Strengthening Our Climate-Resilient Future!
We promote climate-resilient, empowered, and inclusive communities where everyone can access essential services and contribute with their skills and talents. Our projects improve the quality of life for more than 79,000 people each year. We invest in scalable and innovative solutions for community empowerment, emergency response, environmental management, livelihood development, and water management. When disasters strike, we provide appropriate emergency response and enable communities to rebuild. We act with integrity, promote sustainability, and demonstrate compassion in our work.
Our Theory of Change
Mãos Unidas drives change on three levels:
• We empower Mozambican communities by promoting climate resilience, sustainability, and local leadership.
• We address specific challenges in community empowerment, emergency response, environmental stewardship, livelihood development, and water management.
• We integrate gender and social inclusion into our initiatives to create opportunities for marginalized groups and ensure no one is left behind.
Mãos Unidas as a Partner
Mãos Unidas collaborates with international organizations, government agencies, private sector actors, and local communities. We engage communities as partners in designing and implementing programs to ensure that interventions meet real community needs, build local capacity, and leverage local expertise. Our approach, which combines local knowledge with global best practices, delivers innovative programs with social impact, aligned with Mozambique's development goals.
Vision
Mãos Unidas carries out replicable, context-specific, and community-driven initiatives with sustainable impact. We promote climate-resilient, empowered, and inclusive communities where everyone can access essential services and contribute with their skills and talents. Our goal is to build communities that manage resources responsibly, practice environmental stewardship, promote diversified economic growth, and strive for a better quality of life for all.
Mission
We are a Christian organization that believes in the dignity and value of all Mozambicans. We empower Mozambican communities to become climate-resilient, inclusive, and sustainable so that everyone's quality of life improves. We promote community-driven development, environmental stewardship, and equitable access to resources for all. We provide assistance and support to communities in vulnerable situations. We promote dignity, well-being, and social justice.
What We Believe
We are a Christian-based organization. We believe every individual has dignity, value, and talents. We exclude no one and treat all people with compassion and respect.
What We See
We currently see a Mozambique where many communities are affected by climate change, poverty, and natural disasters. However, we also envision a hopeful future where climate-resilient, empowered, and inclusive Mozambican communities can face their challenges and where everyone has access to essential services.
Florencio Marerua – Executive Director, Associação Mãos Unidas (AMU)
Florencio Marerua serves as the Executive Director of Associação Mãos Unidas (AMU), the national successor of Dorcas Aid in Mozambique. Based in Chimoio, he leads the organization’s mission to transform lives through emergency response, climate resilience, and sustainable development, with a strong focus on WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), livelihoods and economic development, emergency preparedness and response, and policy engagement.
Under his leadership, AMU has expanded its footprint in rural districts such as Caia, Maringue, and Chemba. The organization works in close partnership with institutions like UNICEF, IUCN, ARA Norte and Centro, and Right to Play to deliver life-saving humanitarian interventions while strengthening long-term community resilience.
Rooted in Christian values, Florencio promotes compassion, integrity, and responsible stewardship across all of AMU’s work. He is also an active voice in international policy and advocacy spaces, representing Mozambique in high-level global forums related to Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and beyond. His advocacy underscores the vital links between access to safe water, improved livelihoods, and public health, in climate-vulnerable areas.
With decades of experience in both humanitarian relief and long-term development, Florencio brings together local insight and global perspective to drive transformative, community-led change across Mozambique.
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