Promoting Local Empowerment: The 7 Million Policy Design

Abstract

This chapter introduces the case study where empowerment as a policy issue is analysed. It focuses on the origins of the District Development Fund (the ‘7 Million’), a national initiative that was designed during the process of decentralisation in Mozambique. The chapter traces the origins, the design, and the empowerment rationale of this policy—one of the main political initiatives in President Guebuza’s ‘fight against poverty’. It examines in detail this policy’s regulation, including the role played by the local councils, as well as the views of the central government and provincial actors regarding its achievements in terms of promoting empowerment. Finally, it discusses the institutional and methodological limitations related to the initiative and its assessment.