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Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
themselves. Two social phenomena can influence common sense perceptions. One
phenomenon is the informality that characterizes much of the involvement in multiple community
activities, sometimes quite regular but rarely understood as being part of associative movements
or civil society organizations. 9
The other phenomenon is related to under-employment that is often disguised or confused with
volunteering. Is it really volunteering? If people receive a symbolic payment (in reality a meagre
salary) where does under-employment end and volunteering begin?
This kind of question has led some people involved in this research to question whether there
really is a lot of volunteering in Mozambique, as suggested by the INC07 survey.
The subject cannot be studied in more detail as part of this research. However, it should be the
subject of more profound reflection and analysis in the future.
Because of the discrepancies and doubts about CSO classification criteria, and the real difficulty
in capturing the dynamics of volunteering in Mozambican civil society that formal surveys rarely
record adequately, the NAG decided to give credence to the substantial proportion of respondents
in the INC07 who said that they participated in volunteering actions, assigning a score of 2.0.
3.1.1.5 Collective Community Action
There is little secondary information on participation in community activities. Afrobarometer
2005 states that about 40% of people regularly participate in community meetings. The INC07
also recorded over 40%.
On the basis of these data and in accordance with the basic score system, with evidence of
participation below 50% it was concluded that only a minority participated in collective community
action last year.
In general, considering both the statistical data and also perceptions and empirical sensitivity in
qualitative assessments, it can be concluded that the breadth of citizen participation in nonpartisan,
volunteer and community action is weak/moderate.
This assessment was reaffirmed by participants in the national workshop, held on 4 th of
December 2007, where the general feeling was that civil society participation is weak. Civil
society never comes together at critical moments to defend its own interests, for example:
rising prices, ill treatment of other citizens, damage and harm caused by the negligence of
institutions, among others. It is felt that civil society sometimes allows itself to be instrumentalised
by the Government.
9
In CINSFLU2003 INE defined Association as “a collective person of personal substract that has no profit purpose. It can have a disinterested or interested purpose, an ideal or a
non-profit economic purpose. The legal system governing Associations is laid down in articles 167 and following of the Civil Code”. (INE 2006: 82). However when community
movements identified in the list of association categories were mentioned in meetings, the reaction of many people was one of surprise as they had never considered such community
organization movements as being part of civil society organisations. Formal surveys, such as the INE census, still do not capture the more complex and dynamic nature of the civil
society organization in the context of regular forms of organization that are socially relevant for citizens, but completely informal.
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Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007