An infrastructure for the future: the new Sala de Situações of CENOE inaugurated in Maputo

Risk reduction requires infrastructure, expertise, and cooperation. The new Sala de Situações of CENOE, inaugurated today in Maputo, represents a convergence point between these elements: an advanced operational center serving the Mozambican Civil Protection System. A modern, interconnected facility designed to strengthen national capacities for coordination and response to hydrometeorological emergencies in one of the contexts most exposed to the impacts of the climate crisis.

The new Sala has been established within the framework of the Ready2Act project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), and implemented by the National Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Mozambique (INGD) in partnership with CIMA Research Foundation, with the collaboration of WeWorld and the strategic support of the Italian Civil Protection Department.

The inauguration was both an institutional and technical milestone, attended by the President of INGD, H.E. Luísa Celma Meque, the Ambassador of Italy to Mozambique, Gabriele Phillip Annis, representatives of the African Union, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) with its Regional Office (UNDRR Africa), AICS, and CIMA Research Foundation.

A room to coordinate, anticipate, decide

Today, the new Sala de Situações is the operational hub of CENOE (Centro Nacional Operativo de Emergência of INGD), a multisectoral coordination structure that brings together the main actors involved in emergency response in Mozambique. The facility has a dual objective:

• strengthening analytical and integrated risk data management capacities, thanks to multi-hazard forecasting and monitoring tools;

• improving the flow of operational information across national, provincial, and local levels, fostering effective and timely coordination.

During the guided visit and technical demonstration, participants observed the myDEWETRA platform in action, already adopted by INGD. This platform enables real-time integration and visualization of meteorological, hydrological, and geospatial data. Alongside it, other digital tools for early warning and operational information management were also presented.

The value of the Sala is not limited to technology. As highlighted during institutional addresses, its effectiveness depends equally-if not primarily-on the technical expertise of the personnel involved, as well as on the quality and timeliness of the available data. These elements have been at the core of the capacity-strengthening process carried out over the past two years with the support of CIMA Research Foundation.

A node in the AMHEWAS network

With its activation, the Sala de Situações becomes part of the AMHEWAS network - Africa Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Early Action System, a continental initiative promoted by the African Union Commission with the support of UNDRR and Italian cooperation, with CIMA Research Foundation as one of the key technical partners. AMHEWAS aims to strengthen Africa's capacity to develop integrated multi-hazard early warning systems as tools for risk mitigation and climate adaptation.

Mozambique's integration into the network represents a strategic step towards more structured transnational cooperation, enabling the different monitoring and response centers across the continent to operate in dialogue under shared principles of interoperability, data access, and mutual support.

In the coming months, the national Sala will be complemented by the creation of a pilot operational room at the provincial level, in the city of Beira, with the goal of testing decentralized coordination models and enhancing resilience at the territorial scale as well.

One project, one community of practice

Today's inauguration is not a conclusion, but a consolidation step within a broader process. Over the past two years, Ready2Act has supported the structural strengthening of the national civil protection system through actions involving training, procedures, tools, protocols, and bilateral exchanges between Italy and Mozambique. The recent visit of the Mozambican delegation to Italy, hosted by the Italian Civil Protection Department, the Liguria Region, and CIMA Research Foundation, was a concrete testimony of this pathway.

The joint work between INGD/CENOE and all partners has sought to build not only tools, but also communities of practice capable of addressing, with method and vision, the challenges posed by climate change. The goal is clear: strengthening Mozambique's preparedness and response capacity, not only through infrastructure, but also through processes, partnerships, and collective intelligence.

Today, the Sala is ready. In Maputo, screens light up, data are read, decisions are made. Behind every alert, there will be a stronger system-ready to prevent and to act. Together.