Mozambique Working together to emerge from crisis
When Mozambique's civil war ended in 1992, the political and economic situation began to improve continuously, albeit very moderately.
In 2015, however, the situation began to worsen again and the country is currently mired in crisis and facing deepseated challenges. Opposing political sides are engaged in frequently violent conflict, the country is in dire economic straits and there is widespread corruption and high public debt.
What is more, Mozambique has been repeatedly hit by extreme weather events such as flooding, drought and cyclones. In 2016, the El Niño phenomenon inflicted on the country the worst drought in decades. Experts predict that Mozambique will be badly hit by climate change.
Extreme poverty
Despite significant overall economic growth between 1992 and 2015, Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world. World Bank figures show 46 per cent of the population living below the national poverty line. Around 30 per cent of the population are undernourished and life expectancy is just 58 (in Germany it is 81).
Mozambique currently ranks 185th out of 191 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI).
Development cooperation
The main aim of German development cooperation with Mozambique is to support the country in its efforts to reduce poverty. The focus is on sustainable economic development that benefits the entire population. One major aspect is providing access to education and training and job prospects for all young people. It is also important to ensure that citizens gain trust in public institutions and can access public services.
Germany is working with Mozambique on three priority areas: basic and vocational education, sustainable economic development, and decentralisation and public finance.
It is also supporting efforts to improve Mozambique's energy supply, help it to adapt to climate change and conserve natural resources.
Development potential
Only a fraction of Mozambique's fertile cropland is being used productively. Although 73 per cent of the population work in the agricultural sector, it generates only about 22 per cent of the country’s overall economic output. Most farmers are engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture. So far, only a few crops are being grown for export, for instance tobacco, sugar, tea, cotton and cashew nuts.
Tourism is another sector with a great deal of potential. Mozambique’s coastline stretches for over 2,700 km along the Indian Ocean and it offers a huge diversity of flora and fauna. Germany is supporting the Transfrontier Conservation Area Great Limpopo (External link), which also offers opportunities for socially and ecologically sustainable tourism.
Mozambique also has great potential in the field of renewable energy. Renewables like solar and wind power, biomass and geothermal energy could be used to serve rural areas which currently have no real access to electric power. Germany and other donor countries are supporting Mozambique within the scope of the regional Energising Development programme, which is pushing ahead with the use of renewable energy at local level.
Vegetable cultivation in Mozambique
German development cooperation with Mozambique
Germany and Mozambique have been cooperating since 1977 in the field of development. Cooperation is focused on the goals set out in the Marshall Plan with Africa and the African Union's Agenda 2063.
The overarching aim is long-term poverty reduction. Cooperation therefore concentrates on the major obstacles to Mozambique's development. These are the very poor quality of basic education and vocational training and the poor environment for private sector activity. Geographically, cooperation concentrates on the provinces of Inhambane and Sofala.
At government negotiations held in Berlin in October 2018, the German government pledged 90.4 million euros for development cooperation with Mozambique. Of this amount, 59.7 million euros will be made available for financial cooperation projects and 30.7 million euros for technical cooperation projects. In 2017, 24 million euros had been pledged for financial cooperation.
The two countries' cooperation focuses on the following priority areas:
- basic and vocational education
- decentralisation and public finance
- sustainable economic development.
Other important areas of cooperation include conserving natural resources such as biodiversity, improving the supply of sustainably generated energy and adapting to climate change.
As part of its 'One World – No Hunger' initiative, the BMZ is also supporting Mozambique through a Green Innovation Centre, which promotes innovation in the agricultural and food sector. The aim of the centre is to increase the productivity of small farms in a sustainable way and boost small farmers' income, to create new jobs in rural areas and to improve local food supply.
