dc.description.abstract | Research-based information is recognised as crucial for Mozambique’s endeavours to reduce
its poverty. This first report in a series of three qualitative studies on poverty in Mozambique
focuses on the district of Murrupula in Nampula province. In Chapter 1 we argue that qualitative
studies are important for the monitoring and evaluation of poverty reduction policies. They
inform quantitative data and correlations by testing causal hypotheses on the ground. They
discover processes and interdependencies related to non-tangible dimensions of poverty such
as vulnerability and powerlessness. They test and reassess central concepts and units of poverty
analysis. Finally, they involve the poor themselves in the analysis of their own situation in ways
that are difficult with formal questionnaire surveys.
In Chapter 2 we present central quantitative expressions of poverty in Mozambique
as points of reference. We start by outlining some of the broad development trends, including
urbanisation, feminisation of poverty and HIV/AIDS, and then analyse data on Mozambique and
Nampula to highlight similarities and differences. Chapter 3 provides a background profile of the
area under study, predicated on the assumption that the political, economic and sociocultural
context is important for understanding social relations of poverty. A brief history emphasising
how Murrupula was constrained in its development through the late colonial era, the Frelimo
socialist experiment and the war leads into an outline of the responsibilities of the District
Administration, the role of traditional authorities, and the overall social and economic situation
in the district.
Chapter 4 is built around the survey undertaken for this study, and outlines socioeconomic
conditions and determinants of poverty with a focus on employment and income, education and
health. It also looks at the implications of geographical space, especially distance from the main
economic and population centres, for poverty and poverty alleviation. Chapter 5 focuses on
the issue of social relations of poverty, and processes of impoverishment, marginalisation and
social exclusion. Its point of departure is people’s own emic perceptions of poverty, examining
relationships between different categories of the poor within the household and the extended
family, traditional institutions and the state. Chapter 6 concludes, drawing some preliminary
policy implications and outlining the planned follow-up of the current study in urban Maputo and
coastal Sofala respectively. | |