Mozambican Civil Society Within: - UNICEF Mozambique - Home page

Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
Figure 3.1.2: CSO Human Resources, Mozambique 2003 Total people
100%
90%
80%
Total = 138,607)
75%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
17%
6%
1% 1%
Employees Civil Servants Consultants Volunteers Clergy
Series3
INE,,2006: 61
3.1.1.4 Volunteering
There are few secondary sources on volunteer work. The CINSFLU2006 census is probably
the best exception at the moment, providing data on the number of volunteers in non-profit
institutions. Of a total of 138 607 recorded CSO members in 2003-04 a little over 39 thousand
(28%) were regular and about 64 thousand (46%) were occasional volunteers. 7
The CSI project sought to obtain information on volunteering in the population in general through
the citizen survey and the CSO survey. As regards the percentage of people who regularly
participate in voluntary work, the INC07 found that a little over one third (39%) regularly participated
in voluntary work at least once a year. 8
The results of INC07 also show that 27% of respondents said that they were part of, or involved
in, some kind of organization in the general sense, including companies, associations,
government bodies and other organizations. In INC07 the proportion of people involved in CSOs
falls to a little over 20%, but the assertion of regular participation in voluntary work is close to
40%.
The data on volunteering seem to be different to that in CINSFLU2006 where the figures suggest
that only a very small percentage of people belong to at least one CSO, especially as a volunteer.
There was no time to study this matter in more detail. For this reason there is a need for caution
before reaching hurried conclusions. The different results can be due to different perceptions of
volunteering on the part of both survey authors and researchers, and also the respondents
7
In the CINSFLU2006 INE defined volunteering as follows: “Volunteers – work, also occasionally, without receiving any remuneration, monetary or in kind, for work they do for a
unit under analysis. Blood and organ donors should not to be included as volunteers. Included here are people working for the institution and receiving a symbolic payment, only
in kind”. /INE, 2006: 84. This definition is somewhat contradictory. While considering a volunteer to be someone who does not receive any kind of remuneration in cash or in kind,
it then immediately makes an exception for people who receive a symbolic payment, only in kind. It is, however, a contradiction in the INE text and nothing can be done about it
here, except to suggest that it be avoided in future research of this kind.
8
See CINSFLU, pp 57-59 on the volunteering ratio (average 56 per 10 thousand inhabitants).
Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007
29