Switzerland signs agreement to support IGM Phase II

On 22 February 2023, the Swiss Embassy in Mozambique signed a funding agreement of US$2.2 million to support the second phase of the Inclusive growth in Mozambique programme. By signing the agreement, the Swiss Embassy in Mozambique joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway in funding this research and capacity development programme.

The IGM programme has been implemented since 2015 by the National Directorate of Economic and Development Policies (DNPED) of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mozambique (MEF) and the Centre for Economic and Management Studies (CEEG) of the Faculty of Economics of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in partnership with the Development Economics Research Group at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH-DERG) and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics (UNU-WIDER). The first phase of the programme ran until 2021, the second will be implemented until December 2024.

The objective of the programme is to produce high-quality policy-relevant research to support evidence-based inclusive policies in Mozambique. Through its capacity development component, the programme ensures that the necessary skills, tools, and capacities are in place. Communications and outreach tools are harnessed to disseminate and translate the research results to various target audiences.

The programme addresses four questions that are fundamental for the development of Mozambique in the coming years:

1. What are current trends in poverty, inequality, and gender relations?
2. What factors constrain private sector dynamics and the creation of quality jobs?
3. How should Mozambique manage its macro‐economy in a natural resources boom, taking account of recent economic and political shocks?
4. What initiatives are required to enhance the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers and respond to climate change?

The additional funding from Switzerland will be used for further primary data collection, increase research outputs, scale-up capacity development activities, and increase the geographic reach of the programme.

According to Laila Sheikh, Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy in Mozambique, ’Switzerland is excited to contribute to the Inclusive growth in Mozambique programme and is committed to supporting the Government of Mozambique in designing and implementing policies that increase equality among Mozambicans.’

The partners of the IGM programme applaud the Swiss contribution, ’We are delighted to see a new partner join in to support the programme. The Inclusive growth in Mozambique programme has a key role in supporting the Ministry of Economy and Finance in producing research and analysis for evidence-based policy-making that supports inclusive growth’, says Enilde Sarmento, Director of DNPED-MEF. ’The Swiss support comes at a critical time to strengthen the sustainability of the programme and to scale up many of its activities. We take it as a strong sign of the continued relevance of the programme and as a recognition of its successes so far.’

For more information on the programme, please see: https://igmozambique.wider.unu.edu/

Interested in learning more about what we have done during IGM Phase I? Watch our mini-documentary: