novafrica@novasbe.pt

Networks and Information: An Impact Evaluation of Efforts to Increase Political Participation in Mozambique

Project Info

Principal Investigators

Macartan Humphreys
Pedro Vicente

Field Coordination

Tiago Almeida

Funding

USAID

 

About this Project

This impact evaluation explores two initiatives to increase voter turnout and political participation in Mozambique, a country with low participation rates. One of the possible explanations for low turnout and limited participation is insufficient information about political and public issues. In particular, there is a dearth of newspapers, and newspaper readership is extremely low in Mozambique. As such, this impact evaluation asks if distribution of a free newspaper with information about upcoming elections can increase voter turnout.

In addition, given the commonality and effectiveness of voter turnout drives in many countries, Mozambican turnout and other political participation could also be increased through more concerted mobilization efforts. Increased access to information and communication technology offers a low cost and previously unavailable mechanism to promote such participation. As a result, this evaluation asks if SMS campaigns can increase political participation, and, if they can, what type of SMS campaign is most effective.

See more about this research project in this video.

Read the Working Paper here and the article published in the Journal of Development Economics  here .

 

Contributing to SDGs: