TIPS Project | Stories of Change
Dialogue and Lobbying Restore Peace Between Communities and Mining Company
Maria Namarocolo, a 65-year-old woman, is one of the beneficiaries of the ‘Towards an Inclusive and Peaceful Society’ (TIPS) project in Montepuez district, Cabo Delgado province. A resident of the Nacate community, Maria is the coordinator of the Civil Society Organizations platform and Executive Director of the Namanhumbir Community Radio.
Maria recalls that prior to the implementation of the TIPS project in Montepuez, conflicts related to natural resources were addressed by the use of police force and the power of government authorities. This power imbalance between authorities and communities left many people feeling intimidated due to fear of reprisal, even when it was clear the authorities were in the wrong. Conflict in the region was broadly based on contention with Montepuez Ruby Mining, a Mozambican company that mines the Montepuez ruby deposit. With an area of approximately 33,600 hectares, it is considered to be the most important ruby reserve in the world.
Through the implementation of the TIPS project, local communities are now able to resolve conflicts locally and harmoniously which used to be dealt with differently. Communities now turn to the leadership for conflict resolution, rather than relying solely on resistance. TIPS’ approaches are peace-building and social cohesion, dialogue and respect for human rights.
“At the beginning of the ruby mining, the relationship between the communities, Montepuez Ruby Mining, and the government authorities was problematic, because the communities felt excluded from the start of the project. There was no information and everything the company did in terms of social responsibility was an imposition.”
Maria Namarocolo, coordinator of the Civil Society Organizations platform and Executive Director of the Namanhumbir Community Radio.
Maria highlights one of the examples of the TIPS project’s results in resolving conflicts related to natural resource management. With the training received, communities have learned to mediate conflicts more effectively. A case in point is the resettlement of 105 families from the Ntoro community, which Montepuez Ruby Mining was reluctant to relocate. With Maria Namarocolo’s intervention, it was possible to arrange for new spaces for these families, demonstrating the project’s effectiveness in negotiation and resolving complex situations. These families were resettled in a new community at the centre of the Namanhumbir administrative post. The multinational company built houses for the same number of families, rehabilitated and built new classrooms, drilled boreholes for water, built a sanitation unit, and electrified the neighbourhood.
“Every year, the mining company distributes school materials to the children of these families, it supports sports equipment, it supplies seeds for agricultural development,”
said the activist, emphasising that the multinational company has supported the community in setting up a women’s association and has supplied them with chicks for poultry farming. The actions taken by the company demonstrate the harmony between the parties. Peace and dialogue has been restored between communities, multinationals, private sector and authorities because there have been joint meetings where each actor presents their concerns and find a consensus for the way forward.
About the TIPS Project
‘Towards an Inclusive and Peaceful Society in Mozambique‘ (TIPS) is a European Union-funded project implemented between January 2021 to December 2023, which seeks to contribute to conflict prevention, crisis preparedness and response, and peacebuilding through an inclusive nautral resources governance and management in Mozambique. The project is implemented by a consortium of actors comprised of Finn Church Aid and the Peacemakers Network, Institute of Social and Economic Studies (Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos-IESE) and the Institute for Multiparty Democracy (Instituto para a Democracia Multipartidaria) in collaboration with the Council of Religions in Mozambique (Conselho das Religiões em Moçambique – COREM).
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