Progress in literacy and learning, especially through universal primary education, has done more to advance human conditions than perhaps any other policy. Our generation has the possibility of becoming the first generation ever to offer all children access to good quality basic education. But it will only happen if we have the political commitment -- at the country as well as at the international level -- to give priority to achieve this first in human history. And it will only happen if also those who cannot afford to pay school fees can benefit from a complete cycle of good quality primary education. Investment in good quality fee-free primary education should be a cornerstone in any government's poverty reduction strategy.
The sixteen-year-long war in Mozambique between the Frelimo government and Renamo rebels remains one of the most overlooked and misunderstood of the conflicts that raged across Africa during the height of the Cold War. While usually viewed as mere sideshow to more high-profile wars in Angola, Rhodesia and within apartheid South Africa itself, it nonetheless is noteworthy in its complexity, duration and destructiveness. Before it was all over in 1992 at least one million Mozambicans would be dead, millions more homeless and the country lying in ruins. Ultimately Frelimo would get its victory not on the battlefield but rather at the polling booth in 1994. Based on more than a decade of meticulous research, a review of thousands of pages of military records and documents, and dozens of in-depth interviews with political leaders, diplomats, generals, and soldiers and sailors, this book tells the story of the war from the perspective of those who fought it and lived it. It follows Renamo's growth from its Rhodesian roots in 1977 as a weapon against Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwean nationalist guerrillas operating from Mozambique through South African patronage in the early 1980s to Renamo's evolution as a self-sufficient nationalist insurgency. In tracing the ebb and flow of the conflict from the rugged mountains and Savannah forests of central Mozambique across the hot, humid Zambezi River valley and down to the very outskirts of the Mozambican capital in the far south, it examines the operational strategy of Frelimo and Renamo commanders in the field, the battles they fought and the lives of their troops. In doing so it highlights personal struggles, each side's successes and failures, and the missed opportunities to decisively turn the tide of war. Accordingly, this book provides the first real comprehensive military history of a war too long neglected and under appreciated in the chronicles of modern African history.
This publication offers an overview of REDD+ strategy in Mozambique through a synthesis of the current knowledge about the causes of forest carbon changes, a review of the legal and institutional context, and a description of the current political process of REDD+. The objective of the study is to collate data and relevant information, and to offer a preliminary analysis of the fundamental aspects that can help promote efficiency, efficacy, and equity in REDD+ policy. Specifically, this study concludes that some of the major problems for REDD+ in Mozambique are the lack of data about deforestation and forest degradation, institutional weakness (regarding monitoring and propriety rights), and gaps in human and technical capacity to fulfil demands associated with REDD+. Therefore, efficient results will depend on the degree to which REDD+ policies are oriented toward real mitigation of the sources of forest carbon changes. In Mozambique, REDD+ policy tends to originate outside the timber sector. The cost-effectiveness of the results will depend on identifying and addressing the fundamental causes of forest carbon changes through more viable REDD+ policy options; government capacity to respond to REDD+ demands, especially at the sub-national level; the capacity of civil society and other institutions; and the strength of the institutional framework. The degree of success of equitable outcomes and the generation of co-benefits will depend on the inclusion and appropriateness of the processes at the national level; if those who support REDD+ costs are also being compensated; and on the general definition of carbon rights and environmental services.
Mozambique continues to show a strong economic performance. The inflation expectations require a tightening of the macroeconomic policy mix. Executive Directors commended the role of government in sustaining economic growth by accelerating the public investment program. Engaging development partners and civil society to make the growth strategy more inclusive and allowing Mozambicans to participate in economic growth and the determination in fighting inflation is welcome. The fuel price policy has contributed to substantial costs to Mozambique’s fiscal and external accounts, and poses future risks.
This publication seeks to determine the need, possibilities, and strategies, necessary to alleviate urban poverty in Mozambique through the tool of transformational business, understood out of a Contextual Theology of Work (CTOW). Focusing on the Maputo metropolitan area, but also wider contexts, the author examines the dynamic relationship of urban poverty, unemployment and work. Recognising that unemployment is the main factor behind poverty in Mozambique and placing great emphasis on kingdom theology the author recommends that evangelical churches need to embrace CTOW and engage positively with urban poverty to create real economic change.
The Executive Board of the IMF has completed the third review under the three-year Policy Support Instrument (PSI) for the Republic of Mozambique. Mozambique continues to weather the global economic turmoil well. Real GDP growth is projected to remain above 7 percent in 2011, benefiting from good harvests, a robust performance in the services sector, and the coming online of new megaprojects in the natural resource sector. The authorities’ economic program under the PSI will continue to emphasize preserving macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while promoting economic and social development.
Nationalism and Territoriality in Barue and Mozambique by André van Dokkum compares the precolonial Kingdom of Barue with postcolonial Mozambique and shows that the former is a better example of successful nationalism than the latter.
