The African Development Bank has approved a US$17 million grant to support recovery and stabilisation efforts in Cabo Delgado, the northern Mozambican province ravaged by an Islamist insurgency since 2017.
The funding will finance the Resilient Investment for Socio‑Economic Empowerment, Peace, and Security (RISE‑PS) project, which aims to tackle the socioeconomic drivers of fragility through job creation, entrepreneurship and community-led reconstruction.
According to the AfDB, RISE‑PS will directly create 24,000 jobs – with 60 percent of opportunities reserved for young people aged 18 to 35 and 50 percent for women – and is expected to benefit more than 100,000 people cumulatively.
The programme will include skills development, support for small businesses and measures to stimulate local markets, with a particular emphasis on youth as agents of peacebuilding.
The bank said a central feature of RISE‑PS will be a Peace and Security Investment Hub coordinated by Mozambique’s Northern Integrated Development Agency (ADIN).
The hub is intended to coordinate development across the region and to attract public and private investment, while involving communities in decisions about which infrastructure and services are prioritised for reconstruction.
Mozambique’s Planning and Development Minister Salim Valá welcomed the grant, saying the programme will promote innovation, entrepreneurship and business development in local economies.
AfDB officials framed the project as more than an economic recovery effort.
Babatunde Omilola, the bank’s manager for human capital, youth and skills development for Southern Africa, said the initiative aims to “give young people a reason to believe in their future” and to unlock their potential to drive stabilisation.
Cabo Delgado has endured years of violence since militants first launched attacks in 2017, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and disrupting livelihoods, basic services and major gas and mining projects.
The insurgency has produced cycles of localised conflict, humanitarian need and economic disruption, and efforts to restore security have repeatedly been complicated by the scale of displacement, the presence of organised criminal networks and limited local economic opportunities.
The AfDB described RISE‑PS as a targeted effort to address those root causes by creating employment, strengthening local entrepreneurship and rebuilding critical infrastructure chosen in consultation with affected communities.
JN/APA