Empowerment in Mozambique: Conceptual Framework and Implications of Implementation

This essay aims to discuss and explore how the concept of empowerment is used in the Mozambican context. The focus is on the combination of the internal policies of the government and the actions of some of the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), in particular UN Agencies in the field. Their role is of great importance as they have the funds to implement the projects. Empowerment is understood as a process that gives women the opportunity and freedom to decide, choose and have opinion about their lives, communities and societies. Consequently, empowerment will decrease the gap between men and women. As Mozambique is still an underdeveloped country, the focus is on economic empowerment of women that is used by the government and the NGOs to eradicate poverty and improve the life of the majority of the population, women. The essay will critically examine the expected benefits to the target group, the rural women who live in poverty. It is based on case studies, on success and failure. It will analyze and speculate on what necessary changes are needed in the country’s approach in order to improve the delivery of the NGOs projects of economic based empowerment. Although, the NGOs claim that their actions have had positive results, especially in terms of economic empowerment, with marked improvement and visible changes in lives of the population’s beneficiaries some of the cases contradict their claims. It is concluded that it is of great importance to survey and /or listen to the real needs of the beneficiaries before designing the project. Moreover, to create a local database at district and provincial levels and to clarify at institutional level how empowerment is understood. This should contribute to better implementation and positive evaluations of economic based empowerment projects in Mozambique.