Academic paper Mozambique: Monitoring and evaluating poverty reduction policies in Mozambique, study 1: social relations of rural poverty

Source: ELDIS Poverty Reporter
Monitoring and evaluating poverty reduction policies in Mozambique, study 1: social relations of rural poverty

Authors: Paulo,M.; Ros rio,C.; Tvedten,I.
Produced by: Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway (200

In Mozambique, the government and the donors have invested considerable resources and effort in economic and social development. Nevertheless, Mozambique is still one of the poorest countries in the world. This short brief presents the first in a series of three participatory and qualitative studies on poverty in Mozambique. The studies will be used as baselines for monitoring and evaluating Mozambique’s poverty alleviation efforts, by following the implications of government policies and interventions at the local level and ascertaining changes in the conditions, perceptions and relations of poverty after periods of three years.

The authors present a set of broad policy implications arising from the baseline study that they believe are important to follow up for alleviating poverty in remote rural areas like Murrupula. These include:

* the definition of ‘the household’ as the key analytical unit used in censuses and national household surveys in Mozambique should be reassessed to better reflect realities on the ground, and combined with questions putting emphasis on social relationships of individuals and households that are vital for the survival of the poor

* if the state and its poverty alleviation efforts are to have an impact in areas like Murrupula, there is a need to further strengthen the local government’s human and economic resources in line with the intentions in the Local Government Act

* improved access to markets and improved bargaining positions vis a vis external traders are important for enhancing production and income from agriculture. Both should be further developed through improved road networks, the development of associations and possibly some form of marketing board to reduce the exploitative nature of current relations with traders

* many children do not go to school due to poverty, domestic work and early marriage/pregnancy amongst girls, who tend to drop out first. Access to education should be improved and provisions should be made for young mothers to continue their education after childbirth

* the very poorest households and individuals in districts such as Murrupula are characterised by non-involvement in state and community institutions (including those of education, health, the church and associations), and are marginalised or excluded from traditional family networks due to their inability to contribute in a setting where relationships have to be reciprocal. For these, targeted interventions and social protection measures will be necessary.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=36379

African archaeology book: The African Archaeology Network

Source: African Book Collective

The African Archaeology Network

Reports and a Review

Edited by Felix Chami, Gilbert Pwiti

The first in the book series Studies in the African Past was published in 2001, consisting of reports produced by the archaeology research project, ‘Human Responses and Contribution to Environmental Change’. The new research initiative developed out of this project is known as the ‘African Archaeology Network’. This is investigating how ancient African societies exploited resources, developed settlements and established long-distance trade networks. A pan-African project, it aims to develop new models to understand how ancient communities adjusted and responded to political and environmental upheavals; and to demonstrate the potential for more research in the different areas of African archaeology.

Consisting of ten chapters, this volume includes nine scientific reports and one review emanating from Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, the Island of Mafia in Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. Topics covered include: dense ancient settlements along the Sahara desert; mappings of historical settlements in south-west Nigeria; excavations of the areas around Lake Victoria in Uganda; ancient iron industries; evidence of the domestication of animals and the importation of goods into Tanzania from India and the Nile Valley in the Neolithic age; contact with early European traders and travellers from 160, and how these paved the way for the extension of the western European system into African communities; and hunter- gather and pastoral adaptive strategies in the Namib desert.

ISBN 9789976604085 | 200 pages | 244 x 170 mm | 2005 | Dar es Salaam University Press, Tanzania | Paperback

Available from the African Book Collective

£21.95

Mozambique: Musician wins top environmental prize

Source: BBC NEWS

A Mozambican musician who campaigns for clean water and sanitation has been awarded a top environmental prize.

Read the full article

Mozambique: Archaeologist Helps Community By Keeping African Artifacts In Africa

Source: African Artifacts In Africa. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 11, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/04/080407162341.htm

Archaeologist Helps Community By Keeping African Artifacts In Africa

ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 200 — It is common for professional archaeologists and paleoanthropologists working in Africa to populate western museums with foreign artifacts by excavating and permanently removing them from history rich communities in Africa. University of Calgary researcher Julio Mercader, along with University of Boston PhD student Arianna Fogelman are doing their part to stop this dated trend.

Mercader and his team have established the first museum of its kind in Mozambique and the second museum in the country’s province of Niassa, which will officially open in August. This museum—named Museu Local, meaning “local museum” in Portuguese—will help keep some of Africa’s treasures in Africa, and also make Western and African academic research relevant to the local population, two initiatives that should have started long ago, says Mercader, who collaborated with the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane and Universidade Pedagógica, in Mozambique, for this project.

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International Year of Sanitation 2008 - Photos

BBC Radio 4 has a photo essay on sanitation, which goes along with it’s radio programme on Sanitation . A lot of it is Asia based but there are a couple of Africa photos.

6/9

Mozambique - inoffensive output of composting toilet, photo courtesy of WaterAid.

7/9

Zambia - a VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit) toilet, photo courtesy of WaterAid.

Mozambique IMF: progress review 2008

Source: IMF

Statement by the IMF Staff Mission to Mozambique

Press Release No. 08/69
April 1, 2008

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Mr. Jean A. P. Clément, visited Maputo from March 18-31, 2008, to review progress under Mozambique’s three-year Policy Support Instrument (PSI), approved on June 18, 2007, and to discuss the IMF’s ongoing support for Mozambique’s reform efforts.

The mission issued the following statement in Maputo today:

“In 2007, economic growth remained strong despite severe exogenous shocks. Revenues were higher than programmed due to buoyant direct domestic taxes. However, investment expenditures were lower than envisaged because of a shortfall in external financing. Thanks to prudent monetary policies, the average core inflation (which excludes food and energy items) was contained at 5.1 percent and headline inflation declined from 13.2 percent in 2006 to 8.2 percent, despite high international food and oil prices. Net international reserves have continued to increase and reached a comfortable level equivalent to 5 months of imports of goods and services.

“Overall performance under the program was satisfactory. However, two quantitative assessment criteria at end-2007 and one structural assessment criterion were missed. Base money exceeded the target on account of a temporary increase in money demand over the festivity season and net credit to government was higher in part due to a shortfall in aid disbursements in meticais. Important progress has been made in strengthening public finance management and in broadening the tax base. On the structural side, the internal and external audit over public finances has been strengthened considerably. Furthermore, the Council of Ministers adopted a new medium-term strategy aiming to reduce the cost of doing business to make Mozambique’s business environment the most competitive in SADC by 2015. To ensure the transparent management of natural resources, the mission welcomes the authorities’ decision to become a member of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). In particular, the authorities intend to strengthen their monitoring and transparency of megaprojects. In this context, all regulations related to the mining and petroleum fiscal laws were issued.

“The outlook for 2008 remains positive and, despite the severe humanitarian impact, the overall repercussion of the floods on economic growth is likely to be limited. The Government has decided to grant temporarily subsidies to minibus (chapas) operators to alleviate the social hardship from rising international oil prises. The mission agrees with the authorities that prudent fiscal and monetary policies need to continue to be implemented to consolidate macroeconomic stability in the context of a flexible exchange rate system. The budget includes a continued effort to mobilize revenues and priority expenditures will represent 65 percent of total expenditures (including the hiring of 12,000 new teachers and 5,000 health workers). The authorities have stated their intention to prepare reforms of the public sector salary policy and the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) that are fiscally sustainable. The Government also intends to maintain the pace of public finance management and tax administration reforms.

“The ambitious second generation reform agenda, aiming at sustaining growth and reducing poverty, will need the continued support of the international community. This support is key to help Mozambique progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. The strategy to achieve these goals is set out in the Plano de Acção Para a Redução da Pobreza Absoluta II. The main risks to the program relate to natural calamities, a continued surge in international oil and food prices, and spending pressures during the forthcoming elections.

“Mozambique’s second review under the PSI-supported reform program is expected to be taken up by the IMF Executive Board in May 2008.”

IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Public Affairs			Media Relations
Phone:	202-623-7300		Phone:	202-623-7100
Fax:	202-623-6278		Fax:	202-623-6772

Mozambique is to increase power supplies to South Africa

Source: BBC NEWS

Mozambique is to increase power supplies to South Africa to help it cope with severe electricity shortages.

More than 75% of the power generated from Mozambique’s huge Cahora Bassa Dam is already sold to South Africa.

A senior official from the company that runs the dam told the BBC that this will be increased next month thanks to a recent refurbishment of the facility.

The move follows news that electricity prices in South Africa are set to rise by more than 50% to ease the crisis.

Read the full story 

Mozambique: “Green Revolution”

Source: APA

Mozambique seeks means to speed up “Green Revolution”

APA-Maputo: (Mozambique) Mozambique has announced its plans to have an organic fertilizer processing industry by the start of the 2008/09 agricultural campaign, a top official to APA on Sunday.

Agriculture Minister, Soares Nhaca said such an industry would reduce the price of fertilizer, as well as the need for imports.

Read the full article 

Africa’s success: evaluating accomplishments

Source: ELDIS

Evaluating the seven African success stories

Authors: R.I. Rotberg
Publisher: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2007

Full text of document

This paper evaluates the seven presumed African success stories: Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda. It gives a detailed analysis of the economic, political, governance and human development scenarios in each country, and identifies the emerging challenges. Although all the seven countries are growing rapidly, they face, among others, the following problems:

• job creation lags behind promises and expectations
• acute shortage of electricity hinders exploitation of newly found resources
• road and rail infrastructure remains inadequate in all expect South Africa and Botswana
• growing indigenous wealth is accompanied by severe income inequalities
• high incidence of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS
• high levels of corruption

Chinese influence is growing in the region, mainly in Mozambique and Ghana. Chinese investors are contributing significantly to the growth but colonial methods of Chinese operations characterised by extraction and exploitation have led to serious protests in some areas. Inexpensive Chinese imports are affecting the domestic market.

Mozambique Map: Flood Waters over the Affected District of Mutarara, Sofala & Tete Provinces, Mozambique

Source: AlertNet

MAP: UPDATE: Flood Waters over the Affected District of Mutarara, Sofala & Tete Provinces, Mozambique

07 Feb 2008

Source: UNOSAT

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author’s alone.

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UNOSAT

This map illustrates satellite-detected flood waters over the affected districts in central Mozambique.
Flooded areas have been sorted into 2 classes: Red areas represent standing flood waters identified with a high degree of confidence. Yellow areas represent flood-affected areas, possibly covered with standing water, identified with a lower degree of confidence.
Flood analysis was made using MODIS Terra & Aqua data recorded 2 February 2008. Additional pre-flood MODIS imagery from November 2007 (represented in blue) was used in this analysis.
The rainfall estimate was derived from the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM) precipitation dataset at a spatial resolution of approximately 25km for this region.
Map Scale for A3: 1:400,000
Source(s):
Satellite Data: MODIS Terra & Aqua (NASA)
Resolution: 500m/250m
Date Series: 19 Nov. 2007 & 2 Feb. 2008
Flood Analysis : UNOSAT
Rainfall Data: TRMM (NASA)
Resolution : 0.25 deg
Date Series : 1 Jan. - 31 January 2008
Hydrology Data: HydroSheds (USGS)
Other GIS Data: NGA, USGS, WHO, UNJLC
GLIDE: FL-2008-000004-MOZ
Product FOOTPRINT (LAT x LONG, WSG84 Geographic, decimal degrees)
TopLeft: -16.58 x 33.83
BottomRight: -17.31 x 35.16
Map Production: UNOSAT (5 February 200

View the PDF version of this map

African Media and Malaria Research Network

Source: The Soul Beat

African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN)

Region

Africa

Programme Summary

Launched in 2006, African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) promotes malaria research communication in Africa by strengthening the capacity of African journalists through training. The network of African journalists and scientists focuses on disseminating information on malaria control initiatives and monitors and advocates for the implementation of malaria policies in Africa. It also advocates and engages policy makers to implement international agreements on malaria control. The network was one of the outcomes of a one-week workshop on malaria research reporting in Africa, for selected journalists from nine African countries: The Gambia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.

Communication Strategies

The network is designed to create a common platform for African journalists and scientists to work together on efforts to eradicate malaria, The network’s top priority is training journalists to report effectively on malaria. According to the organisers, this will develop in the long-term into a Malaria Media Institute, to be hosted by Women, Media and Change (WOMAC). Membership of the network is open to African journalists interested in reporting on malaria. Scientists, malaria experts and community health workers can become associate members.

Read more

Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Mozambique

Received from IPC

Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Mozambique – Country Study # 10

We are pleased to announce the publication of IPC Country Study #10, ‘Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Mozambique’. The authors, Pekka Virtanen and Dag Ehrenpreis, examine Mozambique’s recent record of sustained economic growth and rapid poverty reduction. They note that such rates of growth are based on 1) a ‘bounce-back’ to pre-war levels of agricultural production without any increases in productivity and 2) industrial growth based on enclave mega-projects in energy and mining in the south, which have created few jobs and been accompanied by rising regional poverty. In light of Mozambique’s pattern of growth, they put a priority on directing ODA, which has thus far had a positive impact on the economy, to investments that make agriculture globally competitive and help enhance rural livelihoods.

Available online at: http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCCountryStudy10.pdf

See IPC Country Study #7, ‘The Impact of Growth and Redistribution on Poverty and Inequality in South Africa’, which covers a related theme in the same region.

Other IPC publications at: http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/ipcpublications.htm

Poverty Observatory in Mozambique

Poverty Observatory in Mozambique

The Poverty Observatory in Mozambique was launched in 2003 to enhance citizen participation and social accountability processes in implementing and monitoring Poverty Reduction Strategies. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Participation and Civic Engagement Team in the Social Development Department of the World Bank have mandated Gerster Consulting to prepare an assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. The authors Konrad Matter (Switzerland) and Antonio Francisco (Mozambique) provide a detailed description and analysis of the Poverty Observatory in Mozambique. Besides being a very informative piece of work, a relevant feature in the report is its clear identification of different perspectives on participatory mechanisms, as well as the potential of the Poverty Observatory in the future. The study can be downloaded here: Download PDF PO Mozambique: Final Report

African education experts call for renewed efforts to expand education

The following article is from The African Press Agency

http://apanews.net/afric_item_eng.php?id_article=22219

African education experts call for renewed efforts to expand education (2007-02-27 16:23:20])

APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

African education experts from 20 countries on Tuesday called on African governments and development agencies to pay greater attention to the large number of children who fail to proceed to secondary school because of limited opportunities.

The experts, who are meeting in Addis Ababa, said African governments need to consolidate the gains made in universal primary education by abolishing school fees for secondary education, investing more in vocational and technical education and job training.

Several countries in the region have succeeded in increasing primary school enrolments largely by abolishing school fees and recruiting more teachers, the experts said.

The experts, however, said the transition rates for children from primary to secondary school remain relatively poor.

Burundi, Mozambique, and Tanzania were cited as countries that have transition rates of below 35 %, meaning less than four out of every 10 children make it to secondary school.

Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa were cited as among the better performers with transition rates of more than 85 %.

Beth Mugo, Kenya’s assistant minister for education, attributed the poor transition rates to poverty, poor funding for schools, not enough secondary school teachers, inadequate class room facilities, underemployment of school leavers and HIV/AIDS.

For girls, puberty, pregnancy and early marriage are major barriers, with only one in five girls enrolling in secondary school.

“Girls who have a secondary education tend to have fewer and healthier children,” said Aster Haregot of the United Nations Children’s Fund.

“Studies from Uganda and Zimbabwe have also shown that girls who received primary and some secondary education had lower HIV infection rates than those who did not attend school. Secondary education for girls therefore is an effective barrier against HIV,” she added.

DT/pm/APA 2007-02-27 16:23:20