7 June 2011
Maputo — The governor of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, Eliseu Machava on Saturday said that the District Development Fund (FDD) had created 3,526 jobs during 2010, while boosting food production and deepening democracy in the region.
The fund is still commonly referred to as “the seven million”, because it started out, in 2006, as the allocation from the central budget of seven million meticais every year to each of the country’s 128 districts to finance small scale projects to enhance food security and create jobs.
Machava was taking stock of the activities carried out under the Economic and Social Plan 2010, during a meeting chaired by the Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who was visiting the region as part of his Open Presidency.
According to Machava, the FDD financed 1879 projects totalling 124 million meticais (there are about 29 meticais to one US dollar at the current exchange rate), of which 857 projects concerned food production with the remaining 1022 focussed on job creation and income generation.
“The FDD not only boosts food production and job creation, but also deepens democracy and enables greater responsibility and participation by the local communities in the processes of local development”, said Machava.
The governor added that due to the involvement of Local Consultative Councils (CCL) in keeping the recipients in check, the level of repayments reached 37.5 million meticais by December 2010.
FDD is still a contentious issue in the country due to the low levels of repayment from the borrowers (less than 10 per cent in most of the cases), but the government insists that the initiative boosts the rural economy across the country.
In this context, according Machava, members of provincial and district governments, heads of administrative posts and community leaders conduct regular awareness campaigns targeted at the borrowers to encourage them to meet the deadlines for repayment of their loans.
To this end, the governor said that they had trained 48 members of Local Consultative Councils, 32 district technicians and 52 beneficiaries in planning, business management and accountability.
The proposed plans and financial reports of the borrowers, according to Machava, are discussed by the CCL. This allows for the involvement of its members in the process of identifying the strengths and constraints of the region, as well designing development strategies at district level.
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Taken from:
Fund for Rural Development Creates Over 3,000 Jobs