Creating and maintaining a safe and trusting environment for elections is important for long-lasting peace, and IMD works to achieve this by organizing dialogue sessions between different political parties and election management officials. For municipal elections in 2018, IMD launched the Peace Room initiative, an innovative approach aimed at resolving electoral disputes by gathering key actors from across the political spectrum in a room at key points during the election cycle. They would then discuss a unified approach to any potential election anomalies in real time, increasing public faith in the integrity of the process.

The model was replicated at elections in 2019, and IMD hopes to deploy it again to ensure interparty collaboration, greater transparency, and a more trusting electoral environment.

Historically there has also been a gap between civil society and government in Mozambique, with interactions often hostile and unproductive. IMD works to bring these different actors around the table to ensure that knowledge and experience can be shared in a respectful atmosphere, most notably with the extractive industries, where collaboration is key to ensuring greater transparency and addressing environmental concerns.

IMD also works with provincial assemblies to implement oversight of the extractive industries, organizing visits to extractive sites and setting up meetings with citizens, civil society, the private sector and other relevant actors.

As part of our commitment to supporting safe, transparent and inclusive politics, IMD runs training courses for political party representatives, including exchanges to other countries so knowledge can be shared across borders. A delegation from IMD recently visited NIMD Colombia to find out about their work on the peace agreement and see what lessons can be applied to the reconciliation process in Mozambique.

IMD also provides training for parliamentary delegations on managing extractive industries, including on the legal framework for the legislative processes for the industries.

Women in Mozambique have traditionally been excluded from leading roles in the peace process, but IMD is striving to ensure that female voices are amplified as the country works to implement those agreements in a transparent and inclusive manner.

Initiatives include a new academy for women in politics, and a programme focused on Women, Peace and Security that actively promotes the role of women in the reconciliation process by providing skills-sharing and networking opportunities.

We are also exploring the impact of the extractive industries from a gender perspective, aware that any work in this field must ensure that women have an equal voice in the debate.