Malonda

Programa Malonda
In Niassa the private sector support program of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is called Malonda. “Malonda” means business in a Niassa language. The Mozambican Government and Sida jointly finance the programme.

Improving agriculture
Improving the living conditions in rural areas is a priority for Sida in Mozambique. In the short term, efforts are concentrating on improving agriculture and trade based on agriculture. In the longer term Sida supports the development of agro-industry and processing based on both specialization and diversification.

Managed by JEC
Malonda is managed by a Joint Executive Committee (JEC) and has concluded a three-year pre-investment phase with the strategic objective of piloting concepts and projects. The coming three years will include a gradual separation of commercial and public goods activities. For this purpose two legal entities will be established;

• A foundation which will manage projects for the provision of services, and,
• A holding company that will invest risk capital and management resources in commercialization of agricultural produce, agri-business, forestry and tourism.

The present phase covers SEK 75 millions for 2003-2005, or about USD 10 millions. Further support through the public agricultural Sector Wide Approach (SWAP), called Proagri, has also been agreed to.

Pilot phase
During the pilot phase of Malonda several activities were started: micro financing, agricultural outgrowers’ scheme, a business center and the establishment of an ombudsman for the private sector, support to a tourism association, contractual joint ventures with traders, etc. Several hypotheses have been studied or tested. Some of these have been abandoned for the moment while others have been adopted. It has been generally confirmed, however, that private sector development in Niassa to a great extent depends on agriculture and agriculture-related activities.

Goal and vision
Malonda’s goal is to reduce poverty in Niassa. Its existence is primarily motivated by the absence of institutional strengths in Niassa. For this reason, the strengthening of private sector institutions is one of its principal tools in achieving its goal. The extremely weak private sector in Niassa can be seen as both a bottleneck and as an opportunity. The program might take a long time to achieve its goal, but at the same time its potential impact will be tangibly visible.

The vision of Malonda is to “Improve Quality of Life for the poor via Private Sector Assistance and Sustainable Natural Resource Management”.

The Important Private Sectore
As can be seen in “PARPA”, the Government of Mozambique is fully aware of the importance of the private sector for the development of the country and alleviation of poverty. Through the channels of Malonda and Proagri, Sweden now has an excellent opportunity to participate in the ongoing policy discussions amongst Government of Mozambique and the stakeholders.

For more information about Malonda, please contact:

JEC/Malonda
Lichinga
Inocencia Sotomane
Governo Provincial
Tel: +258-71-28003
E-mail: eliasoto@teledata.mz

Maputo
Monika Branks
Rua do Castanheda 110
Tel: +258-1-499517
Fax: +258-1-499519
E-mail: monika.verdeazul@tvcabo.co.mz