Mozambican Civil Society Within: - UNICEF Mozambique - Home page

Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
According to Afrobarometer (2003) only a quarter of the Mozambican population believes that
its elected representatives are concerned about resolving the people’s problems (24%) or hearing
their opinions (26%). However, 58% of Mozambicans believe in the state’s capacity to resolve
the general problems of the people. Mozambicans express different levels of satisfaction with
the government’s performance for different areas. There is positive performance in education
(66%), improvements in the health system (58%) and in conflict resolution (52%). There is
relative satisfaction with efforts to fight AIDS (45%).
However, Mozambicans are more critical about economic performance. Less than a quarter of
the people interviewed believe that the government has made an effort to create jobs (23%),
control prices (22%) or reduce social inequality (20%). It should be recalled, with reference to
figure 2.2.3, that the effectiveness of the government of Mozambique is classified as 44%
compared to 74% for effectiveness of the government of Botswana.
3.2.1.6 Decentralisation
The decentralisation challenge has two dimensions: one related to the citizen’s decision-making
power and the other related to access to public resources. In both cases the degree of
decentralisation is weak and embryonic. There is a lot of talk about decentralisation and citizen
participation, but in practice mechanisms for effective access are weak. This observation is
clearly illustrated by the two charts in figure 3.2.3.
The first chart shows the proportion of direct citizen power compared to the delegated power of
political parties. Direct power is understood as the group of state bodies and legislative power
where the citizen has the power of direct vote. For example, Mozambicans vote directly for the
President of the Republic, and for the Mayors of a third of the districts of Mozambique (33
municipality mayors).
Figure 3.2.3: Depiction of Citizen Decision Making Power and Distribution of
Public Budget Expenditure, Mozambique 2007
Figure 3.2.3a: Citizen’s Direct Power and
Delegated Powers
Figure 3.2.3b:Current Expenditure and Investment by
Decision Making Capacity, Mozambique 2007
Direct Power
4%
Power
delegated
to parties 96%
Central
67%
Provincial
30%
District
3%
Source: Francisco, 2007a
Source: Francisco, 2007b
50
Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007