Comparing trends over the years, Mozambique has registered among the most positive trends in the region. However, it points out that the positive trends are set against a particularly low base in 1992, that Mozambique continues to have among the lowest HDI scores and significant challenges, including growing inequality, remain, and the pace of development must increase in order for the country to climb on the HDI ranking.
In his opening words UNDP Resident Representative a.i. and Country Director, Mr. Jocelyn Mason pointed out that 2010 is an anniversary: “The 2010 Human Development Report places the human being at the centre of development, and brings forward the fact that the real wealth of a nation is its people. This 20th year anniversary of the Report provides us with an opportunity to look back at the past two decades of Human Development efforts – and to reflect on how to take the Human Development Approach forward in the light of the experience and knowledge we have gained since 1990.” 

Mr. Mason explained a number of methodological and data changes introduced in this year’s Report, which has had an impact on Mozambique’s score on the HDI and other measures. “The change in the calculation of the HDI, and in particular the change in the education indicator, amplifies the prevailing costs of war, which deprived a large proportion of Mozambique’s adults of schooling, and excludes efforts such as adult education and literacy campaigns. This, and other methodological changes are the reason why we cannot compare a country`s HDI under the new methodology adopted this year, and that same country`s HDI for previous years,” Mason said, and referred to the Report’s Table 2 for long term comparisons.

 “But of course, the HDI also underscores the challenge that faces us all - as policy makers, donor community, and the UN family. For Mozambique to do more than keep up, and to rise in the HDI scores relative to others, even more must be done.” 

“The focus on reducing poverty by centering efforts at the district level, on increasing attendance at good schools, on improving access and quality of health services and promoting inclusive and pro-poor growth, and the emphasis of improving the conditions of women are the policies that the government has embraced in its 5-year plan, and which deserve vigorous support”, stated Mr. Mason, reaffirming the UNDP’s  and the UN’s continued commitment to support the government of Mozambique in its endeavor to promote human development in the country. 

Continuing the Human Development Report tradition of measurement innovation, the 2010 Global Human Development Report introduces the new Multidimensional Poverty Index,  which builds on advances in theory and data, and which provides important new insights. During his presentation on this new index, Mr. Gabriel Dava, Head of the Poverty Reduction Department of the UNDP, highlighted how this new index could be used as a tool to target the poorest and most vulnerable in society, to better track the Millennium Development Goals, and to design policies that directly address overlapping and interlinked deprivations that poor people experience. 

In the launch of the Human Development Report speeches and presentations were also made by Mr. Aiuba Cuereneia, the Minister for Planning and Development, and Professor Eduardo Sitoe from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the Eduardo Mondlane University. 

The Human Development Report 2010, The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development , 20^th  Anniversary Edition, is found in various languages on the website http://hdr.undp.org  

For more information please contact:
Eeva Parviainen
Communications Officer, UNDP Mozambique
Tel: +258 21 481409
eeva.parviainen@undp.org  

 HDR Launch 2010 Jocelyn Mason Speech 05 11 10

 Multidimensional Poverty Index - Gabriel Dava 5 Oct PT

 Economic and Policy Brief 4/2010: Note on the Changes to the HDI in the 2010 HDR

 Economic and Policy Brief 3/2010: The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)