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Proactive Disclosure

Proactive Disclosure

Mozambique

CIDA Disbursements in Mozambique: Breakdown by Aid Channels (in $ millions), 2007-2008

Source: CIDA Statistical Report on International Assistance, 2007-2008

Spotlight

Pupils outside Bambatela School, in Lionzuane, Mozambique. © ACDI-CIDA/Jean-François LeBlanc

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 172 out of 182 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's 2009 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) 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 one of 20 countries of focus. CIDA's program for 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's work in Mozambique will target access to, and quality of education, as well as improved access to quality health care, including the country's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. CIDA will also work 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.

Selected examples of expected results

Some 12 to 15 million teaching and learning materials will be procured and distributed
Over 1,000 new classrooms will be created and 8,000 to 10,000 new teachers will be recruited per year
Maternal mortality will be reduced to 310 per 100,000 by 2012, down from 408 per 100,000 in 2003
Mortality rate for children under the age of 5 will be reduced to 125 per 1,000, down from 178 per 1,000 in 2003

Food security

CIDA will work 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, will work 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.

Selected examples of expected results

Extension services, technical assistance, and training will be provided to 400,000 farmers
Some 6 percent of farms will have at least one person that belongs to a farmers' association, helping them gain knowledge on new production techniques and on accessing agricultural markets
Some 53 percent of the rural and urban population will have access to safe drinking water, up from 41 percent (rural) and 37 percent (urban)

Economic growth

CIDA supports the Mozambican government's programs in economic growth through general budget support and through agricultural programming. 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.

Selected examples of expected results

The Government of Mozambique's capacity for budgeting, delivery, control, and oversight of public finances will be improved
Poverty-focused policies, plans, and budgets that target the environment, HIV/AIDS, and equality between women and men will be developed
Civil society will increasingly provide constructive, experience-based input into the government's development policies and plans

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.

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PDF Format

Republic of Mozambique: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (980.45 KB, 203 pages)

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