Development cooperation
Mozambique became a partner country of Belgian Development Cooperation in 2001. Since the end of the civil war in 1992, poverty has remained one of the key challenges facing the country.
Civil war ravaged Mozambique for 15 years and destroyed much of the country's infrastructure, causing up to 1 million deaths, and uprooting close to 6 million people.
The new constitution of 1990 recognised the multi-party system, the separation of powers and individual rights and liberties. The constitution of 2004 strengthened the section on individual rights and liberties. Since 1994 four presidential and parliamentary elections have been held in Mozambique, three municipal elections and one election for provincial councils (2009).
Mozambique is one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is still a yawning gap between this growth rate and the weak impact this has on employment and on the improvement in living standards for the majority of the population. This is the reason why Belgian Cooperation with Mozambique has set itself the general objective of reducing poverty.
In December 2012 a new Indicative Partnership Programme (IPP) was agreed for the 2013-2017 period amounting to 55 million euros (+ 11.3 million euros for the Belgian Fund for Food Security). The programme is an extension of the two prior IPPs with emphasis on the following:
- Belgium will, in accordance with the guidelines regarding budget support, no longer provide general budget support, but it is ready - if all the conditions are met - to provide sector budget support.
- Two priority sectors have been identified:
(1) support for agriculture, in particular cattle farming,
(2) support for rural renewable energy
Mozambique is also a partner country of the Flemish Government which focuses itself entirely on Public Healthcare. Mozambique is also a partner country of the Flemish Government which focuses itself entirely on Public Healthcare.
Mozambique’s infrastructure is in a very bad way, largely due to the civil war and destructive floods in 2000. In 2001 the Belgian Development Cooperation started working on the restructuring and equipping a number of healthcare facilities. Our country also helped with building roads and providing new homes for families affected by the war.
In order to eradicate the last serious consequences of the civil war, Belgium supports the national mine clearance programme and was allocated the provinces of Gaza and a part of Manica. Our country thus contributes to the project designed to eradicate all mines from Mozambique by the end of 2014. And finally Belgium financed a UN programme for taking in young criminal offenders.