Mozambique—Local Governance Strengthening (LOGOS)

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, Mozambique enjoys abundant natural resources, including significant gas reserves, coastal tourism, minerals, and arable land. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has added to the impact of cyclones, drought, floods, and increasing conflict. Collectively, these shocks have wide-ranging impacts on health, education, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. The need to strengthen underlying systems of local public administration for resilience in service delivery, combined with the need to position subnational government to manage the challenges and opportunities that come with resource wealth is now urgent.

The Mozambique Local Governance Strengthening (LOGOS) project supports the Government of the Republic of Mozambique’s efforts to decentralize governance and thereby improve delivery of public services at central, provincial, district, and/or municipal levels.

LOGOS engages with subnational government entities to strengthen their effectiveness, transparency, and accountability; and to improve service delivery in health, education, and water, sanitation, and hygiene sectors in targeted geographic areas. By the end of LOGOS, local stakeholders will be working in coordination for more effective, transparent, accountable service delivery in health, education, and WASH in the targeted geographic areas. The provincial decentralization framework and subsequent organization of functions and responsibilities will advance. Districts will have the capacities to take on new service competencies leading up to the 2024 elections. As service quality and outcomes improve, citizens will be empowered with the agency and the skills to more fully participate in Mozambique’s socioeconomic development.

Sample Activities

• Build capacity of government officials and staff to strengthen the entire fiscal cycle of planning, budgeting, implementation, and auditing, through the use of the integrated financial management system, e-SISTAFE, and underpinned by coherent regulations, structures, management systems, and mechanisms for citizen participation.
• Support municipal tax offices a year ahead of the planned roll-out of new collections to use mobile phone numbers to push one-way messaging out to registered taxpayers to advise them that their land or property tax will be due by a certain date.
• Address intersectoral and cross-sectoral district- and municipal-level planning and coordination mechanisms for WASH, health, and education, with a particular focus on human resources management of district deconcentrated entities and physical inspection systems for services.