Under the motto “Nourish the Future: undertake and innovate for sustainable production” the 1st edition of the Quelimane Youth Fair, was held in the city of Quelimane. This event was organised by the French Embassy in Mozambique and the Licungo University, with funding from the European Union. Participating in the fair were the Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity (BIOFUND) and other partners.

This forum is an initiative to create business opportunities, in which 50 young people from Zambezia province presented their income-generating projects in the areas of agriculture, aquaculture, livestock and food processing. During the fair, the five (5) best innovative projects were selected. Out of these, the 3 winners will benefit from technical and financial support to be provided by the French Embassy during one (1) year for the implementation of their projects in a sustainable manner, empowering new jobs and the entrepreneurial spirit. BIOFUND took part as a member of the Jury that assessed the project proposals and contributed to the selection of the 5 winning candidates, including 2 girls.

The opening session of the Forum was addressed by H.E. the Secretary of State for Zambezia Province, the Ambassador of the European Union in Mozambique, the Counsellor for Cooperation and Culture at the French Embassy in Mozambique, the Vice-Chancellor of the Licungo University and the Mayor of the City of Quelimane. In their speeches, these personalities stressed the relevance of young people in the development of the country. With encouraging words, they invited all youths, particularly girls, to take advantage of this learning and transformation experience for a better future.

During the 3 days of the Forum, the participants were able to attend intensive workshops on the themes of creation of business plans, facilitated by a representative of GAPI, drawing up commercial studies facilitated by the representative of AQUAPESCA, negotiation techniques facilitated by the bank Societé Generale Moçambique and Assessment of the Social and Environmental Impacts in the development of projects with facilitation by BIOFUND.

Over the 3 days of training, BIOFUND, represented by the technical team of the Project “PROMOVE Biodiversidade” (Promote Biodiversity) and by the Biodiversity Offsets Programme, led various sessions on the relevance of biodiversity in promoting the economic development of the country, and publicised the various training opportunities provided by its programmes, focused on the  Biodiversity Conservation Leadership Programme (PLCM) and PROMOVE Biodiversidade, which are relevant for young people and for Zambézia province.

BIOFUND’s participation in this initiative restates our mission of promoting the conservation of biodiversity in Mozambique through publicising application of the mitigation hierarchy in project development, sharing opportunities for training Mozambican youths, and crating new partnerships nationally.