Democratic Governance

Following the priorities set by the Government in its 5-year Programme and in PARPA II, the UN system in Mozambique is committed to support national efforts in the area of Governance.

The overall objective of UNDP’s support to Democratic Governance in Mozambique is to strengthen democratic processes at both national and sub-national level and to promote Democratic Governance as a basic requirement for peace, security and sustainable development in Mozambique. This entails ensuring decentralization and local development and fostering the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, and sustainable development.

The overarching purpose of this is aligned with national priorities as defined in above documents, and is harmonized with the UN reform priorities, UNDP and UNDAF policies and service lines as outlined in the Multi Year Funding Framework (MYFF) (2004-2007).

UNDP is supporting the strengthening and establishment of mechanisms for the expression of popular will and effective oversight over areas of public interest. This includes support to electoral processes by facilitating the first provincial elections in the country, as well as the municipal, general and legislative elections. It also includes support to the legislature mainly focused on the budget oversight, and the operationalization of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of NEPAD.

UNDP continues supporting citizen’s access to justice by strengthening the administration of justice at the local level with the establishment of justice field offices; unifying and reforming of the correctional system; and strengthening crime prevention through the Attorney General’s Office and investigation police. UNDP also advocates for human rights focusing on: (i) women’ rights – combating violence against women; and (ii) HIV & AIDS – anti stigma and anti-discrimination measures.

UNDP is trying to consolidate and expand its ongoing support to the decentralization process. In collaboration with partners it will contribute to (i) service delivery improvement; (ii) de-concentration and strengthening capacities of local state organs, including harmonization of sector and local plans; and (iii) strengthening of municipal governments. It will also provide an enabling policy environment for application of the e-Government strategy via establishment of a national e-government “platform” for service delivery and empowerment in provinces, municipalities and districts.

UNDP/UNCDF is building upon the successful decentralised planning and finance strategy applied in Nampula and Cabo Delgado and scale up the model to all other provinces where the programme is not in place, including five (5) government-selected priority districts per province and at least 1 municipality. This will contribute towards nation-wide implementation of the decentralization strategy as well as the elaboration of the decentralization policy. Click here for additional information.

As part of the decentralization process, UNDP is targeting capacity building in local state organs and governments to ensure increased coordination and partnership development, as well as increased local government capacity in public finance management. Sub-national administrations will be empowered through restructuring, streamlined functions and legal mandates.

Support to local level integrated service delivery will be enhanced. This entails strengthening the capacities of both government and CSOs as service providers and reengineering key service delivery processes to ensure greater access to and better quality of essential services to citizens.