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Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
Figure 3.1.3: Perceptions of Geographic
Distribution of CSOs in
Mozambique, 2007 (%)
Figure 3.1.4: Distribution of CSOs,
Mozambique 2003
(%)
Mainly in big cities
45.3
45
40
35
42.4
33.5
Mainly limited to
urban areas
Everywhere, even
remote areas
19.8
16.9
30
25
20
15
Everywhere except
remote areas
18
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
INOSC, 2007
10
5
0
Local
Community
Districts
6.6 6.7
Surrounding
cities
a province
4
various
provinces
5.7
national
1.1
International
cirisFlu 2006
As regards the first aspect, it is generally believed that NGOs predominate among CSOs. Yet of
the roughly 5000 non-profit institutions surveyed by INE (2006), the vast majority are associations
(92%), either religious (53%) or political, advocacy and legal ones (25%) and only 2% are
associations of an educational nature. NGOs account for less than 10%: only 3% are national
NGOs and 4% international NGOs, while foundations represent only 0.4% of CSOs. 11
Consequently, considering the CSO classification used by INE it was concluded that there is
weak diversity of civil society organizations: about 75% belong to two types of organization:
religious and political. There are few organizations for women or minority groups, although
there is, for example, the Mozambican Women’s Organisation (OMM) strongly associated with
the party in power, Frelimo that is spread throughout the country. However, the fact that OMM is
strongly linked to one party limits its ability to engage a wide range of women who are not
interested in direct party activities.
3.1.4 Level of organisation
This sub-dimension analyses the coverage of umbrella bodies, their effectiveness and the
organizational self-regulation, support infrastructure and linkages of CSOs in Mozambique. How
well organized is civil society? What kind of infrastructure exists for CSOs?
The average score validated by the NAG is 0.6, suggesting that the organizational development
of Mozambican civil society is weak. Table 3.1.4 details the scores of the respective indicators.
11
INE also identified 12% of CSOs in a group of “others”, comprising a number of very small organizations involved in a variety of activities
34
Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007