CLGF Secretary-General Dr Greg Munro received a warm welcome during a productive visit to Mozambique in August. Meeting with the Hon Carmelita Namashula, Minister for Territorial Administration (Associacao Nacional dos Municipios de Mocambique - ANAMM); and Cllr David Simango, Mayor of Maputo City Council; the visit has resulted in a commitment to better cooperation.

Taking on the role of CLGF Secretary-General in August 2016, Dr Munro was keen to meet members in Mozambique and reiterate CLGF’s commitment to supporting its members, and to building a stronger partnership between CLGF and Mozambique stakeholders.

Accompanied by CLGF Regional Programme Manager for Southern Africa, Ms Nyasha Simbanegavi, discussions focused on addressing priorities in Mozambique, including:

• support for decentralisation, particularly facilitation of peer to peer learning with other CLGF members in the region;
• technical support for decentralisation, revenue collection, land management, municipal management (including enabling legislation to guide the sector);
• capacity building for implementation of programmes, such as Local Economic Development;
• gender mainstreaming; and
• ensuring local governments are able to meet the demand for services.

The Hon Minister Namashula explained that her ministry was primarily looking for CLGF to provide technical support in addressing these issues, and that her Ministry was prepared to contribute resources towards this work.

When both Minister Namashula and Cllr Simango offered to share Mozambican experiences with other CLGF members, Dr Munro explained how the Commonwealth Local Government Conference CLGC2017 in November was the ideal vehicle for discussing innovation and good practice. The theme for CLGC2017 is finding new ways to finance local government and increase capacity.

Dr Munro said: “It was a great honour to meet with Minister Namashula and Cllr Simango and I would like to thank the team at ANAMM for making us so welcome. CLGF looks forward to welcoming a Mozambican delegation to its Conference in Malta and for future cooperation.”