Mozambique

Women, particularly in Cabo Delgado province, remain at heightened risks of violence, abduction, forced marriage, displacement, and food insecurity. Renewed violence in 2026 has repeatedly displaced women and children, disrupting access to education, livelihoods, and essential services. Women and girls who survive abduction, sexual violence, and forced marriage face significant barriers to reintegration, including stigma. Organizations working in Cabo Delgado have reported gaps in gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and survivor care, while health facilities and humanitarian services remain difficult to access in conflict-affected communities. These challenges are compounded by severe humanitarian funding constraints, even as conflict, displacement, and climate shocks continue to increase needs.

Across Mozambique, Women play important roles in community protection, peacebuilding, and recovery. Women-led peacebuilding efforts have strengthened early-warning and mediation mechanisms across conflict-affected districts, including the creation of GBV reporting mechanisms and safe spaces, and helping prevent recruitment into armed groups. At the national level, women held 43 percent of parliamentary seats following the 2024 elections, although political violence and restrictions on civic space continue to create barriers to meaningful participation.Ensuring women’s participation in political dialogue, recovery planning, and local peace and security structures will remain important as Mozambique responds to the overlapping challenges of insurgency, political instability, displacement, and climate shocks.

Violence persists across Cabo Delgado, with non-state armed groups carrying out attacks on civilians and livelihood infrastructure including fishers and mining communities. Intensified attacks in early April triggered new waves of displacement, with at least 573 individuals (177 households) displaced between 1–17 April alone, 26 percent of those displaced are women while 52 percent are children. Fear of continued violence has led people to flee to host communities and resettlement sites, where they are in  urgent need of food, shelter, and basic services. In this context, women and girls face heightened risks of abduction, sexual violence, and coercion——particularly while fleeing or collecting water and firewood. Limited humanitarian capacity and insecurity further restrict women’s access to protection and essential services.

Flooding during the recent rainy season affected over 724,000 people across central and southern Mozambique, displacing communities and damaging homes, health facilities, roads, and water systems. While humanitarian aid has reached 351,000 people, significant gaps remain, with only a fraction secured of the $187 million required. Ongoing service disruptions and overstretched accommodation centers continue to limit access to water, healthcare, and shelter, sustaining elevated protection risks. Women and girls are particularly affected, facing heightened exposure to gender-based violence and exploitation, alongside increased risks of waterborne disease, malnutrition, and unmet maternal health needs.

Amid escalating violence, displacement, and climate shocks, Mozambique’s humanitarian crisis continues to deepen as the health system—particularly in Cabo Delgado—has been pushed toward collapse. Attacks, looting, staff flight, and funding shortfalls have rendered large numbers of health facilities non-functional, severely limiting access to maternal, reproductive, and primary healthcare for women and girls and increasing exposure to preventable disease, including cholera. At the same time, Mozambique’s humanitarian response plan remains significantly underfunded, with aid delivery constrained by insecurity, flooding, and escort requirements. Funding gaps have left displaced women without adequate sanitation, menstrual supplies, and safe shelter—conditions that heighten risks of disease transmission, sexual violence, and exploitation.

Food insecurity continues to deepen, with 1.2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity between October 2025 and March 2026. Women—who make up 87.3 percent of the agricultural labor force—are among the hardest hit, as conflict, displacement, and climate shocks continue to erode livelihoods and access to food. For women and girls, worsening shortages translate into heightened caregiving burdens, stress, and health risks, as many families have only one meal a day. Malnutrition is expected to rise, particularly among pregnant and lactating women, while reliance on humanitarian food assistance leaves women increasingly vulnerable to exploitation and violence.

The gradual lifting of the mining suspension in Manica province risks re-entrenching unregulated extractive practices that disproportionately harm women and girls. If mining activities resume without robust oversight, women will face renewed exposure to polluted water sources, environmental degradation, and unsafe labor conditions, while those in the informal mining sector will likely continue to encounter discrimination and sexual harassment. The rollback of restrictions—without gender-sensitive enforcement or accountability mechanisms—raises the likelihood that extractive revenues will again come at the expense of women’s health, safety, and livelihoods, particularly in communities already weakened by climate shocks and displacement.

The She Leads Peace initiative (2025–2027) will support women and girls in Mozambique’s conflict-affected provinces with leadership training, legal and psychosocial support, and economic grants, enabling them to play a central role in community recovery and resilience. This effort, supported by Norway and UN Women, offers pathways to strengthen women’s voices in peace, governance, and economic settings. In late April 2026, the Initiative convened a roundtable on gender-sensitive justice, bringing together key stakeholders to address barriers to access and strengthen coordinated responses to rising gender-based violence, including femicide.