Trends of academic freedom in Mozambique
June 23, 2023
To what extent is academic freedom respected? To what extent do scholars and university students publicly criticize government policies? V-Dem data for Mozambique from 1962 (the year of establishment of the country’s first higher education institution) to 2022 reveals that academic freedom was very low during colonial (1930-1974) and one-party (1975-1989) authoritarian regimes. It increased with the adoption of the 1990 democratic constitution; and continued increasing from 1995 - the year of establishment of the social science faculty and private media, civil society organizations and with opposition parties gaining momentum. But it declined from 2010s. Lack of public universities autonomy from dominant power; and subversion of “freedom of scientific creation” in particular and of freedom of expression in general may explain the decline.
Mozambican attitudes towards social, economic and political issues
May 31, 2023
In partnership with the National Democratic Institute, in mid-2022, CPGD employed a nationwide public opinion survey to analyse Mozambican’s attitudes towards a variety of issues, including: the country’s economic conditions, poverty, climate change, youth concerns, issues that influence voter choice, preferred means of communication about politics and policies, and electoral campaign reform. This report summarises the key findings and makes recommendations for political parties ahead of the 2023 municipal and 2024 general elections. It also complements our recent policy briefs on Mozambican’s concerns about climate change and Advancing Legally Resilient Standards to Public Infrastructures.
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Advancing Legally Resilient Standards to Public Infrastructure
Photo credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
March 27, 2023
Mozambique is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and, in line with the latest IPCC report, is facing severe weather and climatic events with increasing frequency and intensity. Severe tropical storm Freddy, which impacted the region in February-March 2023, is yet another example of how public infrastructures -such as schools and health facilities - are often destroyed or severely damaged due to poor quality or lack of resilient standards.
This policy brief analyses the extent of public infrastructure damage from recent extreme storm events in Mozambique; reviews how the government and donors have responded; and raises policy recommendations for government and opposition policymakers on how to adapt to these impacts. This presents an opportunity for political parties ahead of the 2023 municipal and 2024 national elections to advance resilience standards in the country.
Mozambique's off-grid energy regulation: opportunities for impact
March 16, 2023
As part of the Community Energy and Sustainable Energy Transition (CESET) project in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique, CPGD conducted a study assessing the opportunities and challenges for the uptake of off-grid energy projects in Mozambique. It was conducted in the context of recent regulatory reforms following the approval a new regulation for access to energy in off-grid areas in December 2021. Based on key informant interviews with energy operators, donors and implementing partners, the study finds that the regulation sets the foundation for off-grid energy uptake through increased confidence and investment in both the off-grid energy market and government institutions. However, challenges remain such as the transparency of roles and responsibilities of key government institutions and having appropriate resources in place. Based on the findings, nine policy recommendations are presented. The open access report is available for download here and a Portuguese language policy brief here or via the links below.
How is climate change affecting Mozambican citizens?
November 10, 2022
Over the past year, 59% of Mozambicans have been affected by extreme heat; the same percentage affected by storm-related events . This is affecting people’s health, agricultural activities and livelihoods through loss of food, housing and income. It therefore comes as no surprise that 82% of Mozambicans are very concerned about climate change and how it will impact their life and livelihoods in the future. Our policy brief, based on a nationwide public opinion survey, outlines recent experiences of climate change; how citizens have tried to cope with it; their concerns for the future and the actions that either have been taken or, in their view, should be taken to address it. It concludes with policy recommendations for how citizen’s concerns and experiences of climate-related impacts could be better incorporated into national development planning and implementation.
Why are youth concerns marginalised in development planning?
March 18, 2022
Mozambique, like many African countries, has a young and fast growing population, with two-thirds of citizens under 25 years of age. This Policy Brief explores the enabling environment for youth development in the country. It reveals that there are limited structures or programming that specifically target youth affairs. It recommends that youth issues should be more explicitly embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and that the government, developing partners and NGOs should tackle youth concerns in their programming by establishing youth advisory positions and formal mechanisms to mainstream and monitor youth concerns in their work.
Energy poverty and energy transition
in Mozambique
February 17, 2022
As part of achieving universal energy access by 2030, the Mozambican government expects to double domestic electricity access to 64 per cent by the end of 2024. Whilst quantifying electricity access is important, how households obtain access to electricity and the subsequent reliability and affordability of the supply is equally relevant.
This journal article on The dynamics of urban household energy poverty and energy transition in Mozambique, published in People, Place and Policy as part of the POLARIZE project, provides an in-depth qualitative evaluation of the lived experiences of Mozambicans based on household interviews conducted in Beira, Maputo city, Matola and Nampula city.
How has Mozambican's commitment to democracy changed over time?
Electricity Access in Mozambique
July 19, 2021
Commitment to democracy is a multidimensional construct that includes a preference for democracy and a rejection of authoritarian regimes. Evidence from Afrobarometer public opinion surveys between 2002 and 2018 show some variation in Mozambicans' commitment to democracy, but the levels remain relatively low. These results have implications for democratic consolidation, as societies with low levels of commitment to democracy are less likely to consolidate their democracy. Factors behind these levels include, among many, low levels of citizens' access to information (formal education and news media) and their disinterest in public and political affairs. But the way the elections have been carried out contributes significantly.
For more information see these previous articles: Commitment to Democracy in Mozambique: Performance Evaluations and Cognition and The Effect of Electoral Violence on Electoral Participation in Africa.
May 27, 2021
Mozambique is a resource-rich energy hub, yet rural community access to electricity remains low, and urban centres suffer poor service quality. Aging transmission infrastructure, consumer growth, erratic generation, and extreme weather events exacerbate power cuts and oscillations that disrupt household and commercial activities. This paper, published as part of the POLARIZE project, assesses electricity access in Mozambique by taking a critical policy analysis of investment, service reliability and social sustainability.
Africa needs context-relevant evidence to shape its clean energy future
How well do Mozambican legislators represent their citizens concerns?
October 24, 2022
Aligning development and climate goals means Africa’s energy systems will be based on clean energy technologies in the long term, but pathways to get there are uncertain and variable across countries. Although current debates about natural gas and renewables in Africa are heated, they largely ignore the substantial context specificity of the starting points, development objectives and uncertainties of each African country’s energy system trajectory. Here we—an interdisciplinary and majority African group of authors—highlight that each country faces a distinct solution space and set of uncertainties for using renewables or fossil fuels to meet its development objectives. For example, Ethiopia is headed for an accelerated green-growth pathway, but Mozambique is at a crossroads of natural gas expansion with implicit large-scale technological, economic, financial and social risks and uncertainties. We provide geopolitical, policy, finance and research recommendations to create firm country-specific evidence to identify adequate energy system pathways for development and to enable their implementation.
August 2, 2022
On 26 July 2022, CPGD's Carlos Shenga participated in webinar on the theme of 'African MPs: Out of Touch MPs or Put Upon Servants?' hosted by the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa (IDCPPA) at the University of Cape Town and Democracy in Africa. Joined by other panellists, Anja Osei (Konstanz University) Robert Mattes (University of Strathclyde) Edalina Sanches (University of Lisbon), the webinar explored both descriptive and substantive representation of Africans by their MPs. Carlos' presentation provided an in-depth longitudinal analysis of how well Mozambican legislators represent their citizens' concerns. In addition to highlighting aspects of descriptive representation, he also focused on policy preferences, and provided new insight into how well civil society is able to incorporate inputs to the legislative process. You can watch the webinar recording on IDCPPA's YouTube Channel.