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Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
3.3.9 Conclusion on Values
In general, the score of 1.1 obtained in this study suggests that Mozambican civil society neither
practices nor promotes effectively positive and high quality values. The biggest weaknesses
identified among the eight sub-dimensions lie in the issues of transparency, gender equity and
equity in diversity.
In the national workshop the group that studied the Values dimension of Mozambican society
tried to do a survey of the causes of weak democracy and identified the following: 1) manipulation
by political parties especially in pre-election periods, 2) weak coordination among social actors;
3) Widespread poverty; 4) absence of regular assembly meetings or other deliberative meetings.
The following reasons for weak transparency were highlighted: 1) no culture of accountability;
2) poor communication; 3) limited knowledge of statutes and legislation in general. The low
level of transparency seen in CSOs is particularly important as the notion of transparency is
strongly associated with the norms and values in society.
The organizational development of CSOs based on real transparency criteria could contribute
to the establishment of solid and dynamic values. In general, there is no systematic and
comprehensive work to promote values that resist corruption and the absence of responsibility
and accountability.
Expressions of weak tolerance in Mozambican society or even some expressions of violence
seem to be due to lack of trust between on the one hand public authorities or the leadership of
organizations, and on the other hand citizens or the associative mass. There are also conflicts
of interest and personalities.
Despite many declarations on their commitment to fighting poverty, the doubt persists as to
whether civil society organizations and other actors in society are really creating the institutional
foundations for sustainable poverty reduction. Up to now CSO involvement in strategies to fight
poverty has been mainly as observers, opinion givers and circumstantial allies, as in the case
of the debt relief campaign. But it is not realistic to conclude from this participation that CSOs
are real partners of the government and its allies and international donors. As Francisco and
Matter argue (2007) partnership in the real sense of the concept only exists between the
government and donors or other international actors.
Both the NAG and the national workshop felt that the eight sub-dimensions that make up the
Values dimension need priority attention by Mozambican CSOs. There is a strong feeling that
citizens are carrying out multiple poverty reduction actions. In fact, this sub-dimension has the
best score; it is the only sub-dimension with a score of 2.0, that is, moderate high.
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Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007