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Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
TABLE 3.3.8: Indicators for Evaluating Diversity
Ref. # Indicators Score
3.7.1 Equity in diversity (ethnic, regional, racial, religious) 1.5
3.7.1 CSO equity in diversity practices 1.0
3.7.1 SC actions to promote equity in diversity 0.0
3.3.8.1 Equity in Diversity in CS
The issue of diversity can refer to innumerable aspects, such as minority ethnic, racial,
homosexual or religious groups among others. In daily life there are various manifestations and
references distinguishing the “Other”, some more inoffensive than others, but all expressing
specific attitudes towards the difference.
For example, the term “xingondo” refers to the “stranger/outsider”, the “other one”. As Mia Couto
says in his comments in the book by Daniel da Costa (2003) entitled “Xingongo”, 22 Mozambique
is a nation that is the result of successive cultural mixes and exchange dynamics such that the
“xingondo” of today is incorporated and becomes something that tomorrow will become part of
our mozambicanicity.
Whether or not Mozambique is “a country where we are all xingondos” (Couto, 2003) only time
will tell. For the time being, the perception that emerges from both the civil society surveys and
the debates during this research is that minorities are absent or very marginalised in the thinking
of CSOs.
3.3.8.2 CS Equity in Diversity Practices
Based on the available sources and debates the research team estimates that only a minority
of CSOs have any kind of clear and explicit policy on the subject of equity in diversity.
3.3.8.3 CS Actions to Promote Diversity
The research team feels that a small number of actions of a cultural and social nature are
directed towards promoting equity in diversity within society, a subject that should receive more
attention in future analyses and reflections.
22
Costa, Daniel da . 2003. Xingondo: Crónicas. Maputo: Sociedade Editorial Ndjira, Lda.
Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007
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