The Mozambican civil society is still characterized by a large number of informal organizations. On the formal side, the National Institute of Statistic (INE) registered 4853 non for profit institutions in 2003, most of which were religious associations.

In a situation where the state faces huge difficulties in meeting basic social and economic needs, most of the population rely on diverse forms of mutual support as their only welfare mechanism. Informal self-help organizations, growing spontaneously on a needs basis, remaining mostly unknown and surviving without external resources, constitute the major part of the Mozambican Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

The experience of implementing the Civil Society Index (CSI) in Mozambique turned out to be an important tool for the analysis of civil society (CS), benefiting donors, government, academics, and of course the CS itself. The implementation was also an important moment of self-assessment for the CS, indicating new alternatives and possibilities for its strengthening.

The impacts of the implementation process – influence in governance programming, the construction of new internal as well as inter-sectoral networks, and the opening of the wider constituency dialogue beyond the usual CSO suspects - were less significant than expected, and there was little follow-up after the release of the index report in April 2008. The underestimation of the national challenges while adapting the work methodology of the CSI, and the lack of a strong implementation agenda, were identified as the main reasons for the reduced impact of the implementation process.

The difficulties in implementing the recommendations of the index after its launch, and the failure to promote its use as a reference for programming and governance, are intrinsically related to the challenges in the country. With this conclusion, it seems clear that future initiatives should take these challenges into account, including a longer period of training and capacity building in the process.