About the programme

The central goal of this collaborative research and capacity development programme is to address ongoing development challenges in Mozambique and support evidence-based policymaking that contributes to inclusive and sustainable growth in Mozambique.

The Inclusive growth in Mozambique (IGM) programme is operationalized through a partnership between four institutions, two Mozambican – Ministry of Economy and Finance and the University of Eduardo Mondlane – and two international – United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) and the University of Copenhagen Development Economics Research Group.

These four partner institutions have extensive experience in generating research and analytical evidence to inform the elaboration inclusive policies. The capacity development component of the programme ensures that the necessary skills and analytical tools are available and used to inform evidence-based policy formulation. Furthermore, joint efforts are made to bring the research and analysis produced under the programme to key target audiences through events, media, and online communication and dissimination .

By joining forces and harnessing synergies, the four partner institutions contribute to stimulating public debate on inclusive growth, and strengthening related policymaking in the country.

Key questions addressed by the programme during its second phase (2021- 2024):

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

Background

Three decades have passed since Mozambique emerged from a devastating war which had turned it into one of the most impoverished countries in the world. Since then, the country has experienced remarkable economic growth with annual GDP growth reaching over seven per cent for various consecutive years and nearly all development indicators registering substantial improvements until the early 2010s. The impressive growth has been sustained by massive public investments in infrastructure and social sectors supported by international development partners, well-adjusted macroeconomic policy, and active promotion of foreign and domestic direct investment. The discovery of enormous natural gas reserves at the turn of the 2010s adds potentials but also significant risks for the country’s development process.

This development has been severely affected by a series of external and internal crises since the mid-2010s – the external debt crisis, the armed conflicts in Central and Northern Mozambique, two major cyclones, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian crisis and its effects on global economy, and the pressures generated by demographic growth – revealing Mozambique’s vulnerability to economic and climate-related shocks.

This sequence of events, combined with the lack of robustness in the sectors of agriculture (basis for development) and industry (stimulating factor for the economy) have led to the recent vertiginous fall of the economy and its dependence on megaprojects and the trade of imported products. There is need for policies that guide towards a broad-based structural transformation of the economy as a growth engine for sustainable inclusive development.

The Inclusive growth in Mozambique (IGM) programme is set up to support the Government of Mozambique in producing high-quality evidence and analysis to counter the above-mentioned challenges and help design inclusive, pro-employment and pro-poor policies that help the country in pursuing a path of steady, inclusive growth.