Mozambique

Overview

After 30 years of struggle, Mozambique is a post-conflict success story of peacebuilding, democratic development, and economic growth. In spite of domestic, regional, and international constraints, Mozambique is achieving sustainable development, demonstrating what aid, debt relief, and good governance can achieve in one of the most impoverished countries of the world.

Mozambique has vast and untapped natural resources that can support the development of agriculture, forestry, mining, fishing, energy, and tourism. In 2008, a year of economic downturn for many countries, Mozambique's gross domestic product (GDP) surprisingly grew by 6.8 percent; the agricultural, construction, and financial services sectors grew by more than 10 percent each.

Yet, despite this impressive and sustained economic growth, Mozambique only ranks 184 out of 187 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's 2011 human development index. Currently, 75 percent of Mozambique's population of 21 million lives on less than US$1.25/day. Yearly flooding and drought threaten food security and rural livelihoods. Among other obstacles that contribute to ongoing poverty is the deep-rooted lack of equality between women and men.

Mozambique's agricultural sector accounts for 22 percent of the GDP and is the primary engine of overall growth. Approximately 80 percent of the labour force is employed in that sector, the majority through small-scale subsistence farming. In addition, a small number of commercial farms earn export revenues from such commodities as prawns and fish, cotton, sugar, timber, tobacco, and cashews. The government recently made food production a priority and developed an action plan to achieve this goal.

Canada and other donors provide direct support to the national budget of Mozambique to assist in implementing its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) (PDF, 980 KB, 203 pages) and maintaining Mozambique's focus on reducing poverty, improving living conditions, and enhancing public financial management systems. In its 2006-2010 PRSP, Mozambique identified the following key development pillars as its priorities:

• Economic development, including agriculture
• Human capital (education and health)
• Governance (including efficient use of public resources)

Thematic Focus

In 2009, as part of Canada's new aid effectiveness agenda, Mozambique was selected by CIDA as a country of focus. CIDA's program in Mozambique is directly aligned with the Government of Mozambique's 2006-2010 PRSP.

Canada, one of the lead bilateral donors in Mozambique, is supporting the Government of Mozambique in improving agriculture, food security, income generation, and capacity building in the education and health sectors.

CIDA will remain a strong champion in promoting equality between women and men in education, health, and agricultural development, all of which are key to reducing poverty in Mozambique.

Children and youth

CIDA focuses on increasing access to and quality of education, as well as improving access to quality health care, including the country's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. CIDA also works with other donors to strengthen the capacity of the ministries of Education and Health so that they can plan, implement, monitor and evaluate their policies and programs in a more effective way.

Food security

CIDA works with other donors to assist the Ministry of Agriculture in providing more support for improved agricultural production and increased food security. This assistance will accelerate the implementation of the Ministry's national agricultural development program. CIDA, along with its Mozambican and Canadian partners, works to improve agricultural production through the dissemination of new technologies, the advancement of market linkages, the rehabilitation of irrigation schemes, the strengthening of farmers' associations, and the enhancement of land management.

Economic growth

CIDA supports the Mozambican government's programs in economic growth through general budget support and through agricultural programs. To ensure that the Government of Mozambique's programs in education, health, and agriculture and rural development can achieve their goals, CIDA also provides support to the following strategic initiatives: public sector reform, the strengthening of the national statistics system, and support to local civil society.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

The Government of Mozambique works with donors to ensure that the country's development priorities are supported in a harmonized, effective, and efficient manner. The 2006-2010 PRSP was developed in a participatory manner and was endorsed by the donor community. As a new government is in place following the 2009 elections, work has begun on a poverty reduction strategy for the 2010-2015 period. This new strategy will be developed using lessons learned from past experiences and will entail government-led consultations with Mozambican citizens, civil society organizations, and the international donor community.

Development assistance in Mozambique is framed by a sophisticated relationship between donors and the Government of Mozambique. Canada is an active and respected donor within this structure, and Canadian influence has had concrete results in the past.

Accomplishments 2009-2010

Children and youth

• Helped increase the enrolment rate of girls in Grade one to 75.3 percent
• Helped improve the supply of textbooks to students: the textbook-to-primary school student ratio is now 1:1. Eighty-five percent of students received core subject textbooks on time
• Helped expand bilingual education by providing 24,000 bilingual teacher training manuals throughout the country
• Contributed towards increasing the complete childhood immunization rate for children under one to 77 percent

Food security

• Helped the agriculture sector grow by 11.2 percent
• Helped improve agricultural production in key cereal crops by 8-10 percent annually over the past eight years
• Helped train 193,500 families in small-scale fisheries and agriculture

Economic growth

• Helped more than 2,000 women obtain savings and credit accounts with a microfinance institution
• Helped increase accountability capacity for the effective delivery of programs and the efficient use of resources in public financial management

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News Releases

• Minister Oda Concludes Trip to Mozambique and Mali to Advance Canada's Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (2010-08-27)
• Canada and Mali Sign Agreement to Advance Canada's G-8 Muskoka Initiative Commitment to Save the Lives of Mothers, Newborns and Children Under Five (2010-08-23)

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