The ‘Nampula Model’: A Mozambique Case of Successful Participatory Planning and Financing

Abstract

In 1996 a local planning, financing and governance model was conceived in Nampula province, northern Mozambique. Within ten years it was being hailed as a success by Mozambique’s Prime Minister, by the donors who supported it and by academics who studied it (Galli, 2003; Roll, 2004; Weimer, Cabral, and Jackson, 2004). It had influenced national legislation, and attempts to replicate it under World Bank auspices had begun. Yet several of its features remained unclear. There was disagreement about what kind of experiment it was; it occurred amidst centralizing as well as decentralizing initiatives in central government; and the replication attempts have had patchy success. Thus the reports of success should not be taken at face value. We stress this obvious point because we approach the initiative from an insider’s perspective — the author was involved in its implementation — with all the usual limitations that entails. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.