United Nations Poverty-Environment Initiative

Please download the PEI Country fact sheet on Mozambique (PDF)

Basic facts of the PEI in Mozambique

The overall objective of the first phase of the programme (September 2005-March 2008) was to strengthen environmental policy and management capacity at the national and local levels as a contribution to poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
The current focus of PEI-Mozambique is on the medium term needs as formulated in the PRSP 2 (PARPA 2) with an emphasis on building capacity for sound environmental management at the local, district, and national level and improving the knowledge base on sustainable management of natural resources and its important role in development and pro-poor growth.
The Government of Mozambique, through the Ministry of Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA) was responsible for the implementation and coordination of the project and the main national partners were the Ministry of Planning and Development (MPD), UNDP-Mozambique and the NGO Centro Terra Viva.
PEI II is a joint Government of Mozambique, UNDP Mozambique and UNEP Project and the main national partners are MICOA, MPD, and Ministries of: Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism, Energy, Health, Mineral Resources and Public Works.
The donors which funded PEI I included the Government of Belgium and the Government of Norway (through UNEP). The Government of Ireland (through UNEP) is providing all the funds for the second phase.
The total budget is close to USD 3 million: USD 566,145 (2005-2008) and USD 2,428,000 (2008-2011).

The context of mainstreaming of environment in Mozambique

Mozambique’s second PRSP, the National Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA 2), was completed in 2006 and covers the period 2006-2009(11). Environment is a cross-cutting issue.
In 2003, a civil society group supported by UNDP and other partners completed Agenda 2025, a strategic exercise reflecting over the future of Mozambique. Agenda 2025 includes a chapter on rural development as well as a chapter on environment, urban development and quality of life.
In 2005, Mozambique published a national report on the Millennium Development Goals that highlighted the limited progress towards achievement of MDG 7. The Government of Mozambique envisages that the use of natural resources has to fulfil the basic needs of the people and development of the nation in equilibrium with economic growth, technology development, environmental protection and social equity.
Mozambique does not have a separate MDG implementation plan but considers PARPA 2 to be the country’s MDG implementation plan.
Every year the Government prepares an Economic and Social Plan (PES) to guide the implementation of the PARPA. PEI-Mozambique aims to build capacity of government, national, provincial and district level, to integrate environment in the preparation of the Economic and Social Plans.
Mozambique is one of the eight One UN pilot countries. The ‘UNDAF- Plus’ has incorporated a country programme output on mainstreaming of environment in development planning.

Main activities of the PEI

Undertake analytical studies that draw upon existing available data to improve awareness about poverty-environment linkages.
Assess key sector policy and planning frameworks (including PARPA 2) to identify poverty-environment linkages, gaps and institutional capacity to address these.
Conduct formal reviews to track progress with respect to MDG 1 and 7 targets at district level
Train central and local government staff on the importance of poverty-environment linkages to economic development and poverty reduction.
Conduct training and develop capacity for selected sectors and support sectors in applying simplified Strategic Environmental Assessment and integrated economic-environmental appraisals to ongoing policy and legislative processes.
Support integration of environment into the province and district strategic and operational plans.
Develop a communication strategy to raise awareness about the links between poverty and environment.
Support the integration of environment into the formal curriculum in schools.
Develop capacity of Ministry of Coordination of Environmental Affairs and Ministry of Planning and Development involved in Medium-Term Expenditure Review and Public Expenditure Review in key sectors.
Develop strategic plan for improved financing for environmental investments (e.g. user fees and royalties including donor support).
Develop opportunities and mechanisms for coordination between the Government of Mozambique and key development partners to support environmental priorities across sectors.
Strengthen institutional arrangements for mainstreaming.

What has been achieved to date?

PEI has been been a catalytic activity, embedded in many government processes. It has been able to influence national and district plans and budgets (especially PARPA-2) towards a better integration of environment and poverty reduction, and building planner capacity.
Workshops for governments, civil society and journalists, combined with studies on poverty-environment linkages, has led to an improved understanding of the linkages and improved national capacities for mainstreaming. Training of schools teachers have also been undertaken to raise their awareness on poverty-environment linkages.
Capacity building workshops were held in Inhambane, Nampula, Zambezia, Sofala, Cabo Delgado, Gaza, Tete and Maputo and a common understanding of environmental aspects to be included in their Economic and Social Plans was developed.
PEI supported the reflection group of the National Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA 2) whose task was to define sector needs to address the environmental issues within PARPA and the Strategic Development Plans at provincial level and to bring together all actors with an interest in mainstreaming in PARPA 2. The group was successful in bringing together all actors with an interest in mainstreaming environment in PARPA 2.
Indicators were developed with the support of PEI and will help to monitor progress on the environmental targets of PARPA 2
A greater level of coordination has been achieved between the relevant institutions involved in environmental mainstreaming.

Lessons learned

The reflection group of the National Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA 2) focused specifically on the integration of environment in the PARPA 2. After the completion of PARPA 2 the group lost momentum. Strengthening the collaboration with permanent structures such as the council for sustainable development (CONDES) is this critical.
Improving coordination and communication within and between government institutions is critical to mainstreaming. For example, increasing the collaboration between environment and macro-economic sector partners is essential. Strategically targeting policy makers is also important.
Mixing policy level activities with more “concrete” activities such as media communication and demonstration projects can prove fruitful.
A task team to give strategic direction and technical inputs to the programme is fundamental.
Community approaches can develop real momentum: Some of the micro-projects have revealed how communities can solve some of their own p/e problems if they are helped in diagnosing these problems and encouraged to develop their own low-cost solutions

Key documents for PEI Mozambique

Way forward

Expand the knowledge base by undertaking an economic analysis of the economic gains of investing in sustainable management of natural resources for pro-poor growth.
Provide additional support to and building capacity of the Government of Mozambique on environment and economic development.
Build capacity of local government authorities to integrate environment into district Economic and Social Plans, including support for communities to implement projects promoting environmental sustainability and poverty reduction.
Produce an effective strategy on distribution of roles and responsibilities (especially between MICOA-MPD). Establishing MICOA and MPD’s respective coordination roles in sustainable development is a critical institutional need which PEI will address as a priority
Continue support to the implementation of PARPA 2 in environment related activities at national, provincial and district levels.
Play an active role in the evaluation of PARPA 2 in order to measure the current achievement of environment as a cross cutting issue and propose measures for improvement.
Give practical examples of ‘what works’ already in Mozambique: best practice catalogues to show what has and can be done in local contexts (and not only micro-projects), awards for improvement, linking these to district plans, etc
Collaborate with other partners on environment indicators and poverty-environment indicators development.
Support the implementation of the UNDAF ‘Plus’ and actively participate in the One UN process.