On April 12th, the handover ceremony for the rehabilitation works of Casa Algarve in Búzi, Sofala Province took place. The requalification work lasted 12 months and was carried out as part of the project “Multidimensional Resilient Reconstruction of the Districts of Ibo and Búzi” funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and jointly implemented by three United Nations agencies: UN-Habitat, ILO, and UNESCO.
The event was attended by the Italian Ambassador to Mozambique, Gianni Bardini, the Head of the AICS Regional Office in Maputo, Paolo Enrico Sertoli, the District Administrator of Búzi, João Oliveira, as well as representatives from the United Nations and the Post-Cyclone Reconstruction Office (GREPOC), among others.
Casa Algarve, an emblematic building, was constructed in 1928 and represents a unique architectural heritage for Búzi. Besides its beauty, Casa Algarve played a significant role during the 2019 Cyclone Idai, which struck the region, providing shelter to thousands of cyclone victims.
During the cerimony, the Italian Ambassador to Mozambique highlighted some transformations made in the rehabilitation process, with particular emphasis on the “installation of a community radio station for climate risk alert.” This initiative gains even more importance given the proximity of the Búzi River, an area prone to floods, and Sofala Province, susceptible to cyclones, exacerbated by climate change.
The recovery process of Casa Algarve incorporated the “Building Back Better” (BBB) methodology. BBB is a post-disaster recovery approach that reduces vulnerability to future disasters and strengthens community resilience to address physical, social, environmental, and economic vulnerabilities, as well as shocks.
In addition to the restoration of Casa Algarve in the city center, AICS supported the construction of 75 houses for vulnerable families, resettled in the Guara-guara locality, in the Búzi district.
These actions demonstrate AICS’s commitment to collaborating with partners and the Mozambican government to build resilient and adaptable infrastructure to extreme climate challenges, such as the cyclones faced by Mozambique, particularly in Sofala Province.
