“This publication will provide a forum for a countrywide debate on developmental matters bringing together the academia, the business community and society at large. Universities can contribute towards social problems and challenges”, says Professor Eduardo J. Sitoe, the executive director of the journal.

The first of the three annual issues of “Economia, Politica e Desenvolvimento” includes five articles covering the topics of participation in the democratic processes, challenges of monitoring governmental actions, analysis on socio-professional mobility among civil servants in Maputo, mobility, poverty and witchcraft of the rural Mozambican population, and forest research’s implications to sustainable development.

Among the goals of this initiative are to contribute to methodological pluralism in Mozambique, promote diversity of scientific ideas, and accumulate knowledge among students and researchers.

“From the academic point of view the journal means a new reference point for excellence and a platform to facilitate scientific research by national and international researchers. The quality of the first articles, can fairly reach the one of similar European journals”, professor Sitoe estimates.

According to Ndolamb Ngokwey, the Resident Representative of UNDP, the journal is an innovative and multifaceted initiative that UNDP is proud to support. “This cooperation combines scientific knowledge management and partnerships with the civil society institutions (universities) in a way that can stimulate debate on development issues and innovations not only among academics but also among politicians, private sector and civil society”, he comments.

The journal is managed and hosted by the Eduardo Mondlane University through its Center for Policy Analyses. The other Mozambican universities involved are the Pedagogical University (UP), the Polytechnic University (ISPU), the Higher Institute of Science and Technology (ISCTEM), the Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP), the Higher Institute of International Relations (ISRI), the São Tomás University of Mozambique (USTM), and the Technical University (UDM). UNDP is represented on the scientific board of the journal.

The journal issued in Portuguese will be provided free of charge to universities across the country and the goal is that each university library will have copies of the journal, to ensure that academic views and experiences are shared among students and academics alike.

More pictures about journal launch may be seen on the website of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the Eduardo Mondlane University http://www.flcs.uem.mz/