potential.

'Mozambique and the Mozambican people are wonderful. The potential for sustainable development is enormous, considering its population, amazing wealth of natural and mineral resources, and geographical location of the country.

However, to be sustainable, development must be resilient to all types of shocks. Since mid-2019, my work and the UN Country Team's endeavour has been to support Mozambican institutions, civil society, and people to achieve sustainable development while responding and overcoming shocks due to climate change, COVID-19, and conflict.

The start of my assignment coincided with the UN development system reform and the formulation of a new Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026 by the Government of Mozambique and the UN. This resulted in a cooperation that focuses on the collective engagement of the UN in Mozambique with national institutions, civil society, and private sector.

I saw my role as one who listens and catalyzes capacities and resources to achieve priorities and overcome challenges. Four years on, through institutional will and leadership, civil society engagement, and a dynamic UN and international community's effort, I can say much has been achieved.

UN Resident Coordinator Myrta Kaulard talks with people affected by Cyclone Freddy in Quelimane, Zambezia province, Mozambique. Freddy, the highest energy-producing tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide, hit the country twice in the beginning of 2023.

A(c) WFP/Alfredo Zuniga

Early warning systems saved lives

With UN support, public investments in early warning systems have been establishing a sophisticated forecasting and anticipatory action capacity, strengthening effective evacuation protocols and relocation plans, and expanding resilient building techniques and planning.

In the beginning of 2023, Cyclone Freddy, the longest-lasting and highest...