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It is widely recognised that social exclusion produces deep and long-term damage to the living conditions, social and economic participation, emotional life, and health status of young people. It also contributes to the intergenerational transmission of poverty. In turn, insecurity in living standards, political and social isolation, feelings of estrangement and unhealthy lifestyles aggravate pre-existing conditions of social exclusion. This results in a vicious circle where socially...

The Reality Checks are implemented between 2011- 2016, with fieldwork being carried out each year in the Districts of Cuamba, Majune and Lago in the Niassa Province. Sub-Team Leaders are Carmeliza Rosário, Minna Tuominen and Inge Tvedten. This is the Annual Report for the 2nd Reality Check, synthesising the main findings from the three sub- reports. The report is written by the Team Leader for the Reality Checks in Mozambique Dr. Inge Tvedten - with support from Carmeliza Rosário, Minna Tuominen and Aslak Orre (Thematic Advisor).

This study investigates the impairing of the rights of peasant communities through the establishment of tree plantations in Niassa province, Mozambique. More particularly, it looks at the impacts of the operations of Chikweti Forests of Niassa on the local population in the districts of Lago, Lichinga and Sanga. In order to do so, it presents an introductory chapter on the general context of Mozambique and the legal framework. This legal framework will serve as a basis on the analysis of...

The Government of Mozambique (GoM), acting through the national roads administration (ANE) has made requests to international financial institutions including the African Development Bank, for the improvement of transport infrastructure and for strengthening the institutional capacity of the roads sector. ANE plans to apply a portion of these funds to the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) of the project for the rehabilitation of the N13, Cumanba-Mandimba-Lichinga (302 km)....

A propitiously timed household survey carried out in Mozambique over the period 2008-09 permits us to evaluate the short-to-medium run relationship between sudden shocks to food prices and child nutrition status. We link local price inflation with child malnutrition status. We find that the prevalence of underweight amongst children rises in response to a higher inflation rate for basic food products. Stunting and wasting malnutrition measures are mostly insensitive to the inflation rate....

The Afrobarometer is a comparative series of public attitude surveys that will be covering up to 35 African countries in Round 5 (2011-2013). Based on representative national samples, the surveys assess citizen attitudes to democracy and governance, markets, and civil society, among other topics. The first round of surveys was conducted between 1999-2001 and covered seven Southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe), three countries in...

This assessment shows that Mozambique social protection system is developing. While programs to address most of the risks identified exist, there are still major gaps. Poor families with children are not adequately supported, there is no significant youth program, and subsistence farmers and other workers are not properly protected against recurrent shocks. The government spends a considerable amount of its resources on social protection but most are absorbed by untargeted subsidies and...

The increasing recognition that social protection programmes in developing countries can play an important role in inclusive and transformative development is welcomed by analysts as a step towards supporting extremely poor households in these countries. In Mozambique, the national cash transfer programme, the Basic Social Subsidy Programme (Programa de Subsídio Social Básico or PSSB), which began in 1992, provides a relatively low value of 130 MTn (approx. $4.5) to 380 MTn (approx. $13),...

The development industry is increasingly pushing practitioners to achieve results, and to do better in demonstrating what works, what does not, and explaining why. There is a growing interest in going beyond the measurement of results to being able to understand the basis for success or failure. Consequently, the development of explicit theories of change (ToCs) is starting to be viewed as central to this process, as a key part of what constitutes ‘rigour’ in impact evaluations. Citizen...

he Reality Checks are implemented 2011-2016 and each year field work is carried out in the Municipality of Cuamba, the District of Lago and the District of Majune in the Niassa Province. This is the Annual Report for Year One of the Reality Checks and aims at summarising the conclusions based on the findings from the field sub-report from each study location.

Accountability is a central feature of democracy. Governments must explain what they are doing, justify why they are doing certain things and not others. Moreover, accountability increases the likelihood of the improvement of public services if citizens have the political scope to hold politicians and administrators accountable, and potentially sanction them. Consequently, developing countries as well as the OECD-donor community have committed themselves to working towards the improvement of...

Decentralization has been underway in Indonesia for more than ten years, but recently many have challenged the how effectively decentralization – and even democratization – is being implemented. Deterioration in the quality of public services, the many corruption cases involving local governments, and low economic growth rates in some regions have prompted discourse about whether the country is making a reversal away from decentralization and democratization. We recognize that the move...

Ex-post evaluation of ODA projects has been in place since 1975 and since then the coverage of evaluation has expanded. Japan’s ODA charter revised in 2003 shows Japan’s commitment to ODA evaluation, clearly stating under the section “Enhancement of Evaluation” that in order to measure, analyze and objectively evaluate the outcome of ODA, third-party evaluations conducted by experts will be enhanced. This volume shows the results of the ex-post evaluation of Grant Aid projects that were...

The objectives of the Study are to determine the most technically feasible and economically viable, environmentally acceptable and socially optimal option of upgrading the existing Cuamba – Lichinga road to an all-weather road for easier transit. The Study also determines the impact of providing an all-weather road on poverty reduction and environment. And establishment of the “Regional Development Program” intended for Niassa Province is also the objective of the Study. This program aims to...

The objectives of the Study are to determine the most technically feasible and economically viable, environmentally acceptable and socially optimal option of upgrading the existing Cuamba – Lichinga road to an all-weather road for easier transit. The Study also determines the impact of providing an all-weather road on poverty reduction and environment. And establishment of the “Regional Development Program” intended for Niassa Province is also the objective of the Study. This program aims...

The objectives of the Study are to determine the most technically feasible and economically viable, environmentally acceptable and socially optimal option of upgrading the existing Cuamba – Lichinga road to an all-weather road for easier transit. The Study also determines the impact of providing an all-weather road on poverty reduction and environment. And establishment of the “Regional Development Program” intended for Niassa Province is also the objective of the Study. This program aims...

Findings from ERIA’s SME research project in FY 2009 confirms that access to finance is amongst the most critical factors determining the competitive readiness of regional SMEs and their ability to fully exploit and participate in the global economy and business opportunities from regional economic integration and, in particular, participation in regional production networks. Well recognized in the literature, access to funding is the lifeblood of any enterprise, enabling it to grow, and to...

This publication is the result of a visit to Mozambique in November 2009 by two activists involved in the struggle against tree monocultures in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. This visit was made possible by the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) with the goal of exchanging experiences about large-scale tree monocultures. With more than 40 years of dealing with monoculture plantations and expansion, Brazil has a lot of experience in this area. At the same time, affected communities and...

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are high on the government and donor agendas in Sub-Saharan Africa, but have largely failed to have an impact. Rather than ‘mainstreaming’ gender, more attention to the variations in the position of women is necessary. In a series of three studies on gender policies and the feminisation of poverty in Mozambique, significant differences were found between the north and the south as well as between rural and urban areas. Such variations are essential to...

This report is part of the efforts to monitor and evaluate the implications of Mozambique’s Poverty Reduction Strategy PARPA II (GdM 2005). Three qualitative and participatory studies have already been carried out in three different areas of the country: One in the District of Murrupula in Nampula Province (Tvedten, Paulo & Rosário 2006); one in four bairros in the capital Maputo (Paulo, Rosário & Tvedten 2007); and one in the district of Buzi in Sofala Province (Rosário, Tvedten & Paulo...