Resource information
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 1994. 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.
