Absa window displays promote sustainability and biodiversity
Absa Bank has in its DNA a commitment to conserving the environment and to developing and spreading in communities a message of awareness about the need to protect fauna and flora. In line with the community, the Bank seeks to enhance sustainability, presenting itself as a bank of the future that prioritises the conservation and preservation of nature for the benefit of future generations.
With a view to raising awareness among its clients and the general public of the impact of environmental neglect on the conservation of fauna and flora, as well as driving the urgent change in behaviour needed to protect wildlife, Absa Bank Moçambique is hosting at its Premier Branch, on Av. Julius Nyerere in Maputo, an exhibition entitled “Our Gorongosa: A Window to Eternity". It consists of six display windows devoted to essential programmes and services of Gorongosa Park, covering the following themes: sustainable development, conservation, science, communication, human development and tourism. The exhibition will be open to the public for the next three months, until 15 January 2022.
Unique in its mission to implement world-class conservation and promote human development for approximately 200,000 people living in the Park's buffer zone, the Gorongosa Project actively involves communities, seeking to create inclusive value chains and support livelihoods that restore and protect biodiversity; to integrate local leaders into the planning process and day-to-day operations; to hire key community members with an affinity for conservation and consensus-building; and to coordinate the project's activities with community organisations and local governments regarding essential services in natural resource management, education and health.
On the one hand, there are individual programmes: Sustainable Livelihoods, Coffee, Cashew, Honey, Reforestation, Ecotourism and the “Gorongosa Trust”. The “Gorongosa Trust” is an environmental fund established to finance the Gorongosa Project through self-generated sources of income linked to sustainable economic opportunities within and around the Park. The “Trust” has three social enterprises anchored in key sectors: livelihoods, reforestation and ecotourism.
On the other hand, the Conservation Department oversees the implementation of data-driven management actions in all protected wilderness areas and areas around the Park. All of the Department's programmes – Law Enforcement, Wildlife Management and Ecosystem Integrity, and Human-Wildlife Coexistence – are focused on strong, measurable results that ensure the continued protection of Gorongosa's precious biodiversity.
Absa Bank Moçambique is hosting at its Premier Branch, on Av. Julius Nyerere in Maputo, an exhibition entitled “Our Gorongosa"
The Park's Communication and Public Relations Programme provides a permanent window onto the Gorongosa Project's activities through its website and its social media pages – which include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites –, and by answering daily questions from the website and from social media followers. The Programme also encourages and supports the writing of books on tourism in Mozambique and, in particular, in Gorongosa. In 2014, it created the Gorongosa Business Club (CEG), which is dedicated above all to involving the business community of/in Mozambique in the noble cause of conservation, where the human/humanitarian component and the recognition by the corporate community of/in Mozambique of the importance of cultural, environmental and wildlife heritage play a fundamental role.
The second programme of the Communications Department is Gorongosa Media, an in-house producer of high-quality educational films, both feature-length and short, that raise public awareness about Gorongosa, both in Mozambique and in the world at large. The Gorongosa Project works with various partners, namely National Geographic, PBS Distribution and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.
The Gorongosa Project is unique in its mission to implement world-class conservation and promote human development for approximately 200,000 people living in the Park's buffer zone, and to protect its biodiversity, ecosystems and wildlife through a professional conservation team equipped with cutting-edge technology. The Human Development Department oversees the implementation of programmes that give Buffer Zone communities the opportunity to improve their well-being.
The Education Sector currently has three programmes: Girls' Clubs (primary school), Teachers' Clubs (primary school) and Youth Clubs (secondary school). Conditions are being put in place for the launch of more clubs in 2021, such as the Gorongosa Park Clubs (primary school, mixed clubs for boys and girls and support for teachers) and pre-school clubs. All the clubs create safe spaces where school-age young people can learn and practise life skills, exercise leadership, improve their reading and writing, understand their human rights and increase their knowledge of biodiversity conservation and local environmental issues. The programmes also prevent girls from marrying early and having early pregnancies, thereby improving their chances of completing school.
The Health Sector, meanwhile, has three programmes that are implemented in collaboration with Mozambique's Ministry of Health. For example, the mobile brigades programme provides financial and logistical support to district health authorities to bring primary healthcare services to rural communities.
With the present exhibition, Absa Bank contributes to publicising Gorongosa National Park and its activities, reaffirming its commitment to the development of environmental sustainability in the communities where it operates. Absa Bank Moçambique is proud to be a partner of Gorongosa National Park in its efforts to restore and protect biodiversity.
