Overview:

The joint programme was designed to demonstrate that with strategic inputs in both the cultural and creative industries and purposeful inclusion of culture in development planning – culture in all its forms “can make a difference” as a strong contributor to Mozambican human and economic development. It provided the opportunity for partners to implement innovative approaches for mainstreaming culture in development strategies in the provinces of Maputo, Inhambane and Nampula.

Outcome 1:

Mobilize Community Entrepreneurial Spirit through Improving Tourist Access to High Potential Cultural Assets.

Outcome Achievements:

• Increased understanding with regards to the potential, opportunities and role of cultural tourism in the socio- economic development of the country.
• Improved capacity of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Provincial Directorates of Culture and Tourism, together with district level government services and Municipal Councils, to support the development of community-based cultural tours using a more participatory and inclusive methodology.
• Improved dialogue and collaborative work between government and private sector (community-based cultural service providers) at district level for the inclusion and promotion of cultural tourism.
• 60 community-based cultural service providers in Inhambane and Mozambique Island with improved capacity to work jointly to organize implement and replicate quality cultural tourism tours.
• District and Provincial level departments of culture and tourism are coordinating efforts to develop improved legal instruments that support the growth of community-based cultural entrepreneurs in the context of cultural tourism development by organizing the service providers into associations of cultural service providers both in Inhambane and Mozambique Island.
• Increased integration of intangible assets at provincial and district level in the development of cultural tours.
• Increased understanding of the value that small creative enterprises (formal or informal) can add to a country’s economy and in that way contribute to the alleviation of poverty.
• Community based cultural service providers working in collaboration to develop and deliver market-driven cultural tourism tours.
• Diversified cultural services created led to increased participation of cultural service providers (men and women, young and old) in each cultural tour offered in Inhambane and Mozambique Island.
• Communities involved in the promotion of cultural tourism have improved awareness of the value of their own culture and how to develop and promote their cultural assets to increase income in their communities.

Outcome 2:

Improve Community Health Outcomes through Recognizing Local Socio-cultural Practices, Norms and Beliefs.

Outcome Achievements:

• Improved dialogue, relationships and synergies between the traditional and formal education and health systems for improved sexual reproductive health (SRH) practices. 
• Tools provided for increased community participation (traditional, religious and community leaders, traditional medical practitioners and midwives) in the identification of local problems, creation of solutions and improved implementation practices for SRH at community level. 
• Distribution of important health messages and scientific knowledge in a more accessible manner for rural communities.
• Credibility of information disseminated by the formal education and health sectors strengthened (decrease in contradictions with those messages communicated by the informal sector). 
• Communities supported in their search for identifying their challenges and creating culturally relevant and thereby sustainable solutions to development issues. 
• Traditional leaders are no longer using the same instruments on different people during circumcision, and performed in partnership with formal health practitioners during the initiation ritual.
• Traditional midwives have adapted their practices to consider the risk of spreading HIV/AIDS. 
• Traditional healers advocating for and prompting people to test for HIV in Zavala district.
• The formal health sector is validating the role of traditional midwives and promoting their participation in clinical deliveries. 
• The use of popular radio programmes proven to be a successful way of reaching out to the local communities with information, and knowledge related to SRH practice. 
• Religious leaders advocating for condom use in their Islamic communities in the district of Mossuril and Mozambique Island.

Outcome 3:

Promote and advocate for the methodologies used.

Best practices:

• Four cultural tours were "delivered as one" in the sense that UNESCO and ITC shared the same vision for the result and managed to complete each other during the implementation phase.
• Training of Trainers strategy to ensure sustainability.
• Proposal to lead an additional evaluation several years after the end of the JP to measure its impact.
• Inter-ministerial synergies were created between the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education regarding approaches to sexual and reproductive health. These synergies involved joint work in sexual and reproductive health among nurses and teachers (in the formal sector of education and health) and traditional medicine practitioners, traditional midwives, community leaders, religious leaders, etc (in the informal sector).

Lessons learned:

• During the programme implementation phase, all efforts should be made to allocate realistic timeframe considering the complexity of a programme.
• It is important to consider that a consolidation phase of a programme must immediately follow development and launch.
• The first year of operations is critical to overall success and must be built into the “development” phase of the project and not considered consolidation.
• Key to the success of any programme implementation is the development of ownership- which is built not only through a participatory process but also reflected in the design and strategies adopted for implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• The level of genuine interest and engagement of local authorities has a direct impact on the perceived value of the initiative and ultimate performance of the community members, therefore the selection of technical focal points must be considered and it should be made clear to them that programme duties are part of the focal points normal work and not extra work that need to be compensated.
• Given the size and costs associated with travelling in Mozambique, it might have been best to place a technical person in each geographic location of implementation.
• An exit strategy should be developed as a key activity and monitoring tool, as this will also build the foundation for ownership from the beginning, providing a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities and a roadmap during and after the life of the programme. 

More details can be found in the documents below.