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Mozambican Civil Society Within: Evaluation, Challenges, Opportunities and Action
3.2.4 Socio-cultural Context
This sub-dimension examines to what extent socio-economic norms are favourable or not for
civil society. A score of 2.0 is proposed to express a moderately favourable context for the
development of civil society. Table 3.2.4 summarizes the scores of the respective indicators.
TABLE 3.2.4: Indicators for evaluation of the socio-cultural context
Ref. # Indicators Score
2.4.1
Trust
2
2.4.2 Tolerance
2
2.4.3 Public spiritedness
2
3.2.4.1 Trust
The level of public trust in Mozambique is low. The CEP survey (2003) showed that trust rises
as people get to know each other better. In the initial contact between two people who do not
know each other, about 75% admitted to believing little or nothing of what the unknown people
said. Women trust less than men and urban people less than rural people. After getting to know
a person better the level of trust rises to 51.4 percent.
The CSI 2007 found that about 58% of respondents said that “every precaution is little” with
regard to trusting people or not, whereas 40% felt that in general people should be trusted.
3.2.4.2 Tolerance
Despite Mozambique’s difficult history, evidence from everyday life suggests a substantial sense
of tolerance of relations with immigrants and foreigners, especially minority races and
acceptance of cultural diversity.
There are, however, episodes of intolerance towards some minority groups such as
homosexuals or delinquents. In the latter case, in some areas such as Maputo City, examples
of violent reactions to people who kill and steal are rising. But this seems to be more a reaction
to the lack of action by the public protection authorities than intolerance per se.
Nevertheless, Table 3.2.5 shows some problem situations. Prejudice against homosexuals is
particularly strong, followed by people with AIDS. In the light of this situation a score of 2.0 is
proposed for tolerance in Mozambique.
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Civil Society Index, Mozambique 2007