Mozambican Civil Society Within: - UNICEF Mozambique - Home page

Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
4.1.2 Main Strengths of the Mozambican Civil Society, 2007
According to Annex 4 that contains the detailed scores assigned to the 80 indicators, 21 areas
have a score equal to or above the average of 1.5.
In the Structure dimension of the CSI five areas are the strongest, or show the most merit:
charitable giving and volunteering, geographical distribution of CSOs, effectiveness of
management bodies of CSO federations or networks and communication among CSOs.
In the civil society Environment dimension, the level of political competition, the right to
information, press freedom, tolerance, public awareness and dialogue with donors received a
score of 2.0. The Values dimension had an above-average classification in four areas: tolerance
within civil society, non-violence in civil society, actions against poverty and equity in diversity
within civil society.
As regards Impact, the variables with above-average scores were those related with social
policies, lobbying for better state services and meeting societal needs. Other variables also
have a satisfactory level, with a score around the average between zero and three, to be found
in the matrix in Annex 4
4.1.3 Main Weaknesses of the Mozambican
Civil Society, 2007
Annex 4 also contains the scores for frail or even very weak areas. Of the 21 variables for
Structure, 5 received a score of zero: 1.1.3) Percentage of people belonging to CSOs; 1.2.3)
percentage of people belonging to more than one CSO; 1.4.1) Percentage of CSOs in federations
or networks; 1.4.4) Level of support infrastructure for civil society; 1.4.5) Proportion of CSOs
with international linkages.
As regards the Environment, 2 of the 26 variables had a score of zero, meaning very serious:
2.1.4) corruption in the public sector; 2.6.3) state support in the form of resources for civil
society. As regards Values, two of the 17 variables had a zero score: 3.5.2) Effective gender
equity practices in civil society; 3.8.3) actions to promote diversity in civil society. As regards
Impact, 2 of the 16 variables had a zero score: 4.2.2) CSO capacity to hold corporations
accountable; 4.5.3) Effective response to the immediate needs of marginalised groups.
Obviously, some scores might not be readily comprehensible without reading the explanation
for the scores. Some appear counter intuitive and surprising. The explanations will have to be
read and the methodology’s criteria matrix taken into account. As regards the other areas with
scores above zero but below the average, Annex 4 contains numerical details and explanation.
In order to use the CSI evaluation to produce guidelines and future actions, between 4 and 6
December 2007 there was a national workshop attended by almost two dozen participants. In
addition, in January and February the technical team had some smaller technical meetings to
analyse the results of the study and identify the main recommendations.
102
Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007