Supporting The Public Sector of Mozambique

Education

The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for lifelong education and training, co-ordinating provision between the government, donors, non-governmental organisations and communities. Public spending on education was five per cent of GDP in 2007. There are seven years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Higher education is funded by the state, but universities have a high degree of funding.

Tertiary education is provided by several ‘universidades’. Private tertiary institutions include the Higher Polytechnic and University Institute. Mozambique partakes in the Humana People to People teacher-training programme, which defines itself as a public–private partnership model and works across several African states to implement training colleges funded by government agencies and international partners like UNICEF.

Health

Public spending on health was four per cent of GDP in 2010. The national health service lost its monopoly of health care in 1992 and approximately 50 per cent of Mozambique’s public health infrastructure was destroyed during the civil war. Malaria and AIDS are serious problems – in 2011, 11.3 per cent of people aged 15–49 were HIV positive. Public–private initiatives to tackle these issues have mainly been applied by philanthropic bodies rather than profit-making corporations, including partnership between the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Ministry of Health. Tete Provincial Hospital and several district hospitals are scheduled for regulated public–private partnership to be financed by private mining corporations in a scheme instigated by the Mining Health Initiative key stakeholders. Facilities will serve the surrounding mining communities, benefiting both workers and mining companies. The leveraging of public and private resources is anticipated to increase the capacity and quality of health services in industrial areas. The Provincial Public Private Partnership Forum for this project comprises the government; mining companies; public and private (including private not-for-profit) providers of health care; and civil society.

Transport

There are 30,400 km of roads, 19 per cent of which are paved. The road network links with all neighbouring countries except Tanzania in the north. Many rail links were destroyed during the civil war. Rail links along the Maputo Development Corridor have also been developed in a co-operation between South African Transnet Freight Rail and the Mozambican rail operator CFM. The Ressano Garcia; Sena and Machipanda; and Nacala railways have all been developed via public–private investment and are now operational. Port and railway development frequently intersects – major ports are Maputo, Beira and Nacala. The Nacala Corridor has been developed via a consortium including ERL (Bermuda) and the Railroad Development Corporation along with Mozambican private investors and CFM. Both the Ressano Garcia and Maputo lines are managed by the New Limpopo Bridge Project Investments, Transnet Freight Rail and CFM to restore the route to the border of South Africa.