Mozambique Programme 2016 MOZAMBIQUE’S POLITICAL BACKGROUND Mozambique became independent in 1975. After a long and bloody civil war between rebel movement Renamo and the Frelimo government, a Peace Agreement was signed in 1992. With the Peace Agreement, Mozambique adopted the system of multiparty democracy. For a long time, Frelimo and Renamo dominated the political arena in Mozambique, with Frelimo being overwhelmingly dominant and holding an absolute majority in parliament. In 2009, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) entered the political scene and presented itself as a new political force. Despite more than 20 years of peace and relative stability, the civil war between Renamo and Frelimo still shapes the political reality of today. The ruling and main opposition parties still tend to see each other as enemies. This can be seen in the political discourse and makes it difficult for them to reach consensus. Since 2012, the political tensions between ruling party Frelimo and former rebel movement Renamo have been rising, resulting in low-intensity confrontations between the government and the opposition. Mozambique’s rapid economic expansion over the past 20 years, which is mainly a result of the booming natural resources industry, has had only a moderate impact on poverty reduction and the distribution of wealth. This has led to increased social discontent and political confrontations. THE APPROACH OF NIMD IN MOZAMBIQUE NIMD’s work in Mozambique started in 2000. The programme activities mainly focus on trying to reduce the tensions between the parliamentary parties and tries to create space for dialogue and constructive collaboration. The programme facilitates training on dialogue skills for the members of the parties and stimulates the involvement of a broad range of stakeholders (civil society organizations, church leaders and the international community). Capacity strengthening The programme furthermore aims to contribute to a safe environment for elections by facilitating dialogue sessions between the political parties and the electoral management body (CNE), In order to enable the political parties in Mozambique to contribute in an effective way to electoral activities, NIMD supports the parliamentary political parties to strengthen their organizational and programmatic capacities. The basis for these activities are the multi-annual strategic plans of the parties that were developed with support of NIMD. Democracy Schools In the current tense political climate and economic situation, the voice of the citizens in Mozambique often remains unheard. Citizens, local authorities, and political leaders often have insufficient capacity and incentives to initiate and maintain constructive and inclusive dialogue and interaction. To foster democratic behaviour and facilitate the creation of space for dialogue and cooperation between citizens and local authorities, NIMD facilitates democracy education programmes at provincial level. The democracy schools in Mozambique promote active citizenship and strengthen citizen engagement in local governance through practical leadership training programmes. By doing so, NIMD aims to contribute to the creation of a new generation of young politicians with democratic values and with the skills to act as agents of change.  Programme deviations/ToC update: In 2016 Mozambique the critical situation the country has been experiencing in the recent years continued. This had to do with political events, which were made worse by the public debt situation which has lead the country to a historical financial crunch.  These events have influenced the implementation of several of the activities in the programme. The political parties, particularly those not involved directly in the military political conflict, were proactive in the discussions during the programme events and brought proposals to the table as solutions to the political situation.
Despite  a great deal of momentum in regards to political dialogue, in practical terms, no tangible and concrete results leading to the creation of a climate of closer rapprochement or political stability between the parties has been produced. The evidence of this is the fact that during one of the negotiation breaks (8 October) one of the members of the negotiating team from Renamo party was shot dead. The atmosphere of political tension abated following telephone conversations between the President of the Republic and the President of the Renamo at the end of December when they decided to give truce in the armed conflict during the festive season and later extended it for further 60 days (to the end of February 2017).

The issue of public debt dominated the public debate and had a strong impact on the activities, as the government institutions marked as key partners in the activities were showing some fear of interacting with political parties. Nevertheless, it was possible to include them in some activities as demonstrated in the matrix. Some thematic activities did not take place as planned due to the tense political environment the country is going through. Instead the theme of the activities was changed to other relevant, less contentious issues. 

In this period, we can conclude that the relationship between the political parties and civil society has improved significantly due to a consensual national agenda that consists of re-establishing political and democratic stability. Here it is important to highlight that in the previous government, there was strong interference from political parties in the midst of civil society. This situation created great mistrust on both sides. However, because of the political crisis, there has been a convergence of opinion, with both political parties and civil society calling for a sustainable peace solution. Political actors are defined as the combined main target group of the Strategic Partnership: - (representatives of) political parties - politicians - (Members of) Parliament and its Committees - Other elected representatives at local levels. NIMD will primarily focus on political parties.