Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action

This section presents the main results of the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) research project in Mozambique conducted between March and December 2007. The project was implemented by the Community Development Foundation (FDC) in close collaboration with CIVICUS (World Alliance for citizen participation) and with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Aga Kahn Foundation and the European Union. The CSI project is an integrated research effort involving multiple sources, quantitative and qualitative methods and broad participation by actors and stakeholders in evaluating the state of civil society throughout the world. In line with the CIVICUS CSI methodology, the FDC established a National Index Team (NIT) and a National Advisory Group (NAG). The entire implementation process was monitored and supported by the CIVICUS team but totally implemented by the team of national researchers, and advised by NAG. The technical team met, systematised and analyzed information from a variety of sources, both secondary and primary. At different stages of the research the data and results were subject to ample discussion and critical analysis, especially in meetings of the NAG that validated the final score for the 80 indicators that make up the Civil Society Index (CSI). Consultations and data collection covered the whole country and involved two original primary surveys. One was a Community Sample Research (INC07) based on a statistically representative sample of 4015 people. The other was a national survey of 477 civil society organisations (INOSC07) based on a sample taken from the database of INE (2006) that conducted a census of almost 5000 non-profit organisations in 2003. The CSI is an international comparative project that has to date involved some 60 countries using the same CIVICUS methodology. The CSI was conceived with two main objectives: 1) to provide up-to-date and useful knowledge about civil society; 2) to strengthen stakeholder commitment to strengthening and expanding civil society. The final report, on which this Extended Summary is based, has three main chapters. Chapter 3 contains the main analysis and is structured according to the logic of the four CSI subdimensions. This summary describes the main results, including a brief historical overview, the main debate on the civil society concept in the specific case of Mozambique, the results of the four dimensions of the CSI diamond (Structure, Environment, Values and Impact) and finally the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of Mozambican civil society. The data and analysis summarised here are the result of considerable discussion and debate by the NAG and in a three-day national workshop held in Maputo during 4 to 6 December 2007.