For Internal Use Only

CARE International in Mozambique

Programme Strategy Summary

2014 – 2020

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

Empowering Women and Adolescent Girls

to Exercise Their Rights: A Path to Greater Food and Nutrition Security

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

Executive Summary

Part 1: Development Context

Part 2: Drivers of Poverty and Vulnerability

Part 3: CARE’s Impact Goal, Impact Groups and Theory of Change

Part 4: The Shifting Role of CARE

Part 5: CARE Mozambique Programme Strategy

Strategic Approaches

Programme Objectives

Part 6: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

List of Abbreviations

CBO – Community based organization

CLTS – Community Led Total Sanitation

COSACA – Concern, Oxfam, Save the Children and CARE consortium on emergency response

COLT – Country Office Leadership Team

CSO - Civil society organization

FFS – Farmer Field School

GDP – Gross Domestic Product

FRELIMO – Frente de Libertação de Moçambique or Mozambique Liberation Front in English

INGO – International non-governmental organization

KM – Knowledge Management

M&E – Monitoring and Evaluation

MEAL – Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

MDM – Movimento Democrático de Moçambique or Democratic Movement of Mozambique

MPA – Marine Protected Area

NGO – Non-governmental organization

NRM – Natural resource management

RENAMO – Resistência Nacional Moçambicana or Mozambican National Resistance

SuPER – Sustainable, Productive, Equitable and Resilient strategies

SRHR – Sexual and reproductive health rights

VSL – Village Savings and Loan

WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

WWF – World Wildlife Fund

CARE Mozambique Programme Strategy: 2014 – 2020 Page 1

Executive Summary

In this new six year strategy, CARE seeks to fight poverty and improve food and nutrition security by empowering women and girls to exercise their rights. Paralleling long global trends, Mozambique has seen a feminization of poverty that can only be addressed through gender transformation.[1] This new strategy draws from CARE’s previous innovations and builds on them – emphasizing in particular CARE’s expanded role as a facilitator and peer partner with Mozambican colleagues from civil society who are likewise dedicated to transformative, rights-based development in collaboration with the private sector and government.

Poverty in Mozambique is crushing. While the country has enjoyed high levels of economic growth nationally since the end of the civil war in 1992, Mozambique remains one of the world’s poorest countries with roughly 18 million or 79% of the population classified as impoverished according to the 2012 United National Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index. The vast majority of the poor live in rural areas, and rural, women headed households are among the poorest of the poor. Thus, the need for CARE to design and implement an effective anti-poverty strategy is great.

Building on nearly three decades of experiential knowledge of Mozambique andthree years of in-depth analysis and consultations with a wide array of stakeholders, CARE has identified three primary drivers of poverty in Mozambique: (1) poor governance; (2) gender and social inequality; and (3) climate change and natural disasters. Women and girls, particularly those dependent on land and natural resources, are the most affected by the combined effects of these underlying factors of poverty and often find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle, living in chronic food insecurity, suffering from various forms of abuse of exploitation, including gender based violence, and unable to take advantage of the country’s economic development opportunities. Based on these findings, CARE has strategically decided to focus its new 2014- 2020 program strategy on the following two most vulnerable impact groups:

-Socially, economically and politically excluded women (and their under five children) experiencing food and nutritional insecurity and who are highly dependent on land and natural resources; and

-In and out of school adolescent girls, between 10-15 years old, at high risk of early marriage, unwanted pregnancies and other forms of abuse.

By investing in these most vulnerable women and girls, CARE believes that their entire families and, over the longer term, the wider society, will benefit.

With these two groups in mind, this strategy has two primary Impact Goals:

Women are able to exercise their rights as individuals and citizens, including their right to food and nutrition, and are actively engaged in and benefiting from transparent, equitable and sustainable governance of public and natural resources in a society with supportive socio-cultural norms.

Girls grow up enjoying their rights to food and nutrition and to a protected childhood and adolescence, gradually building the skills and capacities to enter adulthood with positive options for her future.

CARE has outlined a Theory of Change detailing what must occur for these goals to become reality. Clearly, many actors must contribute to numerous outcomes, some of which are not within CARE’s capacity to influence. However, many are. Based on CARE’s assessment of its own “cooperative advantage” (emphasizing CARE collaborative approach), CARE will focusits work during 2014-2020 on the following three interdependent programme objectives, integrating across traditionally separated sectors:

1. Enhanced productivity, adaptive capacity and resilience of women and girls dependent on land and natural resources.
2. Empowered women and girls able to exercise their rights and influence decisions in the private and public spheres.
3. Empowered CARE and CSO partners’staff able to promote transformative, rights-based development at scale.

CARE believes that it is within its capacity to achieve meaningful, sustainable progress towards these three objectives. To do so, CARE has outlined four core strategic approaches to which it will need to adhere to deliver on the above objectives. First, CARE must focus on gender and power transformation–gradually building its skills and competencies to transform the social, political, economic, and environmental structures that lock women and their families in poverty, including how this relates to CARE internally. Within this gender transformative approach, CARE will very deliberately develop and implement feasible approaches to engage men and boys as positive agents of change against gender inequality. Second, CARE must implement all its activities with attention to building peer partnership and collaborative empowerment so that Mozambican partners can thrive and drive sustainable, rights-based development and humanitarian response in their country. Third, improving the lives of Mozambique’s poorest requires well organized, rights-oriented, evidenced-based advocacy. CARE knows that there are limits to the reach of its programmes and that far greater impact can be achieved when it supports its partners to effectively advocate for transformative, rights-based development aiming at influencing norms, policies, strategies, programmes and laws nationally. Fourth and last, CARE will seek to link emergency and development programming and disaster risk reduction. Our long term people-centred programme approach enables CARE to address aid as a fluid, non-linear continuum. The most poor, particularly women and girls, are at most risk of being impacted by disasters, requiring that CARE ensure emergency-to-development integration within its programmes.

This strategy will be implemented at a critical juncture in Mozambique’s history. Exploration has found natural gas reserves of monumental magnitude, enough to catapult Mozambique into the ranks of the largest producers in the world. Other finds and economic opportunities mean foreign and domestic investment is pouring into the country. It is anticipated that mining and energy sectors alone will invest more than $90 billion in the coming years for projects already in their initial stages, an investment more than seven times the country’s current GDP. National revenues will surge in a windfall that could last for 20 years and beyond. The outstanding question is how the government will respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by this economic growth. Will it will use its newfound wealth to finance and implement effective poverty reduction strategies? Will it fight corruption and land grabbing? Will Mozambique succeed to avoid the “resource curse” or will it perpetuate it?

These questions will play out in a challenging political and security environment. While analysts do not believe a return to war is on the horizon, attacks and counter-attacks by RENAMO and the government have created insecurity and fear. Beyond this, crime poses a real problem to security as well. Rather than upholding personal security and the rule of law, the police is often aligned with criminal forces. Should the government not resolve the security situation, investment could decline negatively affecting the economy. Moreover, governance remains a challenge. FRELIMO is likely to retain broad control of most government bodies and important institutional checks -- the justice sector, political competition, civil society and independent media – are insufficient to impel substantial reforms, demonstrably improve governance and fight corruption. It is in this context and a keen awareness of it that CARE has designed and will implement this strategy.

The below framework encapsulates CARE’s programme strategy in a concise manner:

Table 1: Overarching Programme Strategy Framework

Impact Groups / Socially, economically and politically excluded women (and their under five children) experiencing food and nutritional insecurity and who are highly dependent on land and natural resources / In and out of school adolescent girls, between 10-15 years old, at high risk of early marriage, unwanted pregnancies and other forms of abuse
Impact Goals / Women are able to exercise their rights as individuals and citizens, including their right to food and nutrition, and are actively engaged in and benefiting from transparent, equitable and sustainable governance of public and natural resources in a society with supportive socio-cultural norms. / Girls grow up enjoying their rights to food and nutrition and to a protected childhood and adolescence, gradually building the skills and capacities to enter adulthood with positive options for her future.
Universal rights being addressed / Right to food and nutrition. Right to participation. Right to protection.
Drivers of Poverty / Poor Governance Gender and Social Inequality Climate Change and Natural Disasters
Critical Outcomes / Theory of Change / -Enabling gender-equitable socio-cultural norms, behaviours, attitudes and perceptions
-Inclusive and consensual institutional, legal, policy and strategy frameworks
-Equitable access to basic social services (e.g. education, social protection, health services, etc.)
-Transparent, sustainable, equitable and efficient use and management of land and natural resources
-Independent well organized CSOs effectively using evidence based advocacy (local to global)
Development Programme Objectives / -Enhanced productivity, adaptive capacity and resilience of women and girls dependent on land and natural resources.
-Empowered women and girls able to exercise their rights and influence decisions in the private and public spheres.
-Empowered CARE and CSO partners’ staff able to promote transformative, rights-based development at scale.
Development Program Impact Indicators / -% of households with slight or no Hunger (Household Hunger Scale < 2)
-% of households with Household Dietary Diversity Score > 4 (out of 12 Food Groups)
-% gender based violence against women and girls (domestic violence, early marriages, early pregnancies, sexual abuse)
-% of abuse of property (including land and natural resources) and family (inheritance) rights against women and girls
Humanitarian Response Sector / -Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
-Shelter
-Gender in Emergencies
Learning Agenda / -Extent of gender based violence, including harmful traditional practices such as initiation rites and lobolo on against adolescent girls and boys;
-Approaches for engaging adolescent boys and men as positive agents of change;
-Approaches for successful integration of nutrition, agriculture and gender
-Most appropriate agriculture extension method for ultra poor women small holder farmers
-How to strengthen Civil Society, including ourselves, to play a “honest broker” and convening role between private sector investors, government and poor communities
-Effective strategies for private sector engagement as it relates to agriculture, land rights, mega-projects and beyond

Part 1: Development Context

CARE Mozambique’snew strategy will be implemented in a climate very different from years past. The country has enjoyed 20 years of peace, during which time infrastructure has been somewhat repaired, livelihoods improved, and the economy has grown significantly. Mozambique is also now on the verge of an unprecedented economic windfall from the extractive industries. Yet, daunting challenges persist. Economic growth has not raised the majority of people out of poverty. Mozambique remains near the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index, number 185 out of 187 ranked nations. Of the country’s 24 million people, approximately 79% are classified as impoverished – over 18 million people according to the 2012 UN Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index. The vast majority of the poor live in rural areas, and rural, women headed households are disproportionately among the poorest of the poor.

Health data is similarly bleak. Life expectancy is just over 50 years. The fertility rate is 5.9 andthe average population growth rate 2.7% (with growth even higher in the North). The population is also very young; 45.5% is under the age of 15. Malaria and HIV/AIDS related illnesses are the two leading causes of death, accounting for over 50% of deaths. The HIV prevalence rate is 11.1%, but this is not spread evenly through the population, geographically or demographically. For example, new infection rates are three times higher amongadolescent girls and young women than for their male peers. Malnutrition remains high. The most recent 2011 national Demographic Health Survey indicates that stunting (i.e. chronic malnutrition) affected 43% of children under five in 2011, while 8% suffered from wasting(i.e. acute malnutrition). Rates in the north are even higher, at least 10% more than the national average.

Women and girls are disproportionately the most vulnerable in Mozambique. Theyface a host of disempowering, harmful practices and attitudes which are wide spread: from early marriage and “lobolo” (bride price) to the usurpation of women’s property inheritance rights, widow cleansing, and initiation rites reinforcing girls’ subjugation, to name but a few. Two-thirds of female headed households are chronically food insecure and many women and girls in poor, food insecure male headed families are last to eat. Female school attendance and literacy are far lower than male. Early pregnancy is high; 38% of females age 15-19 are pregnant or already have at least one child and,by age 19, 71% already have children. Women have little or no control over household and community resources, meaning they have little voice and agency in their own lives. They have limited knowledge of their rights, limited access to information and are not able to fully participate in and benefit from Mozambique’s economic development and opportunities.

Most the population, especially the poor,are dependent on land and natural resources (agriculture, fishing, and foraging) for their livelihoods. While climate variability has always been a challenge (seasonal rainfall can vary as much as 60%), climate change and population growth will only further strain the natural resource base, particularly already low soil quality. Insecure and unequitable access to land and property rights -- due to mega projects, land grabbing, poor implementation of the legal framework, and gender inequity among other factors – add to this difficult mix. The result is that the meagre livelihoods of most Mozambicans, especially the poor,are incredibly vulnerable.

The lives of poor women farmers are particularly affected by the current state of agriculture. Women receive few extension services and other opportunities to improve their skills and knowledge. They have little access to technology and key agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides which could improve production. These factors, combined with women’s limited mobility and decision making power, labour constraints and prevailing socio cultural norms, hinder their capacity to maximize production from their land and resources to meet their families' food and nutrition needs. The government estimates that close to 35% of Mozambican families find themselves in a situation of chronic food insecurity; thaton average, farmers only produce enough food to feed their families adequately for less than eight months of the year; and that two-thirds of female headed households are chronically food insecure.[2] As a result, women in Mozambique end up contributing much to, but benefiting insufficiently from agricultural production.

Compounding the situation are flaws in governance, on-going security concerns and political-military tension. Government service delivery has improved since the end of the war, but significant gaps in capacity persist. Elections are contested, but the ruling party FRELIMO has dominated government since independence and will likelyretain the presidency and its majority in parliament in the 2014 elections, despite probable participation of the two leading opposition parties, RENAMO and MDM. In the 2013 municipal elections, FRELIMO won all but four mayoralties. Furthermore, Mozambique lacks a strong, independent judiciary, an active, deeply rooted civil society, a vibrant independent mediathat can be accessed by most citizens, vigorously competitive, democratic,political parties, and an empowered well-educated citizenry. As a result, corruption often goes unchecked, particularly at the highest levels, and government is not sufficiently pressured to dramatically improve its responsiveness to the needs of the population.