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The United Nations in Mozambique

The United Nations works, at the request of the Government of Mozambique, to support national development efforts, respond to emergencies and ensure peace and security for all Mozambicans.

The UN system in Mozambique supports the Government through a formalized UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a plan that outlines the activities and modalities by which the UN assists in the achievement of development goals prioritized by the Government. As detailed in the current UNDAF (2007-2009), the UN is expediting the implementation of the UN Reforms, a variety Joint Programming modalities and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

The UN is a multi-sectoral organization and not simply the sum of the individual agencies. By relying on the strengths of the agencies, the UN is equipped to deliver high quality services in a wide variety of areas. This multi-sectoral approach allows for the UN to provide both upstream and downstream services as well as operating on an emergency or on a long-term basis.

The impartiality of the UN is by definition different to the positions of the donors. This presents opportunities for the UN to play the role of honest broker, conveyor and coordinator between the donor community and Government.

The UN system in Mozambique has a number comparative advantages:

  • Advocacy for UN core values, including human rights, gender equality, human security and the Millennium Development Goals.
  • Normative and technical advisory services, setting standards and ensuring quality control, in addition to providing technical advice according to the agencies´ respective mandates.
  • Strengthening of national capacity at both central and decentralised levels, particularly strengthening Government capacity to deliver the additional resources channeled from DBS through the State Budget.
  • Support to national scale-up of evidence-based programmes.
  • Implementation Services. The UN can be sub-contracted to implement services on behalf of the Government, as seen in other regions, such as Latin America.
  • Support to national humanitarian response in sudden onset emergencies.
  • Bringing the voice of civil society to the table. The UN can play a strategic role in ensuring that the voice of civil society is heard. In so doing, it would also ensure that provinces, districts and communities are given similar opportunities and access to make their voices heard and to influence central government policy.
  • Building partnerships between all stakeholders. Given its impartiality, the UN is an ideal mediator and facilitator to foster partnerships.

The UNDAF 2007-2009 was developed on the basis of these areas of comparative advantages.

Click to read more background about the UN’s work in Mozambique.