Addis Ababa honours Mozambique’s Luísa Diogo with inauguration of early childhood development centre

The city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has paid posthumous tribute to Dr Luísa Dias Diogo, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Mozambique, with the inauguration of the Luísa Diogo ECD Centre, an Early Childhood Development Centre located on Avenida de Moçambique, in the Kirkos district.

The ceremony, held on 14 October 2026, formed part of a reunion of the African Mayoral Leadership Initiative (AMALI) programme, bringing together municipal councillors and leaders from several African cities who had the privilege of knowing and learning from Dr Luísa Dias Diogo during her involvement in the programme. The tribute, organised under the leadership of Addis Ababa Mayor H.E. Adanech Abiebie, was an occasion to celebrate her legacy and recognise her contribution to strengthening African leadership and promoting human development.

Dr Luísa Dias Diogo served as an adviser to the AMALI programme, an initiative supported by Big Win Philanthropy. She accompanied and mentored the Mayor of Addis Ababa, who joined the programme’s first cohort in 2023. As a member of the Board of Directors of Big Win Philanthropy, she later became one of the leading advocates for mobilising funding to bring this project to fruition.

During the ceremony, Jamie Cooper, Founder and President of Big Win Philanthropy, highlighted the pioneering nature of the initiative, describing it as the first project of this kind supported by the organisation at municipal level.

The new centre forms part of Addis Ababa’s early childhood development strategy, which aims to benefit around 1.3 million children. The city currently has 1,155 childcare centres providing services to more than 27,000 children, and has expanded its network of playgrounds from 20 to around 5,500 over the past three years.

As a lasting tribute, a bust of Dr Luísa Dias Diogo was installed at the centre, accompanied by a message in Amharic reflecting her vision of human potential:

“The future begins in our minds, with the belief and conviction that we are capable.”

The ceremony was attended by members of the former Prime Minister’s family, including her husband, Dr António Albano Silva, her son João Nuno Alexandre Diogo da Silva and her youngest daughter, Laura Solange Diogo da Silva.

The family expressed deep gratitude and appreciation for the tribute, saying it was particularly inspiring to see Dr Luísa Diogo’s legacy embodied in a project dedicated to future generations. The initiative also serves as a source of inspiration for projects the family is considering developing to preserve and carry forward her legacy.

As Jamie Cooper noted during the ceremony, Dr Luísa Dias Diogo firmly believed that African leaders should be examples of excellence and had the ability to deliver projects of this scale. It was this conviction that led her to champion and support the initiative. More than a tribute to her memory, the Luísa Diogo ECD Centre represents the continuation of a vision of development grounded in education, the creation of opportunities and confidence in Africans’ ability to build a better future for the continent.

Source: Integrity