Note: Some stories have been translated by this website for the benefit of its users. Sources and authors of news stories provided.

FLM with YDF Caravan in Manica

May 14th, 2010 / Gabriel Fossati-Bellani / Foundation

On May 15, 2010 the Lurdes Mutola Foundation (FLM) will receive the last stop of thecaravan organized by the GTZ project Youth Development Through Football (YDF) that went around seven countries of Africa to celebrate the first World Cup to be played on African soil. This event will be celebrated under the theme “Stong Youth, Strong Africa” at the Municipal Field Manica

GTZ-YDF is a regional program implemented in ten African countries and based in South Africa, which aims to promote youth development through informal education activities have an impact on life skills, with particular attention to the prevention of HIV/AIDS, crime and violence, the program is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) on behalf of the German Government and in partnership with the Department for Sport and Recreation South Africa. The part of the cooperation project and the German-South African for the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and cofinanced by the European Union (EU).

Under this program the FLM has received funding from YDF Mozambique and GTZ to support the Small Grants Programme for Mozambique (SGPM) in Manica and Sofala. Through this program the FLM provides grants to small community-based organizations (CBOs) and small sports clubs in rural and peri-urban areas, with the aim of promoting sport and its use as a catalyst for behavior change in young people.

These small grants help strengthen community sports initiatives through the creation of a sustainable development in sport (soccer), contributing the necessary skills and off the field as well as the motivation in young people.

The holistic approach used in this program is based on the use of the Champ! Manual’s a participatory methodology created for the football training for children from 6 to 18 years.

A “mini-training” on the manual will be presented within the event taking place on Saturday and will be led by Sara Simone Jacob, the captain of the National Team Women’s Soccer and the FLM consultant for the program.

The beginning of the event is scheduled for 07:45 H to end around 12:50 h.

Among the local officals participating in the event, His Excellency the Governor of Manica Province, His Excellency the Administrator of the District of Manica, His Excellency the President of the Municipal Council of the City of Manica, also will be attended by representatives of the European Union, Embassy of Germany, GTZ, LWF and YDF.

From 9:00 am to 11:40 am the final stages of a Mini-League World Cup commemorative involving children and occupations of the LWF program whose winners will be awarded at the end of the day’s activities.

The event represents the last stage of a caravan that has gone through six countries, including Rwanda, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland, this initiative aims to use force the ball to create a memory in communities and who will stay long after the final World Cup.

As in other countries through which the caravan passed, Mozambique will deliver a relic that will be taken to South Africa. The relic will be delivered by Sara Jacob Simone as the representative of the Lurdes Mutola Foundation.

Mutola shines as best striker

December 17th, 2009

15 December 2009
BY: Ramatsiyi Moholoa
SOURCE: Sowetan

ONE of the world’s athletics superstars, Maria Mutola of Mozambique, has found a new home in soccer. Having hung up her spikes, she now plays in Safa’s Sasol League.

Also known as Lurdinha, the successful but down-to-earth Mutola has joined Germiston outfit Luso Africa where she plays as a striker par excellence.

“When I quit athletics at the end of last year, I decided to pursue a new career in soccer because sport is in my blood,” said Mutola yesterday.

An Olympic gold medalist and 14- times world champion, Mutola featured in the International Women’s Championships in Westbury, Johannesburg, at the weekend.

However, Mutola’s invitation team, Matola Ladies Football Club of Mozambique, were defeated 4-1 by Rainbow Ladies from Johannesburg in the final at Union Stadium on Sunday.

In that four-day-long event, Mutola, who has a house in Fourways, Johannesburg, won the top goalscorer of the tournament award after rattling the net 11 times in four matches.

“It has been great playing soccer and I’m enjoying myself in this game. I quit athletics because I felt it was time for me to move on. Also, the hamstring injury was troubling me,” she said.

“Everything is so right in women’s soccer, I will just see where the sport takes me to. I always believe in myself, I know that I have a bright future in soccer.”

Besides being actively involved in soccer in South Africa, Mutola is also helping out with the development of athletics in Mozambique .

“I have quite a number of athletes back home that I assist through my foundation. They have started competing in Southern Africa and in other parts of the continent.

“It’s part of my social programme and I want to see more athletes coming from Mozambique to set the international arena alight. We have talent in abundance and it is important for people like us to create opportunities for them to compete against the best in the world.”

Press Release - Best Practices Awards in Manica

December 3rd, 2009 / Gabriel Fossati-Bellani

CHIMOIO – Two community-based organizations in Manica Province, grantees of Lurdes Mutola Foundation for projects in sexual reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, have won an award for best practices in the implementation of their projects. Of the top three award winners, Youth Club of the Macequece Community Radio and Pembenuca are grant recipients of the Lurdes Mutola Foundation under the Small Grant Program for Mozambique, funded by the Ford Foundation.

The award called “Best practices in Prevention of HIV with sensibility in gender” is a GTZ- Multisectoral HIV/AIDS Control in Mozambique funded award implemented by the Provincial Directorate of the National AIDS Council. The Provincial Directorate oversaw the jury that is also comprised of representatives from MONASO, the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare and Save the Children. Over 100 organizations submitted their applications for the award of which 15 were short-listed and three won cash prizes.

The Youth Club of the Macequece Community Radio won the first place prize of $5,000 for their project called “Open World”. The project received a 100,000 meticais grant from the Lurdes Mutola Foundation in February 2009. Their project of live radio programs on a mobile studio took place over six months. The group visited seven locations in Manica District and the radio programs themes were on sensitizing about marriage and early pregnancy, its consequences and ways to prevent them.

Pembenuca, an organization whose programs are implemented outside Chimoio, won the third place prize of $1,500 for their project called “Youth Together for Youth Against AIDS”. The Lurdes Mutola Foundation’s grant of 100,000 Meticais allowed for the organization to involve youth and especially couples in theatre pieces and debates through a door-to-door approach in the rural areas of Gondola District.

The Small Grant Program for Mozambique exists since 2008 in four districts of Manica province with thirteen new grants being awarded in December of 2009 in Manica and Sofala Provinces, with a global grant amount of 937,800 Meticais. The grantees are youth and women community based organizations that submit project proposals to implement activities around sexual and reproductive health, gender empowerment and income generating activities. Along with the grants, the Lurdes Mutola Foundation also provides capacity building and training from their office in Chimoio.

Press Release - Maria´s visit to Gurue and Malema

November 24th, 2009 / Gabriel Fossati-Bellani

On the 16th and 17th of November 2009, Maria de Lurdes Mutola and Frans Bijvoet, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mozambique, were in the provinces of Zambezia and Nampula, visiting the villages of Gurue and Malema for the Lurdes Mutola Foundation´s Sport for Life Program (DDV).

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Lurdes Mutola Foundation have a financing arrangement that aims to expand the DDV progrmm in Nampula province. DDV is a program implemented by the Lurdes Mutola Foundation in partnership with local institutions of the Ministry of Education and Culture. This project benefits from financial partners such as Oxfam Novib and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

With support from Oxfam Novib the Lurdes Mutola Foundation implemented the first and second phase of DDV between 2006 and 2007, which focused on the design and publication of the training manual Craque, implementation of testing activities in Namaacha and Guru and use of the manual for education through football.

“Sport for Life” is the only program exclusively focused on Gurúe, Ile and Alto Molocue in the province of Zambezia and Malema in Nampula province. Community football activities for children here receive direct support through the branch office of the Foundation, with funding and training based upon the methodology established by the Foundation, including a manual called Craque!: A guide of future stars. The manual uses the power and motivation of football to encourage changes in behavior and attitudes about health in young people between the ages of 10 and 16, while framing a new way to create sustainability in the sport community through private partnerships.

It is in this context which the President of the Foundation , Maria de Lurdes Mutola and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Frans Bijvoet visited Gurúe and Malema. During their visit, they were able to witness the results of the implementation of the Sport for Life Program first hand.

Inauguration of the MEpM house in Magude

April 29th, 2009 / Gabriel Fossati-Bellani / Foundation

With the President of the Foundation, Maria de Lurdes Mutola, and the district government of Magude in attendance, The Lurdes Mutola Foundation inaugurated a house built to serve as a home for twenty female scholarship holders while they are students in secondary school in Magude over the next three years.

Work for the $ 50,000 enterprise lasted six months and resulted in a 3 bedroom house of more than 200 square feet with three bathrooms, two living rooms and a kitchen. The inauguration was attended by staff of the Lurdes Mutola Foundation, community leaders of the District of Magude, the Administrator, Directors of some schools in the district, as well as local people who were present at the site of the inauguration.

The Lurdes Mutola Foundation´s ´More School for Me´ Program began as a pilot in Magude at the beginning of 2008, and was conceived to reduce gender disparities in education in secondary schools. The program aimed to host the 7th grade girls from isolated areas of the district of Magude to support them in starting and completing the first cycle of secondary school. There are two groups of scholars, those who started last year and now attend the ninth grade, and the new group that enrolled in January this year. Currently, the 36 girls stem from the rural district of Magude as: Panjane, Mahli, Mapulangwene, Manjana, Nwambjana, Marrule, and Ungubana Motasse.

The program is funded by foundations in the United States and Switzerland. In California, the Friends of the Lurdes Mutola Foundation channel funds donated in the United States for this program. The largest donors to the construction were the Philip & Rebecca Hochman Foundation of California and the COFRA Foundation of Switzerland. Funds to start and sustain the pilot were donated by the Lee & Gund Foundation, also of California.

The girls have all the expenses of school and life supported by the foundation. Two assistant counselors live with the girls to ensure they are successful in school and are also protected and well cared for. These “mothers” don’t function as ´maids´ for the girls, but as guiders, as it is the girls who do the tasks: washing, ironing and cooking, following a schedule. The Foundation also provides allowances for transport to all grant holders, so they can go home one weekend each month, to ensure they do not miss or feel to distant from their families.