One of the key development challenges in Mozambique is to promote inclusive governance, justice, human rights, peace and social cohesion. UNDP in Mozambique, in close collaboration with its implementing partners, is promoting a decentralization reform package, democratic election initiatives, peace and social cohesion, access to justice, human rights and the rule of law.  Our understanding is that democratic and transparent governance processes that promote peace, security and stability, the protection of human rights, and gender equality, are prerequisites for prosperity and inclusive development and foundational vectors of the SDG 2030 Agenda.  

In Depth

Decentralization reforms – which focuses on promoting inclusive governance mechanisms and participation of all people of Mozambique in democratic processes.  

By supporting decentralization reforms in Mozambique, UNDP is strengthening democratic governance and peacebuilding in the country. UNDP’s work aligns with the Government of Mozambique’s commitment to decentralization, highlighted in the Quinquennial Government Program (2020-2024), and centres around enhancing the ability of National Ministries, Provincial Decentralized Governance Bodies, and the Provincial Representation of State to provide quality public services to citizens, improve socio-economic conditions and reduce conflicts. The methodology follows a multi-level, multi-sector and territorial approach, focusing on the province level (Cabo Delgado, Manica, Sofala, Niassa and Nampula) while coordinating closely with different sectors and actors at national and international levels. Some of the actors that UNDP is working with include academia, NGOs, the European Union (EU), the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), the Andalusian Agency for International Development Cooperation (AACID), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Ministry of State Administration and Public Service (MAEFP).  

All of UNDP’s Decentralization activities work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fulfilling the promise of Leaving No One Behind. Similarly, the activities leverage on innovative digital tools while also keeping people in the provinces at the center of the interventions by guaranteeing the application of local languages and by listening carefully to the local needs, particularly among vulnerable groups. Further, UNDP is committed to enhancing its decentralization efforts and identifying potential synergies for fruitful collaboration by working closely with relevant UNDP programs in Mozambique (e.g., Gender) and by reaching out to the wider UN country network. As of 2022, UNDP is leading the Decentralization Working Group (DWG), which is made up of key actors working with decentralization in Mozambique. The DWG plays a significant role in coordinating and harmonizing decentralization efforts in the country in order to guarantee a unified approach towards decentralization, and it is a platform where members can share lessons learned and best practices as a means to optimize decentralization interventions 

Democratic elections – which focuses on free, fair, and inclusive elections and on ensuring the voices of all citizens, particularly women, youth, elders, PWD, and IDPs have their voices heard and their needs addressed, creating space for peaceful dialogue. 

Elections are a transformative tool for democratic governance, an essential means through which people voice their preferences and choose their representatives. Each vote is part of a larger process that stretches before, during, and after an election: the Electoral Cycle. Despite significant progress, many countries still lack a national system for managing elections. UNDP offers assistance throughout the Electoral Cycle, from support in designing more effective electoral systems, to mechanisms to address disputes after the votes are counted. The ultimate goals are to ensure that elections are credible and fully owned nationally, and to increase awareness of the role elections play in promoting and safeguarding human rights and freedom of expression. For years, UNDP has helped countries acquire the necessary skills to organize elections that enjoy the confidence of their citizens.  

UNDP has been providing technical assistance, training, and education to various government bodies and civil society in Mozambique and supporting the Government of Mozambique on its focus to streamline the electoral process and increasing its electoral authorities’ capacity to assure free, transparent, fair and inclusive elections. In previous electoral cycle, UNDP through its electoral support project SEAM supported the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and other associated electoral authorities to conduct Presidential, Legislative and Provincial Elections in 2019 and for the first time, provincial governors were elected by direct vote.  

Following a formal request from the Government of Mozambique to UN for the support and based on the recommendations provided by different election observers, and current needs identified by stakeholders, UNDP formulated a new project “Enhancing Democracy and Electoral Processes in Mozambique” for the Electoral Cycle 2022-2025 was endorsed by the National counterparts (Election Commission, Supreme Court, Constitutional Council, and National Police) in December 2021. The main objective of the project is to consolidate and strengthen democratic processes and institutional practice in Mozambique. Fundamental to these goals is the engagement of citizens as the primary stakeholders in the governance and administration of Mozambique with the aim to achieve complete adherence to the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. UNDP is committed to promote participation of vulnerable and marginalized groups and gender equality in democratic processes and this project is centred around four key dimensions- inclusiveness, integrity, transparency, and credibility. 

In the past electoral cycle, in order to vote, 13,161,321 citizens were registered, which represents an increase of 20 percent compared to the general elections in 2014. For the first time, sex-disaggregated voter registration data was recorded with 53 percent of the total voters being women, which is an outstanding gender empowerment indicator.  

This improvement results from several education campaigns supported by UNDP at national and sub-national levels: Public Service Announcement (TV and radio spots) reached all 11 provinces within the national territory and another nine countries for polling abroad; and around 250 journalists and media professionals participated in capacity building on election issues. To reinforce voter participation, more than 7,000 voter education agents went through capacity building to conduct door-to-door campaigns. As a result, voter turnout showed progress from 48.84 percent (in 2014) to 51.8 percent in 2019 with positive increase in women voters. 

At the institutional level, EMBs and electoral authorities benefited from capacity building on electoral processes which enabled them to set the groundwork for the elections and better manage and monitor results. To support this work, the National Police was better equipped with skills to act during the electoral cycle. 

Approximately 22,000 police personnel (30 percent women) engaged in training to provide security during voter registration and then throughout the electoral campaign, polling and counting process. Positive development was also perceived in the electoral legal framework which was revised to improve the responsiveness of electoral claims and complaints mechanisms, following recommendations of the 2014 elections observer’s group. More than 350 judges and prosecutors in all 11 provinces were trained based on observation reports and records of the Constitutional Council. Most of the claims and complaints have been handled at the district courts making it efficient in adjudication.  

Apart from participating as voters, women also gained representativeness as political actors. Forty two percent of the Legislative Assembly is now formed by women (106 out of 250 seats) which accounts for one of the highest rates in Africa. Other important figures on women’s participation in the electoral process include: women as observers (30 percent); women as polling staff (43 percent); women as EMB staff (37 percent); women provincial turnout (51 percent). All these gender-related data produced during the electoral cycle will provide an opportunity for EMBs with UNDP support, to develop a gender strategy in electoral processes to contribute towards Gender Equality and Women Empowerment - SDG 5.  

Voter education was also an important aspect for reaching out to vulnerable and minority groups. In Mozambique, for example, 2.6 percent of the total population have some form of disabilities. UNDP Electoral Project- SEAM developed voter education inclusive contents for incorporating people with disabilities, elderly, people with albinism and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) in the 2019 electoral cycle. Voter education through TV spots reinforced, for example, the priority of people with disabilities on election-day. All religious minorities were also targeted in the content developed for voter education. Polling staff also received training and were sensitized on the importance of inclusive elections. 

To facilitate an efficient, transparent and credible electoral process, UNDP established a trilateral partnership with the Constitutional Council and Eduardo Mondlane (EM) University, with a focus on enhancing means to verify signatures of supporters and authenticity of documents filed by the presidential candidates for the nomination process. The capacity of innovation was displayed when over 100,000 presidential supporter signatures were rapidly verified within 10 days by the Constitutional Council, using a new technology developed by Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane University with support from UNDP. 

The project supported Constitutional Council in translation of the National Constitution of Mozambique in Braille for the visually impaired citizens. Besides, for the first time, the translation of the Constitution of Republic was done into two local languages- Cisena and Cinyanja in a partnership and collaboration between the Constitutional Council, SEKELEKANI and the UNDP Electoral Project legal support. The translation of the Constitution was also done in English with the scope of dissemination of the national constitution in different languages. The objective of these initiatives was to advance inclusion through multilingualism and promote the Sustainable Development Goals focusing on leaving no one behind.  

Through the Civic and Voter education component and with the aim of creating awareness, the project supported the response to the COVID-19 crisis for the first time in local languages through audio-visual and communication materials reaching local communities as much as possible. The materials were developed and disseminated in local languages dominantly spoken in Mozambique reaching out to all three regions of country represented through Emakhua, Ronga and Sena apart from Portuguese. The information were disseminated through digital platforms such as TV, radio and social media and had an estimated reach of 2.5 million social media users, 15.9 million radio listeners and TV with 100% territorial coverage estimated reach of 12-13 million Mozambicans.  

To enhance the transparency of electoral processes and assure credibility, the project supported in conducting various activities through South-South cooperation. The project supported to host Regional Conference of Electoral Commissions Forum of Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa (CJCA) in Mozambique with the purpose of discussing and sharing the African experience on transparency, inclusion and integrity of the electoral processes. In continuation of series of South-South activities and triangular cooperation with the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) of SADC countries, the project supported the participation of EMBs of Mozambique in the electoral observation missions in the region. These exchange programmes helped all the EMBs involved enhance their capacity, through a collective learning process.  

Peace and social cohesion – which focuses on promoting peace mechanisms and preventing violent extremism and reinforcing the social contract, working at closest lenses with communities, particularly, women, youth, vulnerable groups, including IDPs, and promoting their participation in peace building, recovery from conflict and natural hazards, and socio-economic inclusion. 

With support from the Government of Japan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Government of Mozambique (GoM) and civil society organizations (CSOs) joined efforts to address the recovery and development needs for peace consolidation and social cohesion in targeted areas of Cabo Delgado. UNDP carried out a robust assessment and conflict analysis on political and economic local dynamics, institutional arrangements and conflict drivers and reinforce the local peacebuilding architecture including by strengthening the capacity of Peace Observatories for social cohesion. To address poverty as a root cause of vulnerability, UNDP delivered a comprehensive programme on livelihoods for social cohesion based on UNDP 3X6 approach to generate immediate income and connect small business with local markets and financing mechanisms. the project further improved awareness-raising support on violence prevention and strengthening conflict/violence preparedness and response at community level. This is also assumed to benefit current recovery and resilience efforts to overcome damages caused by Cyclone Kenneth. 

Access to justice, human rights, and the rule of law – which focuses on promotion access to justice for women, youth, IDPs and communities living in remote areas and those affected by conflict and violence, with a focus on community-based justice and security mechanisms, and the improvement of mechanisms of protection of human rights, including institutions and CSOs as agents of change at the national and the local level.  

During the programmatic cycle of 2012 – 2017, UNDP Mozambique Country Office (CO) implemented the project designated Strengthening Access to Justice, Rule of Law and Human Rights Protection in Mozambique. Under this project, the CO provided support to the Mozambique Police (PRM) and the National Human Rights Commission. At the end of the cycle, in 2017, when the was evaluated, the relevance of UNDP’s support to these areas was evidenced and the need to consolidate and broader its focus underlined. As a result, in December 2018, an agreement to launch the project Strengthening Access to Justice and the Protection of Human Rights was signed with the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Office of the Ombudsperson and the National Human Rights Commission. Among other results, below are some major achievements: 

1. Improved access to justice for communities living in rural areas and fastened justice processes and reduced backlog of pre-trial cases through the implementation of itinerant justice campaigns in two provinces (over 300 people benefitting) and pilot of Mobile Courts in 2 Provinces (over 30 people benefitting); 

2. Enhanced the capacities of Justice and Rule of Law actors to better address the protection of human rights in criminal proceedings, with the establishment of training Manuals on Human Rights, GBV, HIV/AIDS and on Alternatives to Prison which are currently being implemented in the mandatory training of justice professionals within the Judicial Training Centre and trained more than 200 among Magistrates, Prosecutors and Legal Aid Providers; 

3. Strengthened the capacities of the Government of Mozambique to consistently report to the 2nd and 3rd cycle of the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Mechanism; 

4. Strengthened the institutional capacities of Human Rights Institutions (Ombudsman and NHRC) with the elaboration of their new Strategic Plans and Communication Strategies; 

5. Increased the capacity of the Investigative Police and the National Police to provide tackle Gender Based Violence and established digital databases to better monitor and handle GBV cases; 

6. Facilitated dialogue and policy interventions for the adoption of a coherent community policing strategy and legal framework on community courts in Mozambique. 

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