People power and creativity drive facelift of Angola’s port of Moçamedes

Mobilising residents in the beach town and port of Moçamedes, Ema Samali da Silva, Vice-Governor of Namibe Province, has launched an urban renewal project that’s changing the face of the city. She’s turning old relics like movie theatres and an auditorium into cultural centres reborn. Street artists and painters are livening up and beautifying facades across the city. And it’s creating jobs, with the aim of creating more by encouraging more tourism and business activity.

Moçamedes in the Province of Namibe is a city committed to urban renewal and providing opportunity for young artists and creatives.

Through a partnership between the public sector, the private sector and civil society, Moçamedes is experiencing a true renaissance, characterized by vivid colours, a renewed sense of community and a celebration of the deep history of a city committed to the arts, architecture and cinema.

A gateway to the Namibe Desert in southwest Angola, Moçamedes is one of the country's top fishing ports.

A dynamo behind the city's reboot is Ema Samali da Silva, a Vice-Governor of Namibe Province.

"The initial phase of the programme was a strategy that aimed to create an inclusive collective spirit in the city," she says.

As part of transforming the face of Mocamedes, this architect by training is aiming to bring old relics to life, an auditorium that never opened. With construction interrupted by civil war, Samali da Silva plans to finally complete the project. It's been waiting to welcome visitors since 1974.

She's got support from Hildeberto Alfredo Madeira, whose father was among those who built it.

"I think we should do what its creators imagined and move forward," he says. "To show, nationally and internationally, what this province is all