Church World Service (CWS) has opened a new regional office in Maputo, Mozambique, to accommodate the expansion of its services in the areas of health, economic development and education throughout Southern Africa.

The expansion of the services will put special focus on the needs of women and children and is initially supporting programmes in Mozambique, Malawi and Angola.

|PIC1|Church World Service Southern Africa Regional Coordinator, Tammi
Mott in Maputo, said, "Our intention is to strengthen civil society, and here, as in other regions of Africa, women play a vital role at all levels of civil society and family."

According to Mott, a recent ceremony in the community of Chinyangwanie in Mozambique's Moamba District summed up the ability of the programme to bring great change on all levels of the community.

"It was an arms collection and destruction ceremony, part of a
program that's been around since the end of the war in Mozambique, the
Transforming Arms Into Plowshares Programme of our partner the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM)," she explains.

But the September 11 ceremony was particularly powerful in that it brought together not just individuals but the whole community, reports Mott.

And this time the project will not only work with individuals to trade tools like sewing machines or gardening hoes for fire arms. Now, as the project moves to a higher level, Church World Service will work with CCM and the communities to encourage, through various incentives, whole communities to give up their weapons.

When the Moamba community laid down their arms they not only chose the path of peace but they also received support for school construction, a joint effort between the Christian Council of Mozambique and the local government.

In another area, Church World Service is now with partner CCM to develop ways to expand the "ploughshares" communities. One such way is through projects such as the Water for Life development programmes that build water resources, skills and water self-sufficiency on a continent where more than a third of its people lack
access to clean, safe water.

A number of other programmes are already up and running in the region in addition to the Water for Life programmes, reports Church World Service Deputy Director Rick Augsburger.

These include CWS' Giving Hope programme that works to empower orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS and develop self-sufficiency among orphans and child-headed households through community-building.

In OVC working groups young members assist one another with household responsibilities and income generation.

Mozambique's PEDRA - meaning 'stone' in Portuguese - programme supports girls' education and protection, encourages girls to stay in school and provides education to help lower the incidence of HIV infection.