Monitoring and Evaluating Mozambique’s Poverty Reduction Strategy PARPA 2006-2008. A Synopsis of Three Qualitative Studies on Rural and Urban Poverty.

The purpose of this synopsis is to facilitate discussions between the government, civil society organisations, donors and other stakeholders in Mozambique’s efforts to reduce poverty and, more specifically, to contribute to the Impact Assessment Report (Relatótio de Avaliação de Impacto, RAI) which is to be carried out in 2009. We will focus on our main findings and preliminary conclusions, and will to the extent possible avoid repeating data found in the original reports to ease accessibility. The discussions related the synopsis will also be used to further identify the most relevant topics and approaches for the final three studies, in order to secure their maximum utility for the government’s monitoring and evaluation programme. The synopsis will be divided into six parts following this Introduction. In Chapter 2 we briefly account for the analytical framework and methodological approaches of the studies. In Chapter 3 we present what we have identified as aspects of Mozambique’s political economy with particular impacts on the situation in local communities. In Chapter 4 we analyse the main features of the political context at the level of districts through which poverty reduction is implemented. In Chapter 5 we present the main findings from the adapted surveys we have carried out, with a focus on the similarities and differences between the three areas of study. In Chapter 6 we assess the outcome of our qualitative and participatory approaches to our analyses. And finally, in Chapter 7, we present preliminary conclusions and recommendations from the first three studies and outline the approach of the three follow-up studies.

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