Traditional practice of community development and the emergence of support for the continuity of community projects in Mozambique

Abstract

Abstract. This article aims to discuss the “Traditional practice of community development and the emergence of support for the continuity of community projects in Mozambique”, from an endogenous perspective of community development. There is a growing concern of donors, Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations to achieve efficiency, excellence and guarantee of sustainability in the services provided to communities. This work brings constitutive elements of the emergence of a new approach to community interventionism that encourages civil society organizations to take to communities not only one more program/project, but actions that constitute a consistent and continuous solution that responds to the aspirations of communities from a perspective of innovative and challenging action within the scope of the functionality of Mozambican civil society organisations. The creation of support centers is the proposal that arises from the emergence of support to mitigate negative impacts derived from the discontinuity of community projects. Therefore, a significant number of projects only work during the duration of the programs and end with the end of the same. The article is presented in two moments. The first addresses the historical context of support for local community development initiatives and their “modus operandi” in a common praxeology of doing politics, promoted by the logic of representative democracy and “advocacy” actions. In the second moment, it glimpses the current practice and its importance in supporting community development projects that are a response to the emergency of support to local initiatives to solve problems of paralyzed projects, but essential and with the potential for continuity.