Driving Transformational Change in Mozambique: Conflict management and social integration in Cabo Delgado

Cabo Delgado, a province in northern Mozambique, has faced radicalisation and terrorism since 2017. This has resulted in social unrest, economic decline, and widespread displacement. With nearly a million people forced from their homes, the scale of disruption is staggering for a region with a 2.27 million population. 

Over the past ten years, the IGC has committed nearly £180,000 to fund seven innovative research projects to support Mozambique's government with evidence-informed strategies for conflict management and to facilitate the reintegration of Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Through strategic collaborations and sustained research-policy engagements, we enabled a significant shift in practice at the community level and brought religious leaders together to implement evidence-informed solutions. We contributed to changing narratives and perspectives at the government level in support of non-military solutions to conflict management and prevention.  

Based on our Transformational Change methodology, we study how our efforts contributed to the impact of this research cluster and what drove the change.  

Figure 1: A timeline of the Transformational Change in conflict management and social integration in Mozambique. 

How did IGC contribute to this change? 

1. We supported innovative research to understand the potential of information campaigns. 

The discovery of natural gas in Cabo Delgado in 2010 brought both opportunity and risk, with fears of a "political resource curse" threatening economic progress. We collaborated with Pedro Vicente by funding pioneering research to understand how information campaigns could mitigate resource-related mismanagement. Findings revealed that engaging citizens through targeted information campaigns reduced violence and rent-seeking behaviours. They also fostered local mobilisation for political accountability, demonstrating that informed public participation could pre-empt conflict. We presented these results to the Mozambican Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defence in 2019, informing government narratives about natural resource management. 

As insurgency gripped Cabo Delgado in 2017 and in light of the potential of our earlier results on information campaigns, our research pivoted to address the root causes of youth radicalisation through non-military approaches. We collaborated with the Islamic Council of Mozambique (CISLAMO), to support a religious sensitisation campaign in 2018 that challenged extremist narratives. The field experiment revealed that this initiative reduced anti-social behaviours by 8-9 percentage points, improved trust in government, and increased optimism about peace. The findings shifted perceptions within the government of the root causes behind the conflict and highlighted the effectiveness of information campaigns with religious messages in preventing radicalisation.  

2. We collaborated with the government and civil society to strengthen institutional responses to conflict. 

These IGC-funded studies on the political resource curse and prevention of radicalisation provided crucial evidence on how community-driven, non-military strategies can be highly effective in conflict prevention and resolution. In 2020, the Agency for Integrated Development of the North (ADIN) was launched as part of the government’s existing plans for regional development agencies, with our research reinforcing the need for regional initiatives to support peacebuilding in Cabo Delgado. 

“The research provided concrete actions needed to address the problem, both in cities and rural areas where the problem was happening. It highlighted the need to expand our focus beyond the directly affected to those who might be affected soon. So, it gave us tools of how to intervene in the situation, and it also alerted us that we need to expand reach.” - Dario Passos, former Director of Economy and Finance at the Cabo Delgado Provincial Government.

The success of these campaigns led to their expansion through radio broadcasting, fostering unprecedented collaboration between Muslim and Christian leaders in Pemba, the capital city of Cabo Delgado. This effort culminated in the signature of an interfaith statement in 2022 and the establishment of a Council of Peace in 2023, institutionalising conflict prevention efforts at the community level. The establishment of the Council of Peace and the interfaith statement stand as testaments to the community-level transformations of evidence-informed initiatives. 

“The radio campaign was the first time we had one message delivered by three different religious leaders [...] who communicated about the brotherhood and the peace that religion should spread.” - Imamo Musa, Community Leader. 

3. We encouraged research on alternative approaches to conflict prevention.

Our conflict management work built our trust with the Mozambican government and enabled further IGC research to support alternative solutions for conflict-related emergencies, such as the rise in internal displacement. By 2022, Cabo Delgado hosted over 150,000 IDPs. We funded two studies on social integration led by Henrique Pita Barros. These focused on fostering cohesion between IDPs and host communities through community meetings. Preliminary results show that community meetings can enhance tolerance and increase the sense of belonging among participants. 

These projects, spanning over three years, supported ADIN’s response to IDP emergencies in Cabo Delgado, offering a new approach to respond to this emergency. The research emphasis on dialogue-driven integration strategies provided a cost-effective complement to existing housing and aid distribution programmes. The success of this initiative led to broader collaborations between IGC-funded researchers, government bodies, and international organisations, exemplified by the signing of an MoU between ADIN and IGC Mozambique to strengthen research activities and to institutionalise a model of evidence-informed, co-generated research on approaches to promote peacebuilding and cohesion in the northern provinces.  

"The IGC was the primary actor conducting research and organising seminars on these matters. Other participants, mainly donors, were involved in cooperative efforts during the conflict, but not in research.” - Vasco Nhabinde, former Director of Studies at the Ministry of Finance. 

What drove change? 

 We identified the following key factors that enabled IGC’s engagement to contribute to change: 

1. Ownership and support from policy champions: Securing buy-in from local leaders, working collaboratively with both local and national government agencies, as well as with policymakers from central and provincial governments was crucial for navigating complex social dynamics and strengthening trust.
2. Effective communication and inclusive dialogue: Engaging local stakeholders at all levels ensured alignment of objectives, transparency and reinforced accountability. Particularly, IGC’s commitment to inclusive dialogue contributed to the collaboration between Muslim and Christian authorities.
3. Understanding the local demand for research and rigorous evidence: Addressing immediate local needs, such as resource management and insurgency, enhanced the relevance and impact of research.
4. Supporting agile research processes through the strategic use of various funding streams: IGC’s flexible funding streams (including fast response grants, exploratory research grants, full research projects and engagement activities) allowed for sustained engagement and the scaling of impactful projects.
5. Fostering long-term research collaborations: The presence of an IGC country team fostered close, collaborative relationships with policymakers and researchers. This structure facilitated the timely identification of policy opportunities and the exchange of knowledge, allowing findings to inform pivotal decisions and enabling the continued testing of policy innovations. 

To learn more, read our case study Transformational Change: Conflict Management and Social Integration in Mozambique and find out more about our Transformational Change work here.