Driven by her love of electricity, Eneida Piedade Domingos, 24, was inspired to transform her quiet village in the interior of the Guro district with smart lighting, after having benefited from the electrical installation course promoted within the DELPAZ programme.
The daughter of a former Renamo guerrilla fighter, she says that the armed conflict in her district has slowed development, but also the form of lighting, which is not in tune with the harmony of light compared to developed cities in the country and the world.
‘This was the opportunity I found to take a course,’ she says, emphasising that this gave her the knowledge she needed to realise her dream of seeing her village use technology to light its houses and streets. Eneida points out that although this technique is already applied in other parts of the world, it is still little used in her district.
‘The example of using photocells in houses makes it possible to flip the switch at a certain time and light up a room without the need for human presence,’ as well as the use of app-controlled smart bulbs to save energy consumption in homes, he explains enthusiastically.
She emphasised that ‘the course helped me to come up with ideas for changes in my district, such as the use of objects that many people already use’ in advanced cities.
Eneida finished compulsory schooling without having had the opportunity for vocational training, especially in the field of electricity, her passion since childhood, and sees this opportunity as a window of change for her social life as well.
‘I am a woman and I was able to take the electricity course; therefore, I encourage other women to take this type of training and find a job,’ to achieve economic independence and “not just wait for men to work”.
She insists that women should be able to support the family on their own and ‘not just wait for the man, wait for money from someone, so having an education is important to be able to support one’s family,’ she notes, thanking DELPAZ for its efforts in providing training opportunities for young people.
‘I am very happy that the DELPAZ programme has given us this opportunity to study, I am really grateful, because even though not all the young people in my district were able to take the course, I will reach out to other young people to teach and together transform our district,’ says Eneida Piedade Domingos.
A total of 100 young people has already benefited from vocational training in carpentry, metallurgy, construction, mechanics and tailoring in the five districts where DELPAZ is implemented in the province of Manica.
The DELPAZ programme pays special attention to creating opportunities for young people, women, ex-combatants and their families.
In all five districts of Manica Province, thousands of people have already benefited from DELPAZ, which is implementing projects in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure and entrepreneurship to ensure the economic and social reintegration of all ex-combatants, their families and rural communities affected by the conflict, in order to achieve lasting peace in Mozambique.
The Mozambican government’s programme is funded by the European Union, and together with UNCDF is implemented by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), which implements DELPAZ in the provinces of Manica and Tete, and by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) in Sofala.