Bristol is twinned with Beira in Mozambique through a charity called BLB!
Not a lot of people know that, so Caroline explained the purpose of BLB which is to create positive and sustainable change for marginalised communities, particularly in the city of Beira where with a population over 600,000 ....
- 60% live in informal settlements
- 60% people live on less than £1.50 a day
- 40% are under the age of 16
- 13% HIV +ve in 15-49 years olds
- Life expectancy is for 60 women and 56 for men
- 70% city urban, 30% rural
- 50% no access to clean water
BLB promotes people-to-people and organisation-to-organisation links between the cities of Bristol and Beira to encourage global citizenship and benefit local communities
BLB has established a partnership with ADEL Sofala, a non-profit development organization in Beira which has facilitated schools programmes, cultural exchanges, local council initiatives, community development and environmental projects in:
- Health & Education
- Community & Civil Society
- Climate Change & Energy
- Culture & Sport
- Target Sustainable Development Goals
- 11 Sustainable Cities & Communities
- 17 Partnerships for the Goals Bristol Link with Beira
Beira ia based centrally on Mozambique's coastline and is it’s 3rd largest city. The port serves the landlocked countries of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and is strategically and economically important.
Among it's achievements BLB has been involved in the following projects.
Cyclone Idai Recovery
-Rotary Bristol (and International) contributed £20k to a total project cost of £35k in 2019
-TRUK (now REACT) Disaster Response supervised construction, using ADEL's labour
-Mains water, sewage, toilet and roof repairs to toilets at Matacuane Primary School and major rehabilitation at AMAI Mussanhani (Women helping Women) community group
Social Protection through the Arts
-Rotary Bristol contributed £3.5k over 2 years for vulnerable youths to attend dance training at the Casa de Cultura in Beira.
-A safe space to address social, health and education issues.
-24 participants have stabilized their lives, and developed Matacuane Primary School
Macacuane Primary School
-Provision of drinking water stand in playground serving 800 students x 3 shifts
-Furniture and equipment for staff room for 40 staff
-ICT equipment and ICT training for 30 staff personally and professionally.
AMAI Mussananhi (Women Helping Women)
-Provision of sewing machines, materials and training in tailoring during Covid
-Catering equipment and food for pre-school meals; catering training
-Pre-school teacher training
Women and Girls
-Training 40 mentors to facilitate sessions at girls clubs on GBV, SRH, Human Rights and Life Skills reaching total of 1200 girls
-Empowerment of 400 women and girls through knowledge of legal framework re GBV and SRH, social support and literacy programme
-Micro-finance and small business training for 200 women working in urban agriculture
We thank you, Caroline, for a most interesting and informative presentation.