LocationsFROM THE FRONT LINE OF RECOVERY: PEMBA CITY IS GETTING CLEANER
July 23, 2026
Today, His Excellency (H.E.) Keiji Hamada, Ambassador of Japan to Mozambique, visited Pemba City alongside the UNDP Sub-Office team to observe the progress made in strengthening the urban waste management system. The delegation included the Embassy of Japan's Head of Cooperation Ginga Okada and Economic Cooperation Coordinator Kensho Kubo and was received by the Pemba Municipal President, His Excellency (H.E.) Satar Abdulgani, together with UNDP Pemba Sub-Office Head Samuel Akera.
Councilor for Solid Waste Management and Sanitation Oryza Da Graça guided the visit, highlighting how Japan’s partnership and support have contributed to strengthening municipal capacities through improved waste collection services, operational equipment, and enhanced landfill management. The visit showcased the tangible impact of sustained collaboration between Japan, UNDP, and local authorities in advancing more effective, resilient, and sustainable urban services, while supporting Pemba Municipality’s efforts to better respond to the needs of its growing population.
The context is critical. For nearly a decade, Cabo Delgado Province has faced the compounded impacts of armed conflict, recurrent climate-related shocks, displacement, and food insecurity. As the provincial capital, Pemba City has absorbed much of this pressure, with its population nearly doubling from just over 200,000 recorded in the 2017 census to an estimated 400,000 today, as families sought safety and stability amid the ongoing violence affecting the province. This rapid population growth has increased demand for essential services, generated greater volumes of waste, expanded the areas requiring municipal support, and placed additional pressure on systems that were already operating beyond capacity.
In July 2024, the Municipal Council of Pemba and UNDP, through the Immediate Stabilization and Recovery Programme, co-funded by the Government of Japan, signed a Letter of Agreement to address exactly that pressure. The results registered since then speak directly to the scale of the challenge.
"What you see here today is the restoration of our city's capacity to function," said H.E. Abdulgani. "Pemba has absorbed thousands of displaced families. Our systems were under enormous pressure. This partnership gave us the tools to respond, and our teams have delivered."
Councilor Da Graça put it plainly: "Before this support, we worked with what we had. Now we have tools, vehicles, and a team that knows how to use them. Pemba is moving forward."
Ambassador Hamada reflected on what the visit confirmed: "Japan's cooperation with Mozambique is a long-term commitment. The best measure of a development partnership is what it looks like on the ground. Today we met a municipal team that is proud of what they have built with our support. That pride is earned. The system is working. That is what this partnership is for."
For Samuel Akera, the significance runs deeper than the numbers. "The Immediate Stabilization and Recovery Programme was built on a simple idea: that recovery is visible, measurable, and rooted in the everyday lives of people. Solid waste management may not sound dramatic but for a city that has been through what Pemba has been through, it is one of the clearest signals that things are getting better. When you meet the operators who arrive each morning to make this system run, that is when you understand what this partnership actually means."
Progress is real, and so are the challenges that remain. Pemba's population continues to grow, and waste generation is rising with it. Expanding peripheral settlements need broader collection coverage. Rising fuel prices strain operational budgets and constrain service frequency. Additional waste collection points and storage facilities are required to extend services to underserved neighborhoods. While the existing disposal site remains operational. It does not yet meet the standards of a fully engineered sanitary landfill. Gaps in environmental safeguards, waste containment, and site management continue to pose potential risks to public health and the surrounding environment.
These challenges have defined Pemba’s next horizon: an integrated sanitary landfill across 80 available hectares, with the capacity to generate green jobs, enable composting at scale, drive materials recovery and recycling, and return circular-economy value to the municipality.
"This partnership has reshaped daily waste collection in Pemba," concluded H.E. Abdulgani. "We count on you to keep building, together, a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable city."
Pemba is growing and ready for what comes next. The partnership is growing with it.
