Child Poverty in Mozambique. A Situation and Trend ... - Unicef

1. Introduction
This chapter focuses on three crucial and interrelated areas for child development
outcomes: economic growth and stability, fiscal trends and poverty reduction.
An assessment of childhood poverty is presented, both in terms of the official
consumption-based measure and a deprivations-based measure.
The institutional context within which child development outcomes are pursued is
also examined in more detail. Analysis is focused on key reforms within Government
such as the decentralisation process, reform of planning and budgeting, public
financial management (PFM) reform and changes in donor practices through
increasing alignment, harmonisation and the use of different aid modalities.
Although Mozambique ranks poorly on many absolute indicators, performance since
the end of the civil war with respect to relative indicators – that is, the development
trend – has been and continues to be, positive. This should not be a cause for
complacency, however, as more than half of Mozambican children live in poverty
and there are acute disparities in patterns of poverty and deprivation. Sustaining
and accelerating this development progress and reducing existing disparities remain
enormous challenges for the years ahead.
2. Development trends
A. Transition to peace, democracy and market economy
The present national situation for child development is the product of a modern
history that has been blighted by colonialism, the poor preparation for independence
and a long period of armed conflict. A few years after gaining independence from
Portugal in 1975, the country was plunged into 16 years of unrest, with armed conflict
between the Government, led by the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO),
and the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO). Public infrastructure was
deliberately targeted, with schools and teachers in particular singled out. By the
early 1990’s, the end of the Cold War, political change in the Republic of South Africa
and the effects of regional drought and sheer exhaustion on both sides brought the
combatants to the negotiating table. After two years of talks in Rome, the parties
signed a General Peace Agreement on 4th October 1992. As part of the Agreement,
the UN Security Council established the United Nations Operation in Mozambique
(ONUMOZ) to monitor and support a ceasefire, the demobilisation of forces and the
holding of national elections.
The development prospects for African nations emerging from civil conflict are
generally poor, with sixty percent suffering a relapse into fighting within ten
years (Collier et al., 2003). In contrast, Mozambique’s transition to a lasting peace
settlement represents a success story. Since the signing of the peace accord, the
nation has avoided conflict-related setbacks to its development, successfully bringing
about reconciliation and managing potential conflicts. Three successive rounds of
general and presidential elections have now been held (in 1994, 1999 and 2004), with
FRELIMO having won both presidential and parliamentary majorities and RENAMO
leading an electoral union of opposition parties. Multiparty municipal elections have
also been held in 1998 and 2003. The transition to peace and democracy has been
accompanied by the progressive adoption of a liberal free market economic model,
replacing the socialist planning model that had been introduced by FRELIMO after
independence. These changes also led to the entry of substantial inflows of external
assistance as donors sought to support the new national development model.
36 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE: A SITUATION AND TRENDS ANALYSIS