Maputo, July 22, 2026 (Lusa) - The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and Save the Children are to invest €1.3 million in the construction of 40 temporary learning spaces in two Mozambican provinces affected by the recent floods.
«This initiative is directly linked to the impacts of the recent floods and extreme weather events that have affected the provinces of Maputo and Gaza. These events have caused significant damage to school infrastructure and disrupted the continuity of learning for thousands of children,» a source from the United Nations Children's Fund told Lusa today.
Gaza and Maputo are among the provinces worst affected by the floods recorded earlier this year in Mozambique, which caused deaths and damage to social infrastructure, including schools, and forced the adoption of emergency measures to ensure the continuity of lessons.
The UN agency stated that the project is receiving $1.5 million (€1.3 million) in funding from the «Education Cannot Wait – Emergency First Response» mechanism, designed to ensure the continuity of education in emergency situations, and is being implemented in partnership with the non-governmental organisation Save the Children.
With the construction of 40 temporary learning spaces, which is scheduled to take four months, followed by a six-month performance guarantee period, the agency expects to directly reach around 4,000 children. In addition, minor repairs to 30 classrooms are expected to directly benefit 3,000 pupils.
In total, the United Nations Children's Fund states that the initiative will cover 40 schools and 60 classrooms across the two provinces, reaching around 30,000 pupils, of whom 24,000 are in Gaza and 6,000 in Maputo, through the distribution of teaching and learning materials, including dignity kits for 2,000 girls.
Mozambique is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, frequently affected by floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.
According to previous data from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD), during the last rainy season, from October to April, 314 people died, and more than one million people were affected across the country. The figures also show that around 260,000 homes were affected by the rains, including 211,655 that were flooded, 15,616 that were completely destroyed and 31,081 that were partially destroyed.
The authorities also recorded 19 people missing and 361 injured, as well as damage to public infrastructure, including roads, bridges and aqueducts. The January floods alone caused 43 deaths, 147 injuries and nine people missing, affecting more than 715,000 people in various regions of the country.
Cyclone Gezani's passage through Inhambane province in February caused four deaths and affected more than 9,000 people, exacerbating the impact of the rainy season in the region. During the same period, damage was recorded to around 9,735 kilometres of roads, 52 bridges and 237 aqueducts, increasing the need for repair and reconstruction in the affected areas.
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