War-to-Peace Transition in Mozambique: The Provincial Reintegration Support Program

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1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Findings reports on ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. It is published periodically by the Knowledge Networks, Information and Technology Center on behalf of the Region War-to-Peace Transition in Mozambique: The Provincial Reintegration Support Program Overview At the onset of peace By mid-1994, nearly a third (5.7 million) of the entire population of Mozambique had been uprooted - either internally displaced or living as refugees in neighboring countries. Rails, roads, and bridges throughout the country were in disrepair. It was estimated that about half of the nation s schools and a third of its health clinics had been damaged or destroyed. Agricultural fields and by-ways had been hardened by drought and were strewn with land mines. Mozambique had become first among the ranks of the world s poorest and aid-dependent nations. When the World Bank initiated its Provincial Reintegration Support Program (PRSP) in July-August 1994, 17 years of civil strife had weakened the social fabric and severely damaged the economic infrastructure of the country. Multi-party democratic national elections, endorsed by both the government and the opposition, took place in October Thousands of displaced persons returned - spontaneously or with external assistance - to their home villages to put their lives back together again. Amongst these were about 100,000 former combatants being demobilized from active duty. Good rains and the end of the drought resulted in Mozambique s first bountiful harvest in years, setting the stage for social healing, economic stabilization, and a shift from an emergency-reactive focusing on "saving lives" to a more developmental pro-active mode of promoting "sustainable livelihood" linked to rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.

2 Building blocks to peace Led by the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Assistance Coordination (UNOHAC), the donor community identified a range of activities to facilitate the veterans transition from destructive combatants to a productive citizens. Until the elections in October 1994, these activities were managed by the Commission for Reintegration (CORE). The support strategy comprised 4 programs: (a) a Reintegration Support Scheme (RSS), (b) an Information and Referral Service (IRS), (c) a management framework for reintegrating demobilized soldiers with an emphasis on Business and Skills Development (BSD), and (d) a Provincial Fund for the reintegration of demobilized soldiers. The RSS, mobilized under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), provided severance payments, or a transitional safety net, for all demobilized soldiers spread out over 24 months, 18 months of which were financed by donors. The BSD, executed by the International Labor Organization (ILO), offered training and vocational kits to a limited number of excombatants. The IRS was executed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Creative Associates, and assisted demobilized soldiers by providing some low-level counselling and helping to resolve administrative difficulties. It was clear from the magnitude of the problem that additional efforts were needed. This related not only to increasing the financial contribution to the overall assistance strategy but also to identifying areas where support had thus far been insufficient, especially with regard to (a) the direct involvement of local government institutions at the provincial, district, and village levels as program and project facilitators and (b) the fostering of sustainable livelihood (real jobs) and community development through the explicit consideration of social and economic reintegration elements. Responding to urgent needs In support of ongoing reintegration initiatives, the Bank developed, during 1995, the pilot Provincial Reintegration Support Program (PRSP) in the two provinces of Manica and Nampula. The components of the PRSP were: (a) a training fund, (b) an employment fund, and (c) institutional support. The overall objective of the PRSP was to facilitate the economic and social reintegration of ex-combatants and - to a lesser extent - other vulnerable groups. After the delayed identification of the Government s primary counterpart institution, which eventually became the Institute for Training and Employment, Ministry of Labor, the PRSP finally became operational in early The first lesson thus emerged - hold out for clear government/local ownership and partnership if one wants sustainable, committed development. Training Fund Complementing the Government s ILO-assisted contract training scheme, the pilot training fund (US$ 500,000) concentrated on informal sector apprenticeship training, granting to mostly master craftsmen, small and microenterprise employers up to six months salary-equivalent and

3 materials in exchange for taking on an ex-combatant as an apprentice. The informal apprenticeships scheme moved the training provision closest to the point of employment, stressing learning by doing and allowing for the acquisition of technical as well as business skills on the job. While it did not guarantee employment in and of itself, it was expected that it would place the trainee in an environment which increased the opportunity for informal business skill acquisition (e.g. market analysis, sourcing of raw materials, cost management, etc.) and invaluable networking (social capital accumulation) for longer-term employment. A voucher program was also planned to facilitate consumer choice, empowering ex-combatants to purchase the training they thought they most needed. The training fund was not limited to any single province. Employment Fund The pilot employment fund (US$ 1,500,000) strengthened the current microenterprise and employment generation activities of the Institute for Training and Employment assisted by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Manica and IOM in Nampula provinces. The pilot fund supported income-generating activities such as the establishment of microenterprises, labor-intensive public works, the rehabilitation of social infrastructure, and community-based (including NGO) initiatives. Veterans and veterans groups, community groups, local government institutions, and NGOs were eligible to formulate and submit project proposals. Given the unfamiliarity of most target groups and beneficiaries with such a funding instrument, it was be considered desirable to finance small, technologically simple and laborintensive micro-projects with significant community involvement. GTZ and IOM provided technical assistance to local government and the respective community-based grantees in microproject proposal preparation, appraisal and monitoring. In effect, a highly successful decentralized training and employment fund emerged in the two pilot provinces. Strengthening Institutional Capacities The Ministry of Labor wasresponsible for coordinating all activities regarding the reintegration of ex-combatants. At the same time, the Ministry of Social Action assumed responsibility for the reintegration of and support to other vulnerable groups, including returning refugees and those internally displaced. The pilot PRSP supported both ministries with core staff and office equipment The Bank urged its implementation partners to deepen cooperation with local government counterpart structures, especially the provincial directorates of labor and the provincial commissions for social reinsertion, and to implement the Bank-assisted PRSP in close consultation with them. Results on the ground The achievements of the pilot PRSP are quite impressive. By early 1997, over 2,100 veterans had received skills training through formal sector training providers and informal sector apprenticeships. About 80 percent of those who had received training have obtained gainful employment. Over 300 employment-oriented micro-projects have been financed under the Provincial Reintegration Fund, reaching over 4,700 direct beneficiaries. The target of about

4 6,300 beneficiaries has, thus, been surpassed by almost 10 percent with unit costs below US$ 200 (excluding administration overheads). Training It is interesting to note that almost three-quarters of the trainees were trained through informal sector traditional apprenticeships (training-cum-employment subsidy model) at about two-thirds of the unit cost with the same level of employability as formal sector training. This confirms the original program design hypothesis that movng training closest to the point of actual employment increases employability at a lower cost. Employment promoters at the district level have played a critical role in brokering informal sector apprenticeships. Tool kits were provided to those who entered self-employment and have often been an effective part of the overall training and employment intervention. It must also be acknowledged that the original plans for testing a training voucher approach had to be curtailed due to the insufficient administrative capacity at the local level to implement and monitor such a scheme. Therefore, any future expansion of the training program should place emphasis on the informal sector apprenticeship scheme, connecting those who choose to proceed to self-employment to related projects to enhance small business development skills and credit. Employment The pilot PRSP allows for a comparison of a more emergency-oriented approach to employment generation with a more development-oriented approach. The rationale of the Provincial Fund (PF) implemented with assistance from IOM was the minimization of security risks through the rapid employment of as large a number of ex-combatants as possible. Short-term occupation rather than long-term employment was the objective. The Open Reintegration Fund (ORF) with the technical support of GTZ, on the other hand, focuses more on the creation of viable and sustainable micro-projects with stricter criteria for project selection and monitoring leading to higher unit costs. Fifteen percent of GTZ contracts are directly with the project beneficiaries, whereas IOM works more through implementing agencies, especially district administrations. Both approaches have met their objectives, as confirmed by the achievements summarized above. Moreover, although there is insecurity in some parts of the country, there does not seem to be any systematic relationship between the prevalence of crime and the number of demobilized soldiers in a locality. Both emergency and development approaches, thus, seem to have validity in the immediate aftermath of war. One common lesson learned during the transition from war to peace is that given the weak state of local institutions, the use of NGOs, community-based groups, and other private sector intermediaries to assist in implementation while simultaneously building counter-part capacity is a critically important strategy. Regarding the development and sustainability of the micro-project provincial reintegration fund approach, the GTZ has developed a comprehensive monitoring and corrective action program to assist entrepreneurs. The evaluative results indicate a predominance of problems in the areas of management and finance, suggesting the need for further skill enhancement in these areas. Overall, however, sustainability appears to be more closely linked to structural problems of

5 access to markets, transport and financing (credit). These findings suggest the need to begin weaning the beneficiaries off the grant, dependency-reinforcing (emergency-oriented) mentality to more of a credit, self-reliance promoting (development-oriented) mentality. The following chart illustrates the transition that emerged over the course of implementation. Capacity building Capacity building has been another objective of the pilot PRSP, albeit with lower priority, given the emergency environment. Both the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Social Action have received office equipment enabling them to perform their responsibilities more effectively. Also, on-the-job training in program coordination and monitoring has been undertaken. However, due to the need to reach as many beneficiaries in as short a time as possible, such support at the central and provincial levels, in particular under the employment fund, has only recently received more attention from the implementing agencies. In addition to moving from a grant to a microcredit orientation, the emphasis for a planned expansion of the PRSP model will entail a strong provincial and community capacity building dimension. For copies of the article, please contact P.C.Mohan, Rm. J5-171, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C Tel. no.: (202) Internet address: pmohan@worldbank.org

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