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Entrepreneurship in secondary and vocational schools throughout Mozambique
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An entrepreneurship curriculum programme that began as a UNIDO pilot project in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado in 2004 is now in the process of being implemented by UNIDO and the Ministry of Education and Culture in secondary and vocational schools throughout the countries' 11 provinces, including the capital city of Maputo.
The pilot operation in Cabo Delgado began with four schools. As of the beginning of 2007 the entrepreneurship programme is underway in 41 schools covering 11,800 students. Of these, 11 schools are in Cabo Delgado and in three in each of the other 10 provinces (one rural and one urban secondary school and one technical and vocational school per province).
The national project, with funding of US.4 million from the Government of Norway, is expected to be completed by 2010.
Mozambique's Minister of Education and Culture, Aires Aly; Norway's Ambassador Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether; and UN Resident Coordinator, Ndolamb Ngokwey (for UNIDO) met in Maputo at the Ministry of Education and Culture on 9 June 2007 for the signing ceremony.
The partners in the programme, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Mozambique, the Government of Norway and UNIDO, all believe that including entrepreneurship in the school curriculum will accelerate the formation of an entrepreneurial population in a country and the development of a competitive private sector. The entrepreneurial skills the students acquire under the programme will enable them to identify economic opportunities whether in industry, services, trading, or agriculture. The programme also stimulates other characteristics of successful entrepreneurs in the students, such as creativity, innovativeness, resourcefulness, planning and leadership.
The grounding in entrepreneurship received by the students can help them in a number of ways. Students who continue with academic and technical education will have a better feeling for its practical application in the private sector and their personal life. Students who don’t have the opportunity to further their education will be more likely to have an entrepreneurial attitude to farming rather than see it as a purely subsistence activity. The students are already changing their attitudes toward work and business (view or download the publication "Voices of Future Entrepreneurs" that reports what the students said about the programme).
At the signing ceremony in Maputo, the Ambassador of Norway, Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether, stressed the important role the entrepreneurship education will play in developing attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable the students to "help themselves"; to generate their own income and create jobs for others. If the preliminary results of pilot operations in Cabo Delgado are any indication, the project should make a significant contribution to promoting productive activities and to fighting poverty.
In his statement at the opening ceremony, Minister of Education, Mr. Aires Bonifácio Baptista Alí, said that the introduction of entrepreneurship curricula is part of the efforts under the curriculum reform to make education more relevant and of high quality. The Minister expressed the Government's gratitude for the "inestimable support" that UNIDO has provided through its technical assistance. He also thanked the Government of Norway for having understood the significance of the curricular transformation and their willingness to continue with financial support.
In practical terms, UNIDO's role in the programme is to assist the National Institute for Education Development to produce national standard entrepreneurship teaching materials and instructor’s manuals; build up teacher training programmes; train teachers; and create capacities in 11 provinces to introduce, manage and monitor the entrepreneurship curriculum programme in secondary and vocational schools.
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