“Citizenship a responsibility attained through collective action and democratic governance, with rights accruing from this engagement”
(Cornwall and Gaventa, 2000)
“Citizenship is in many ways the concept that brings accountability and participation together. Who has the right to hold to account, and who should be held to account? Who is entitled to participate in public (and private) decision making and who is not? The answers to these questions will tell us something about the different uses of the term citizenship”
(Newell and Bellour 2002)
In January 2008 Ibis-Mozambique started the implementation of a new thematic program with a focus on building citizenship in the Northern province of Niassa in Mozambique. The program is called “Building Citizenship in Mozambique” (COCIM) and will work within the area of citizen’s rights and the relationship between the state and its citizens. COCIM will focus on how civil society organisations through formal and informal bridging mechanisms link the citizen to the state as well as bonding citizens to each other. The program period is 5 years (January 2008 – December 2012), including an inception phase of approximately 1 year.
Why Citizenship?
A view held by many development practitioners and academics is, that civil society is an important element of a democracy, a view that is shared by Ibis. Civil society should not only participate in the development and monitoring of district plans and budget but in general civil society has an important role in the participation and monitoring of governance process.
In the liberal democratic model promoted by Ibis, civil society is locked in a triangular relationship between state and market. In this perspective, citizens mobilize through civil society organizations, and through these organizations, the state is held accountable to its citizens. This understanding assumes that civil society acts autonomously from the state and consists of well-informed citizens capable of keeping checks and balances.
Ibis Mozambique aims to work with CSOs as “agents of change, defenders of rights and democracy” but at the same time Ibis has experienced how the mushrooming of CSOs at different levels of society in Mozambique not necessarily has led to a civil society working as a “watchdog” or as an “agent of change”. Experience has shown that CSOs in Mozambique are highly dependent of either the state or donors.
Civil Society in Mozambique 
Civil society in Mozambique still lacks a fundamental characteristic: the majority of its members have yet not assumed their role as citizens with rights and duties towards a democratic state. If members of civil society do not assume the role as citizens Ibis believes that CSOs will continue being instruments of the most powerful actors.
The existence of a civil society conducive to democracy rests on the assumption that people are de facto citizens; that they have rights and duties, that they are well-informed about their rights and that they have access to articulating these demands. Although Mozambicans formally enjoy the rights of citizens, the vast majority of the rural population in Mozambicans cannot be characterized as active citizens in the traditional western conception:
Strengthening democracy
Based on the above, COCIM will deal with the fragile democracy in Mozambique by focusing on the links between the citizen and the state and the civil society. It is however important to bear in mind that the majority of the rural population can be considered as “citizens in embryo”. This understanding implies that the work with people in the rural areas has to take of and start from a position where common people’s perception and understanding of their own living conditions and challenges are based.
The premise for this approach is, that if you want to cooperate with and move people from powerlessness, ignorance and dependency, you must meet them where they stand and not where you would like them to stand. In this sense, the COCIM program will try to meet the communities where they are by not only providing them with hands on skills to improve their living conditions but also making sure that these skills serve as motivation for real participation and influence in local governance processes.
Building Citizenship in Mozambique 
The COCIM program will be based on lessons learned through Ibis’ work in Mozambique and particularly Ibis’ current work within the field of community communication, education and local governance in Niassa.
COCIM will be facilitated in the province of Niassa and the aim is that by 2012 the Citizenship program will be working in at least 8 districts and 1 municipality of Niassa.
Based on the results from the baselines studies to be carried out during the first semester of 2008, it will be decided where the program should start and a strategy for each individual districts will be designed.
The development objective of Building Citizenship in Mozambique reads:
Within a 5 year perspective (by 2012) the two specific program objectives of Building Citizenship in Mozambique read:
The COCIM program will be a joint venture with input from different stakeholders in the province of Niassa, and amongst others, Irish Aid, Danida and the Royal Norwegian Embassy are allocating funds for the program.
For more information on the Citizenship Program, please contact Country Director, Anne Hoff, anne@ibismz.org.
Maputo
The Women in Democracy project seeks to strengthen democracy and good governance in Mozambique by implementing a national civic education campaign for the municipal election in 2008 and the general elections in 2009. The primary target group consists of poor and marginalized women, and the expected results are to enhance awareness of civic rights among voters, in particular women, and promote gender equality in the electoral process, hereby contributing to a further deepening and consolidating of democracy.
The overall objective of Women in Democracy is:
Mass participation of civil society in democratic processes, and increased gender equality in the electoral process
Although women represent more than half the electorate and have the right to vote and stand as candidates, they are still under-represented among the candidates for political positions, just as men dominate the political arena and agendas[1]. Although the Mozambican parliament has one of the bigger women representations in Africa (around 30%), and the position of prime minister is currently occupied by a woman, Ms. Luisa Diogo, it is difficult on a general level to find women in leading political positions in the provincial and municipal levels.
Consequently, the project operates with the following two specific objectives:
1. Enhanced awareness of civic rights among voters, especially women, and increased participation in democratic and electoral processes
2. Empowered women actively participating in election processes, actively seeking political positions and actively influencing political agendas.
The project has a national scope, implementing activities in all provinces of Mozambique. The activities of the project are focused on a civic education campaign to raise awareness about civic rights and encourage citizens to participate fully in the political life in Mozambique. The campaign will not only focus on election and election processes, but will have a broader content including civic rights and democracy. The campaign will consist of producing informative material, training activists, conducting community talks and conducting seminars to sensitize more women to run as candidates.
Women’s Participation in Mozambican Political Life
There is general agreement between government and international financing agencies on the need to foster gender balance. Furthermore, the 1990 Mozambican constitution guarantees the equality of men and women before the law in all areas of political, economic, social and cultural life. Nevertheless, despite official and legal measures to ensure gender equality within parties and in political representation, a report from EISA in 2006 defines various obstacles to women’s full participation in Mozambican political life, such as:
• Lack of political party support, including money and other resources, to boost women’s political, social and economic status.
• Politics continues to be defined and organized according to male norms and values, in which men dominate the political arena, formulate the rules of the political game and define the standards.
• Lack of media attention on women’s contribution and potential
• Women’s general low self-confidence, which results from certain cultural patterns, is another bar to their access to political careers[2]
Other barriers to women’s participation in politics are constituted by the low status of women, illiteracy[3], lack of knowledge and information, the burden of the reproductive role and the lack of women’s influence in household decisions. The barriers can be attributed cultural gender roles, where men are involved in public life and women have the domestic responsibilities. Women in Mozambique have fewer capabilities e.g. access to education and a lower status, which leads to lower participation in decision making. Together this lead to a situation where women are cut off from important information and decision making and where they are unaware of the legal rights that the constitution and laws affords them.
The promotion of gender equality is thus a challenge for all aspects of the Mozambican society, as the democratic system benefits from the participation of women in decision-making processes, just as the education and participation of women in political life has positive effects on development.
Implementing Partners 
Women in Democracy is a joint initiative of Ibis, a Danish development NGO with activities in Mozambique for more than 25 years, and Fórum Mulher, a national umbrella organization.
Ibis Mozambique has previously conducted civic education projects (CIVEDUC I and II) with FECIV (Instituto de Educação Cívica), and in order to enhance the participation of women in the electoral processes, collaboration has been sought with Fórum Mulher, who works for gender equity and equality and empowerment of women through education, information and advocacy work.
Fórum Mulher is a Women’s Network Forum created in 1994 with the aim to co-ordinate activities by women's and other organizations that share a common interest in promoting women's equality, equity and empowerment in Mozambique. The goal is that organizations with the interests of empowering women shall work together and be a stronger force in the struggle for gender equality. Fórum Mulher is one of the most important organizations within the civil society in Mozambique and has obtained visible results through their intensive advocacy and lobby work. As an example, the Fórum Mulher had major influence on the country’s family law, securing the legal position and recognition of women. Their strategic interventions consist of education, information, advocacy and lobby work.
Fórum Mulher are responsible for implementation of project activities through its 70 member organizations, who have national coverage. The project will carry out activities in all Municipalities for the Municipal Elections and in all districts in Mozambique for the General Election. The project started in May 2008 and is co-funded by Ibis Mozambique and the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
>> Read here: Baseline Study Report for the project Women in Politics (In Portuguese only)
Zambezia
• CCM (Conselho Cristão de Moçambique/Christian Council of Mozambique), working in Mozambique since 1948 with the main target group of poor and marginalized people. In the “Active Citizens in Niassa” project, CCM will work in particular in the area of civic education, literacy training, organisational development and HIV/Aids.
• UCA (União dos Cooperativas e Associações de Lichinga/Union of Cooperatives and Associations of Lichinga) has been working in Niassa since 1991 to support the initiatives and rights of the farmers. In the “Active Citizens in Niassa” project, UCA will work in particular in the area of organisational development, agriculture and literacy training of adults.
• MISA (Instituto para a Comunicação Social da África Austral Moçambique/Media Institute of Southern Africa, Mozambique) has since 2000 been working in Mozambique to promote and defend liberty of expression, freedom of the press and the free circulation of information. In its collaboration with IBIS in the “Active Citizens in Niassa” project, MISA will assume responsibility for activities in the area of local governance, training in History and Sociology, and development of civil society organisations.
Maputo
Improving access to information and ensuring freedom of expression in Mozambique are areas, where IBIS will increase its support over the next 5 years.
IBIS will focus on supporting Mozambican civil society organisations with raising awareness about citizens’ rights to information and freedom of expression, with strengthening a plural media, and with advocating for the development of a favourable legal framework. IBIS will prioritise working with organisations that have the potential both to advocate for change at national level and to reach out to the provinces.
Initial potential partners include MISA (Media Institute for Southern Africa), FORCOM (Forum of Community Radios), AMCS (Association of Women in the media) and AMMO (Association of Mozambican Musicians). IBIS will carry out detailed partner assessments with all organisations before they enter the programme. During its implementation, IBIS hopes to expand the programme to up to 8 partner organisations.
This work will form part of a larger programme. IBIS is one of three “intermediary” organisations, which will implement SIDA’s civil society support strategy, Oxfam Novib and Diakonia being the other two. The overall aim of this strategy is that “Active citizens and a strong, vibrant civil society participate in and influence the democratic process contributing to more accountable governance, deepened democracy, gender equity and human rights in Mozambique”. In this context, Oxfam Novib and Diakonia will be working to promote social, legal, financial and political accountability.
Success of the overall programme will depend on a close coordination with Oxfam Novib and Diakonia. The first joint forum to launch the programme and discuss the challenges facing civil society organisations will be held during the first quarter of the programme.
The total value of the programme is approximately US$10 million over 5 years, running from 2010 to the end of 2014. 79% of this is budgeted to go directly to partner organisations. IBIS has recently hired Ms. Köeti Serôdio, who will be the Programme Coordinator. One more new staff will be employed in 2010 and a further person in 2011 to implement this programme.
For more information, please contact lucy@ibismz.org
Maputo
This projects seeks to increase the political participation of women in Mozambique. This is done by training newly elected female members of the municipal and provincial assemblies, and by facilitating a dialogue between these politicians and their female constituencies.
The aim of the activities is to promote the agendas and concerns of rural women in the local governance structures, and to strengthen the political influence of these female politicians, who are often poorly represented in the decision making bodies and who are entering the political scene traditionally dominated by men, especially on the country side. The project will be implemented in the provinces of Niassa, Zambézia and Cabo Delgado, by IBIS and its partner organization Forum Mulher.
The women, elected politicians as well as representatives of civil society, are capacitated in gender issues, understanding of the constitution, legislation and their role and responsibilities. Through their education with IBIS and Forum Mulher, the women will be more likely to incorporate gender equality in their political work and this way influence to role of today’s women in Mozambique.
Another part of the programme will be to connect the women in politics with the women from the communities by creating links to local women’s organisations and thereby creating accountability to the constituency that elected them. This will happen by facilitating meetings and debate between the female politicians and the civil society representatives.
IBIS main partner for this project is Forum Mulher, with whom IBIS also made a civic education campaign during the elections in 2008 and 2009 to encourage women to vote and convince fathers and husbands that their wives and daughters should go and give their personal vote.
Other partners in “Women in politics” are NAFESA in Zambezia and FOCADE in Cabo Delgado.
The UN Democracy Fund support the programme in Niassa and Zambezia, and Danida has funded the Cabo Delgado part of the programme. The programme will run from this year until the end of 2012. The total budget is 1 million USD.
For more information, please contact stine@ibismz.org.
>> Read here: Baseline Study Report for the project Women in Politics (In Portuguese only)