Community building for economic empowerment in rural Mozambique: An exploratory study in the Maganja da Costa District

[摘要] Though the Maganja da Costa District in Mozambique has potential for the developmentof natural resources, the District is neither economically self-reliant nor empowered andis the poorest within the country. Thus, the research question set for this study is: Whatare the main factors that inhibit poor people in the study area from effectively using localresources for their livelihoods and what possible alternatives could enable them toachieve economic empowerment? In an attempt to answer the question, the followingaspects were investigated: the systems of local resources, product and indigenousknowledge use and management; the local mechanisms of acquiring and sharinginformation, knowledge and skills; the obstacles to acquiring and sharing information,knowledge and skills; the influence of such obstacles on the management of localresources and livelihood strategies, as well as on the community's organisational,leadership and entrepreneurship capacity.An exploratory study was conducted in the study area using the qualitative method,involving participatory action research. A comparative literature review and field workwas conducted in order to collect the data. Raw data were collected in two phases: Whilepilot research took place over 5 days, more extensive research took place over 21 days.During the extensive research, in-depth household interviews were conducted, usingsemi-structured personal interviews, focus group interviews and discussions, directobservations and cross-checking methods employing a sample size of 101 respondentsrandomly selected and 10 key informants. The Statistical Programme of Social Science(SPSS) was used to process and analyse the raw data.The results show that the main factors that inhibited poor people in the study area fromeffectively using local resources and products for their livelihood were: i) a lack ofknowledge, skills and talents; ii) the inadequate mechanisms in place for sharing localinformation, knowledge and skills; iii) the ineffective community organisation andleadership; iv) a lack of entrepreneurship skills and capabilities; v) the inadequateexisting infrastructure, transport and trading systems; vi) a low level of partnership andnetworking; vi) a disruption of socio-cultural cohesion; and vi) inadequate mechanismsfor planning, implementation and management of local development strategies,programmes and projects by local government.Most of the government's development strategies in Mozambique focus on economicgrowth, which does not necessarily entail the economic empowerment of poor people.The role of traditional leadership has been neglected, which has resulted in the disruptionof traditional values and belief systems that might otherwise have positively contributedto socio-cultural cohesion. The role that community building could play in assisting poorpeople in the study area to establish common values, and to develop collective goals andactions, should enable them to acquire and/or share information, knowledge, skills andtalents in such a way as to strengthen themselves. Such strengthening of organisational,leadership and entrepreneurship capacities and skills could significantly contribute toattaining economic self-reliance, poverty alleviation and sustainable development, if thecommunity building approach were to be adequately applied. Additional research is required in order to identify appropriate mechanisms for making further advances inapplying such an approach in rural Mozambique, especially in the study area.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University