TIPS Project | Stories of Change
Supporting Traditional Leaders to Resolve Community Conflicts in Tete Province
The ‘Towards Inclusive and Peaceful Societies in Mozambique,’(TIPS) project has had a transformative impact on communities affected by the Moatize coal mine in the central province of Tete, particularly in the communities of 1º de Maio, Bagamoio, Nhanchere, Mulambwe and Chithatha. Many of these communities have faced serious human rights violations due to mining by Companies like Vulcan Mozambique, an Indian-owned entity that operates the mine.
The communities’ grievances included the grabbling of fields and land traditionally used for pottery-making, structural damage to houses due to vibrations caused by detonations inside the mine, and environmental pollution. In addition, human rights violations like right to health denied due to pollution, right to dignified housing denied as a result of the cracks in their houses caused by company machinery have been reported to the National Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Commission of the Order of Lawyers from Mozambique.
In 2022, the affected communities took a stand, staging protests demanding that their rights in terms of access to productive land, food security, human dignity, access to clean water, unpolluted air and decent houses have to be respected. In an assertive move, they invaded the Moatize mine, threatening to paralyse activities.
Following those protests, the TIPS project provided communities with essential training in advocacy, lobbying, legislation and negotiating skills, empowering them to organize and assert their rights more effectively.
“After the trainings, I mobilized other leaders to share their newfound knowledge, leading to sensitised communities advocating for their rights and actively preventing conflicts.”
Ana Paula Sipanela, Queen and traditional leader of the town of Moatize
“I was previously fighting a lot to resolve conflicts between the community and the mining company. The training gave us basic tools for resolving conflicts in our communities and restoring peace,”
the Queen stated, underlining that conflicts can be resolved without resorting to physical confrontation when armed with knowledge. After the trainings, Queen Ana Paula mobilized other leaders to share their newfound knowledge, leading to sensitised communities advocating for their rights and actively preventing conflicts. As a direct outcome of the TIPS’ activities, 158 potters from the Bagamoio neighbourhood were compensated, and families who had lost their fields to the Vulcan Mozambique mining company received land title deeds.
In addition to compensating the potters, negotiations with Vulcan Mozambique resulted in agreement to supply water to the Bagamoio, 1º de Maio, and Nhanchere neighbourhoods. The communities, now organised and adept at dialogue, have demonstrated that solutions to their concerns lie in constructive dialogue. Both the mining company and the district government authorities have also come to recognize the efficacy of dialogue in resolving conflicts. In this way, the TIPS project has played a critical role in bringing communities, the private sector, civil society, and government authorities together to foster dialogue as the ultimate solution to conflicts and the restoration of peace.
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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