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Located in South-eastern Africa, between South Africa and Tanzania, Mozambique (population 19,000,000) is currently one of the poorest countries in the world with only a $1,300 gross domestic product per capita (purchasing power parity, CIA World Factbook, 2005). In spite of its rich natural resources, because of the chronic history of violence, dire poverty, HIV/AIDS (12.2% adult infection rate) and diseases related to pollution and natural disasters, Mozambique also has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world at 40.32 years (CIA World Factbook, 2005). The recent 2000 Mozambican floods alone displaced a quarter million residents into emergency camps, with the affected population reaching 1 million residents. In overall human and social development, Mozambique currently ranks 168th out of 177 countries in the U.N.'s Human Development Index (2003 HPI, U.N. Human Development Reports), and 96th among 103 developing countries in the U.N.'s human poverty index (2003 HDI-1, U.N. Human Development Reports).

We consider the relationship between external aid and development in Mozambique from 1980–2004, identifying the specific mechanisms through which aid has influenced the developmental trajectory of the country. We undertake both a growth accounting analysis and review the intended and unintended effects of aid at the micro-level. Sustained aid flows to Mozambique, in conflict and post-conflict periods, have made an unambiguous, positive contribution to rapid growth since 1992. However, proliferation of donors and aid-supported interventions has burdened local administration, indicating a need for deeper domestic government accountability. To sustain growth, Mozambique must maximize benefits from natural resources while promoting constructive international market integration.

A vast portion of the economic activity in Mozambique consists of small businesses. Moreover, these business activities are often either informal or unrecorded in official sources (Dana, 1996; Fialho, 1996; Fungulane, 1999). Not surprising, the accuracy of the statistical coverage is poor and uneven.¹ For example, calculations of the economic contribution of the informal sector by the Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (INE) and the Italian Government Co-operation Agency suggest that the real GDP is underestimated by some 79% (Economist Intelligence Unit, 1998). Abreu and Abreu (1996), of the Central Bank in Mozambique, using a monetarist approach, have estimated that the informal sector accounts for at least 33% of the Mozambican GNP. In Beira, the second largest city in Mozambique, Navaia and Kaufmann (1999) estimate that at least 60% of the firms are informal businesses.

Enterprise development and its contribution to societal and economic outcomes are well known. However, limited research into microenterprises and the practices of microfinance and microcredit in developing countries has been carried out. This chapter presents the findings of research based on six years of engagement with the microentrepreneurs of Beira in Mozambique and suggests a model for responsible and sustainable support for enterprise development in developing economies. Building on semistructured interviews, observation, and participatory action research, this research project articulates a new approach supportive of enterprise development, as a process of cocreation with local people and based on sustainability principles. These findings are part of a longitudinal study of the successes and failures of small enterprises and their impact on social and economic activity.

In October 2020, Zambia failed to make a $42.5 million interest payment on $1 billion in Eurobonds maturing in 2024, becoming the first African country to default on its debt obligations in the aftermath of COVID-19. Zambia's default highlights the fragmented nature of governance in sovereign debt markets. The Zambian default also underscores the continuing impact of colonial hangover in former colonies in Africa. Fragmented governance and colonial overhang create incentives for both debtors and creditors that contribute to cycles of sovereign debt. These cycles of debt pose a particular hazard to residents within countries that issue such debt. In African contexts, this has led to flows of funds for debt repayment that may significantly jeopardize the well-being of people who are already poor. Zambia's default also reflects the increasing need of African countries to navigate among different external actors, particularly China, which has given loans throughout Africa for varied projects, including infrastructure lending as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. The Zambian default draws attention to the significant amount of Eurobond debt African countries have incurred in recent years and the burdens that such debt may impose. The circumstances of Zambia's default, as well as recent disputes about external debt in Mozambique, reflect continuing issues about transparency and public scrutiny of sovereign debt transactions and the broader societal impact of debt internally within African countries and in relations between African countries and varied external powers.

The consequences of civil war have been widely analyzed. However, one of its important effects, the human cost of the conflict, remains marginally investigated. Indeed, most of recent literature has focused on the numbers of dead and wounded, while little scope has been given to survivors’ health. Given that the survivors are those who bear the burden of reconstruction, it is crucial to evaluate the health costs of civil conflict to develop and implement proper economic policies. This chapter is an attempt in this direction.

The aim is to assess the impact of the Mozambican Civil War on the long-term health of adult women, measured in terms of their height-for-age z-score (HAZ). Toward this end, two sets of data are used: the household survey data derived from Demographic and Health Survey (DHS+ 2003) which provides a set of anthropometric measures combined with an original geo-referenced event dataset of battles and military actions that took place during this war.

I find that women who were exposed to the conflict during the early stages of their lives display weaker health on average than other women, as reflected by their lower HAZ. This negative effect is correlated with age at the time of exposure to the civil war.

Furthermore, this chapter indicates that the use of the medical concept of infancy–childhood–puberty curves is a suitable tool for estimating the impact of age of entry into the conflict and provides some evidence of the channels through which health is affected by civil conflicts.

This chapter is about a group of designers, from the Piracema Lab that works with traditional craftspeople trying to avoid any imposition or direct intervention on the artisans in order to foster the development of the creative process. The process is initiated through workshops to make craftspeople aware of their personal history, of each other's experiences and local history. A local historian is always invited to talk about the town. The education process is based on research of the materials from the region for economic reasons and on the development of visual perception. The designers stimulate the participants to observe local things like patterns and forms in the architecture, in the surroundings and nature to be used as visual motives of the products to be created. I will refer to three experiences, two in the Amazon region and one in Africa.