This report is an input to the ILO Action Programme on Skills and Entrepreneurship Training for Countries Emerging from Armed Conflict. The programme has undertaken several country-level research activities of which the author’s report is one example.
The report provides a laudable attempt at gender analysis in a post-conflict country like Mozambique. It analyses the history of the conflict in the country: the conflict’s impact and the current post-conflict situation: changes in population and health: nature of the economy and conditions of the labour market: changes in gender division of labour: education and skills training before, during and after conflict: transformations in community structures and gender relations: the extent to which the country’s Constitution and peace accord cover gender issues: the inadequate coverage of women’s concerns and gender issues in relief, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes and also in current development and other programmes of the country.
A number of policy proposals are made which relate not only to women and gender concerns but also to the whole process of planning for the post-conflict context. The report shows that women should be viewed not only as victims – a vulnerable group – but also as active agents. Skills training capacity in post-conflict Mozambique is identified as being weak and poorly linked to labour demand, and the use of post conflict training models – designed to demobilize predominantly male soldiers – as an appropriate means of longer term skills development across the wider population, is questioned. The report calls for local institutional capacity-building in gender analysis and serious integration of gender analysis in development policy and planning of technical assistance interventions.
