Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

Mateus Mutemba

Director of Community Relations & Administrator of Gorongosa National Park

Maputo (Mozambique)

I was born in 1972 in Maputo and grew up in the same city. I am the eldest of 4 children. I am married and have a 2 year-old daughter. I love the outdoors and working with people in the countryside aiming at improving their standards of living. Over the last 11 years I have been involved in social development work both with an international NGO, a private sector firm and with a UN agency, and lectured a development related course at university. Built on the combination of my previous work experience in other regions of the country, with my academic background I want to help the team in our efforts towards achievement of the two-fold mission of the GNP restoration project, namely: biodiversity restoration and poverty reduction in the park’s surroundings. I lead a team that is responsible for the park’s community relations, namely: engaging communities in conservation efforts alongside with providing them with primary schools, water facilities, improved health care facilities, promotion of sustainable agriculture and forestry, and strengthening land rights in the sustainable development zones, adjacent to the Park.  

For me working at the GNP is a privilege firstly, for being part of a very dynamic and very skilled team that is working to make this jewel of our nation, Gorongosa National Park a sustainable park, and secondly for being part of a pioneering experience in Mozambique in which the Ministry of Tourism and Carr Foundation have teamed to manage a National Park for the next 20 years.