[2] He was raised by relatives after his parents were executed in a reeducation camp in northern Mozambique for their status as dissidents within the Mozambican ruling party.

[3] Daviz Simango ran for and was elected mayor of Beira, a major Mozambican city on the Indian Ocean, in 2003.

Simango was reelected mayor of Beira in 2009 as a member of his own political party, Movimento Democrático de Moçambique.

[3] During his time as mayor, Simango oversaw a $120 million USD climate adaptation project, involving a system of drainage canals and retaining basins to protect urban neighborhoods from rising sea levels.

[6] In the wake of the storm, Simango worked on the streets to establish emergency services in the city, and spoke out internationally against climate change.

[8] At this time, Daviz Simango founded a new political party, the Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (Democratic Movement of Mozambique), popularly known as MDM.