Winner — Drivers of Change — Government: G20 and the Mozambican government
Mozambique has made great strides since the end of its civil war in 1992, but the country is struggling still to empower its 20-million citizens, most of whom live in abject poverty.
About 80% of Mozambique’s poor live in rural areas. While farming is their main source of income, agricultural productivity is low and most of the rural population survives at subsistence level. There is also a high rate of illiteracy in the country.
Despite efforts by the Mozambique government to fight poverty, the country is one of the poorest in the world still. About 53% of the population survive on less than a dollar a day and 73% live below the poverty line.
The people of Mozambique also face significant levels of inequality. The country lacks basics services, such as clean water and sanitation, and health and education facilities, says the Southern African Regional Poverty Network.
The rural population is vulnerable to natural disasters, such as droughts and floods, which have been a regular occurrence in the past few years as cyclone after cyclone has ravaged the country.
Seemingly the odds of helping Mozambicans are stacked against the organisations that want to assist. But this has not deterred the G20, a civil society platform created in 2004, from working to alleviate poverty.
The G20 gets its name from the 20 civil society organisations that join government and the international community to debate issues related to poverty in Mozambique. G20 constituents comprise farmers, cultural associations, teachers, sports clubs, NGOs and other civil society groups. What they have in common is that they all want to improve the lives of the poor.
The G20 interacts with the Mozambican government through the Poverty Observatory, a forum where civil society, government and the international community formulate anti-poverty policies.
The Poverty Observation panel also aims to lead open debates between government and civil society through annual poverty reports, which give insight into how the battle against poverty is progressing by accessing grassroots-level statistics.
The annual report is presented by the G20 to the Poverty Observatory. Copies are distributed to all organisations inside the observatory to promote implementation of the recommendations at a local level.
The G20 has 60 members, 20 of whom are government members, 20 members of the international community and 20 of civil society organisations.
“The partnership between the 20 civil society groupings has strengthened civil society’s links to the Mozambican government and has become an important pillar of mobilising state resources to fight poverty,” the organisation said. “This civil society platform aims to produce national wealth and knowledge that allows creative participation and strengthens democracy.”
The G20 realised that, to make an impact on poverty, it was necessary for a strategy to be put in place to support a long-term plan that would guide and align Mozambique’s precious resources for the development of the country.