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Mozambique: Rebuilding a livelihood through fish conservation and sale
Country: Mozambique Source: Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development This support meant the start of a new life. Before, I faced many difficulties to sustain my family and had few opportunities to improve our situation. Now I have gained confidence and better prospects to build an income-generating activity. Solange, Mocimboa da Praia district, Cabo Delgado The context Years of conflict in Cabo Delgado have forced hundreds of thousands of families from their homes and left many without a stable source of income. In Mocimboa da Praia, returnee households are rebuilding their lives with little more than what they can produce or sell themselves. To support a sustainable path out of vulnerability, Acted, under the IFSAN consortium, funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and led by ACF, provided vulnerable households with a combination of livelihood kits, cash transfers and technical training, allowing beneficiaries to choose and develop an income-generating activity suited to their own skills and household context, rather than receiving a pre-defined package. Meet Solange Solange is originally from Mocimboa da Praia. She was displaced by the armed conflict that affected the region and, after a period away from home, returned to rebuild her life. She lives with her husband, her brother and her son, four people in total. Her husband has long experience working in the fishing sector, a skill that would later shape the activity Solange chose to build for her family. Life before the assistance Before receiving support, Solange had no income of her own and depended on the irregular earnings her husband made from odd jobs (biscates) around the neighbourhood. The household’s resources were rarely enough to cover their basic needs. There were long stretches when the family ate the same food day after day for lack of alternatives, and Solange was often unable to afford school materials for her son. Financial hardship meant setting aside her own hopes and plans, with what little the family had going only toward survival. A turning point Solange participated in an identification/registration process under Acted’s project. Solange learned she had been selected for the project when the beneficiary list was published and posted at the bairro office, and she found her own name among those chosen. She describes the selection process as transparent and well organised, with clear criteria explained to the community, an active community committee, and oversight from local authorities that reinforced trust in the process. Given a choice among several livelihood tracks, Solange chose fish conservation and sale, drawing on her husband’s existing experience in the fishing sector and the strong local market for the product. She received a kit containing a cool box, buckets with rope, soap, a shovel, a scale, gloves, a basin, a face mask and a plastic crate, along with a mobile phone to help her manage the business. She already had an M-Pesa account, and training from the project helped her use mobile money more confidently, including receiving funds, checking her balance and making transactions securely. She recalls the day of her first cash transfer as one of great joy and hope. The very next day, she used part of the money to buy fresh fish, taking her first concrete step toward starting the business. While the kit provided the equipment she needed to work, it was the cash that let her purchase stock and actually begin selling, something the kit alone could not do. Life after Solange’s business is now underway. She sells fresh fish together with her husband, who trades at the beach and at the local market, while she has also begun selling tomatoes from home to diversify her income when fish supply runs short. Their first sales gave the family confidence that there is real demand for what they offer. Solange says the change goes beyond income: she now feels more confident and motivated, with an occupation and a source of income of her own that lets her contribute to her household. Where she once had no clear plan to improve the family’s situation, she now has an activity that keeps her busy and is helping her build a better future. A particularly memorable moment for her was realising she could manage and grow her own business, something she had doubted before she began. Looking ahead Solange is working toward the project’s final instalment, which is disbursed once an activity is confirmed to be functioning. She currently sells fresh fish mixed with shrimp, and plans to use the final payment to reinforce her working capital, buy more stock and expand her sales. Looking further ahead, she hopes to grow the business enough to afford a solar panel, flooring, a proper latrine and other household improvements. What she says she still needs most is more experience and confidence in managing the business, along with better transport, particularly a motorbike, to make buying and moving stock easier. She offered her sincere thanks to everyone who made the support possible, saying it gave her hope, confidence and the motivation to start an income-generating activity, and that she is grateful for the opportunity to keep growing through her own work.
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