Mozambican Civil Society Within: - UNICEF Mozambique - Home page
Mozambican Civil Society Within: - UNICEF Mozambique - Home page
Mozambican Civil Society Within: - UNICEF Mozambique - Home page
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<strong>Mozambican</strong> <strong>Civil</strong> <strong>Society</strong> <strong>Within</strong>: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action<br />
hinder and distort the research. In their opinion, the presence of representatives of the dominant<br />
political parties in debates on civil society would inhibit people, intimidate them, or make it<br />
difficult to find solutions for the development of civil society.<br />
Friction and fierce political disputes between the dominant political forces in <strong>Mozambique</strong> still<br />
persist. This situation ends up being unhealthy and harmful to the development of civil society,<br />
because there is a tendency to try and manipulate members of CSOs to take the side of one<br />
force or the other, irrespective of the sense and practicability of their positions.<br />
This particular feature of <strong>Mozambican</strong> civil society warrants consideration in future activities.<br />
However, although the CSI project technical team noted the concerns of members of society it<br />
also sought to manage any situation as and when it arose while sticking to the systematic<br />
methodology on which the research was based.<br />
Box 2.2.1 Some definitions of <strong>Civil</strong> <strong>Society</strong> gathered from citizens<br />
• Citizens organised voluntarily and independent or autonomous of the state, political parties and<br />
companies<br />
• Whereas the aim of political parties is to obtain power, civil society only desires benefits for society<br />
• Is there just one civil society or can we speak of various civil societies?<br />
• Non-profit organizations, but this does not imply that they are inefficient and unsustainable. But the<br />
profit issue must be demystified as it does not mean that civil society organizations are against<br />
profitable and lucrative activities<br />
• Citizens who organize themselves to achieve a given objective. All living forces in society except<br />
the government and the opposition.<br />
• <strong>Civil</strong> society is characterized by its diversity and appears in the context of the highest manifestation<br />
of the exercise of citizenship and where there is freedom of expression.<br />
• Groups of citizens who organize them selves formally or informally and exert pressure to achieve<br />
the ideal of citizenship.<br />
• Organizations whose actions bring benefits for society<br />
It should be noted that, unlike many other concepts of society, the CIVICUS proposal has two<br />
distinctive, interesting aspects for a comprehensive and impartial analysis of civil society. Firstly,<br />
it projects the focus of the analysis beyond formal and institutionalised CSOs and tries to include<br />
more informal groups and social movements. Secondly, whereas civil society is usually<br />
understood as a domain where positive actions and values reign, the CSI methodology also<br />
tries to take into account the negative manifestations of civil society.<br />
So the operational concept of CIVICUS includes not only, for example, associations providing<br />
social services or environmental organizations, it also tries to cover groups such as xitique,<br />
community savings schemes and any eventual fanatical groups or groups with a tendency for<br />
violence.<br />
The CSI thus evaluates both actions that support values such as democracy or tolerance, and<br />
also the emergence and frequency of manifestations of intolerance or violence within civil society<br />
(see Box 2.2 for other definitions of civil society from various sources).<br />
8<br />
<strong>Civil</strong> <strong>Society</strong> Index, <strong>Mozambique</strong> 2007