What is the project doing:  

This overall goal of improving the prison service efficiency is to be achieved through two specific objectives:

• amend the legislative framework in the prison system in line with the National Constitution and with the universally accepted principles on the treatment of prisoners;
• contribute to prison overcrowding reduction and social rehabilitation fostering with the introduction of alternatives to imprisonment.

How is this being achieved:  

The project is implemented by the Ministry of Justice. It relies on the expertise and knowledge of national and international technical advisors in both areas of Legal Reform and Alternatives to Prisons. The consultancies are taking place throughout 2010. The consultants are working within SNAPRI (National Service for Prisons), in close partnership with relevant institutions of the justice sector, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other UN agencies.

Why:  

There is a consensus that rule of law and access to justice are necessary preconditions in any effort to deliver both freedom from want, i.e. the eradication of extreme poverty. UNDP recognise that the MDGs cannot be achieved if access to justice is denied, especially to the vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society. Also the national poverty reduction strategy (PARPA) links improvements in good governance and justice to the reduction of absolute poverty by stating that Justice, Law and Order institutions have to protect the poor, facilitating their access to legal institutions and reducing their vulnerability.

As regards the prisons sector in particular, a new Prison Policy, approved in 2002, identified the absence of adequate measures for the reintegration of the prisoners and the overpopulation and poor detention conditions as the key problems in the prison system.

MDGs supported: MDG1 - Eradicate extreme poverty

Who are involved:

• Ministry of Justice / National Service for Prisons of Mozambique (SNAPRI) – implementing partner
• Embassy of Portugal in Mozambique – donor of DGTTF for PALOP countries
• UNDP – supervision of the project

Duration:  

Two years: from 01 January 2009 to 31 December 2010

Project ID:  70221

Results 2010:  

1. Legislation on prisons revised (draft);
2. New legislation on alternatives to prisons produced (draft);
3. Training on new legislation on prisons and human rights for prisons staff produced and conducted in several provinces (in partnership between MINJUS, UNDP, OHCHR and the Liga dos Direitos Humanos).

Donor(s):  

• UNDP – Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF) – www.dgttf.org  
• Fund for PALOP countries - the main donor of the fund for PALOP countries is Portugal through its Instituto Português de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento, I.P. (IPAD) – www.ipad.mne.gov.pt  

Delivery 2010:

Contacts:
Jose Macamo
Programme Manager, Governance Unit
jose.macamo@undp.org
Tel: +258 21 481 411