Results around the world – Mozambique
Mozambique has bountiful resources, both natural and human. However, despite years of solid progress and growth, the country struggled to recover from a series of economic and political crises in 2017-2018, the impacts of which were felt most acutely by the poor. Mozambique continues to rank near the bottom of the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index, ranking 181st out of 188 countries in 2016. Furthermore, Mozambique is one of the African countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Gender inequalities are entrenched and hamper progress. Maternal mortality remains stubbornly high, compounded by gender-based violence, child marriage, a shortage of sexual and reproductive health services, low educational attainment and social inequalities. However, the Government of Mozambique has made a commitment to improve gender equality and end child, early and forced marriage. This will require concerted efforts by government, traditional and local authorities, public institutions and civil society organizations to address the root causes of discrimination and harmful practices.
To help address these challenges, Canada continued to seek lasting, systemic change and improvement of the delivery of basic services to Mozambicans. Canada has a strong presence in the health and education sectors. It has helped promote excellence in maternity hospitals, update the civil registration and vital statistics systems, improve the quality of teaching and address barriers to school attendance and retention, especially for girls. Canada was a trusted partner in supporting Mozambique’s priorities, outlined in the country’s five-year plan (2015-2019). This was especially the case with regards to the plan’s priority on human and social development, which Canada supported through a contribution to the health and education sector pooled funds.
With the launch of the Feminist International Assistance Policy, Canada’s approach in Mozambique evolved in 2017-2018. In order to support Mozambicans, especially women and girls, claim their human rights, Canada approved a series of projects to address sexual and reproductive health and rights as well as inclusive governance that will yield important results in the near future.
Key results
In 2017-2018, through the Strengthening Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems project, Canada helped increase the registration of vital events in Mozambique. The project saw the implementation of a new electronic civil registration system that successfully registered over 20,000 births; the project also helped build the capacity of 312 employees to manage the new system.
Via the BETTER project (Better Education through Teacher Training and Empowerment for Results), operated by partner CODE, Canada helped improve the quality of teaching and school management in Mozambique. The project trained more than 230 teacher-trainers, school directors and school council members (including 72 women) on interactive methodologies in the classroom, school management and the functions of school councils, in line with human rights and gender equality. To date, the project has reached a total of more than 1,100 teacher-trainers, schools directors and school council members (including over 400 women).
With Canadian support and leadership, Mozambique has made positive strides in improving the health and education of Mozambicans, including women and girls. As a major contributor to health- and education-sector pooled funds, Canada has helped to improve the following indicators, among others:
- The proportion of women delivering babies in health facilities increased from 77% in 2016 to 83% in 2017.
- The number of children attending primary and secondary school increased from approximately 4.2 million in 2005 to 7.2 million in 2017. In 2005, 1.9 million of the students were girls. By 2017, 3.5 million were girls—an increase of 89%.
In addition, through Canada’s support to civil society organizations, the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund has helped to increase the number of community health workers, build or improve basic health infrastructure, and expand access to quality health services for pregnant women, lactating women, infants and children under five.
