Group of Mozambican Foundations
The nexus point for change for any young Foundation is a challenging spot to occupy. Luckily as many Mozambican Foundations occupy this seat they together can grow their common values and take on challenges that affect the sector together, there also exist many International Foundations operating in Mozambique that can support the young foundations.
The convening of thirteen foundation at the VIP Hotel in Maputo on the 7th and 8th of July initiated the space for this type and other discourse for Foundations operating in Mozambique.
See a story on the Meeting in the November Edition of Alliance Magazine (third story down).
National Foundation’s Meeting
The two-day foundation meeting had the following outcomes:
• 13 foundations represented in meeting (seven of which are national Mozambican Foundations), table of participants included herein.
• Creation of common values and principles that participating Foundations share:
o Good practices
o Representation of civil society
o Participative processes
o Sustainability
o Partnership
o Initiative
o Excellence
• Participative presentations on the:
o Synergos Regional Co-Op
o CPLP Foundations Meeting
o Index of Civil Soceity
• Created a collective SWOT analysis based on the possible creation of a group and its impact on each individual foundations and on the sector as a whole.
• Positive feedback from all participants on the outcome of the meeting and the purpose of the group of Foundations
• Set up next meeting: on 17th of September organized by FDC/FLM and either Aga Khan, Carr Foundation or Konrad Adenaur Stiftung Foundation
• Meeting set to take advantage of the 19th to 21st CPLP meeting
• FDC/FLM will prepare a comprehensive package of all the Foundations to assemble into a Mozambican Foundation Database.
• Final report set to all participants and invited foundations
The participating Foundations learned that they are not isolated and that the institutions have common struggles that might be best addressed as a group. Many did not know that there were so many Foundations in Mozambique. The fact that three international foundations indicated that they might be interested in organizing the next meeting with either FLM or FDC is a sign that their is a strong interest in the group moving forward.
Evidently, there are very few participants of national foundations which take part in any sort of national, regional or international, forum or thematic groups (excluding seminars or conferences) where they participate in a network and work with common values not only individual agendas. This type of endeavour will help to strengthen ties among all foundations in Mozambique.