Information for this community profile was predominantly derived from Key Informant Interviews. Mieze is found along the main road north leaving from Pemba to Tanzania (North) and Malawi (West). Mieze is located along a busy road.

 

Figure 1: Mieze Village

Characteristics

History

Mieze has always experimented the fisheries activities as well as agriculture as the area is conditioned to produce a lot of crops which have ever since supplied Pemba city with vegetables and type of food. Since few year so far this administrative post is experiencing a growth of population due to the industrial growth of Pemba as most of the land is being bought for housing and other services.

Local Infrastructures

Health
In the administrative post of Mieze there is a medium sized health center, which assists the local community with their health needs. The community members need to travel to Pemba in case of serious illnesses. The second health center is located a bit far from the headquarters of Mieze, in Nanlia, and it is much smaller. There are also two houses for nurses, close to the hospital.

Education

Mieze possesses two schools, a secondary school (high school) and a complete primary school. Some of the teachers teaching at the school are locals, whiles others come from Pemba.  

Drinking water

In general the community of Mieze has somehow easy access to water for different uses, which is supplied by the national supplying system which is well spread. Some people still use water from a stream linked to a small river crossing it, in which they developed a water treatment technique based on purifying the water with morringa (Morringa olifera). The people doing well may have an “underground concrete structure” which allows them to save the water for moments of crisis, and to help and sell water to others. 

Energy

In Mieze the energy supply covers the whole administrative post and is provided by Mozambique Electricity Company. However, electricity is not found in all homes, but in general it is available.

Sanitation

The sanitation in Mieze is reasonable as all the families have a toilet at home. The people who are better off may have “underground concrete structure” as well, which treats black waters from internal toilets/ latrine.

Social structure and key players 

In terms of local organizations there is the Mozambique Woman Organization (OMM), Mozambican Youth Organization, and community courts to help judge local misunderstanding within the community.

Religion

In Mieze the community is predominantly Christian and Muslim with the latter being the majority.

Politics

Existing political parties are: FRELIMO, RENAMO and MDM. There aren’t any registered conflicts between these political parties. All of the parties have secretariats in Mieze. 

Population
The ethnicities are: Macua, Mwani and Makonde all of who speak their own language by the same name. Mwani and Makonde are not from this area originally. Their origins are from inland districts.  There are a lot of immigrants, mostly coming from Nampula who manage the most of the vegetable agriculture in Mieze (which forms the basis of the local economy). In addition, there isn’t a bank, an ATM, or any formal ways of saving money.

Natural Resources

The natural resources in Mieze are: mangroves, the beach, the sand, and some streams. The natural resources are used to make poles, as a way of relaxing, practicing agriculture and fishing. The legislation regarding the protection of these resources exists, but the implementation is weak, only few people are monitoring the harvest of mangroves.

Livelihoods

The population of Mieze depends on agriculture, livestock and fishing.

Fisheries

The secretariat of Mieze administrative post had little specific information on fisheries; thereby the answers were obtained through probing and informal discussions. The fishing gears used are spears, hook and lines, deep fish nets, fish traps (for fish and crabs). The primary boat type used for fishing is the canoe. There are fishing regulations that exist formally but they are not monitored or evaluated. There are not any fish landing facilities and no facilities for cooling fish. 

Mangroves

There is a big portion of mangrove forest in which the community extracts poles for construction of houses, yards and also sells it. Furthermore, the mangrove areas are used to fish for crabs and to build saltpans.

Tourism

There is not any tourism in Mieze.