Breaking barriers: Unlocking education and jobs for women and youth in Mozambique: World Bank Blog By Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, Karla Gonzalez Carvajal and Robert S. Chase

Maputo, Mozambique (PANA) - How can affordable and reliable transport help women and youth access vocational training and employment? 

As part of the World Bank’s Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA)—which provides research, analysis, and advisory support to inform policies and programmes— the Mobility, Education, and Access to Jobs ASA in Mozambique tackles this question with a holistic approach. 

This initiative is being supported by the Korea-World Bank Group Partnership Facility and the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality.

The path to inclusive growth in Africa lies in our efforts to generate jobs, better jobs—in what World Bank President Ajay Banga has called the “ladder of opportunity”, where each rung represents a step towards greater empowerment.

This requires a multi-pronged strategy to improve, build skills, remove household-level constraints, and, equally important, improve affordable and safe reliable access to training and employment opportunities.

Through discussions with several agencies from the Mozambican government and non-government organisations, we identified a missing link that connects different perspectives and helps improve access to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for women and youth. 

Education authorities tell us how technical education doesn’t always match job market needs—something we’re already working to improve. Social protection stakeholders stress the urgent need to challenge social norms that limit girls’ education and employment and tackle the opportunity cost through social programs—we’re already helping on that too. 

But another critical issue often goes unnoticed: even if norms evolve and programs align with industry needs and household labour supply, without safe and affordable transport, underserved women and youth still can’t access training facilities and jobs.

We’re thrilled to dive into this work, bringing together multiple sectors to tackle a critical challenge: closing the gap between education and employment in Mozambique. We know that fragmented efforts alone cannot close the education-to-employment gap. By focusing on transport as a linchpin, this project tackles the barriers preventing women and youth from fully accessing TVET, ensuring that opportunities are truly accessible to all.

Addressing this issue requires looking at the bigger picture and we’re sharing more details on each issue below.

Unmet potential in Mozambique’s workforce

Despite efforts to broaden education access, the leap from secondary school to TVET remains a steep hurdle, especially for low-income adolescent girls. Each year, nearly 1 million students reach secondary school, yet fewer than 200,000 transition into TVET programmes, and only 80,000 graduate annually—far short of the 500,000 skilled workers the labour market needs.

Girls face additional barriers early on, from societal expectations to early marriage and pregnancy, making it even harder for them to stay in school. Yet investing in TVET can significantly boost employability and productivity: every additional year of schooling increases  women’s earnings by 14% and men’s by 11%. Overcoming these barriers is crucial not only for individuals but also for Mozambique’s economic progress.

The transport barrier: Getting to school shouldn’t be an obstacle

If you’ve ever been to Maputo, you’ve likely noticed that in Maputo’s Metropolitan Area (AMM), 40-50% of trips are made on foot. Nearly half of the population (45%) lacks reliable public transport.

Safety concerns and long waits on crowded minibuses (chapas) discourage many, especially female students who travel early or late in the day. In peri-urban areas, infrequent and costly buses can quickly exceed a student’s tuition.

In 2025, we have conducted an accessibility analysis and found that in many areas, public transport barely saves time over walking. Our map below highlights red zones where transit options fail to significantly shorten travel time. Students must walk or depend on unreliable options—both of which hit women and vulnerable groups hardest, making transport a key factor in TVET participation.

 The World Bank

Map developed using location of TVETs from ANEP (the government agency in Mozambique in charge of TVET regulation) and the GTFS data that was used for the preparation of the WB-financed BRT project in Maputo. Population data comes from WorldPop (open source).

Social norms also shape career paths

Social norms often steer young women toward lower-paying trades—like sewing or cooking—rather than higher-paying technical fields.

Early marriage and pregnancy further erode their chances of pursuing TVET.

By focusing on transport as the missing link, we’re tackling the challenges that prevent women and young people from fully accessing TVET. Here’s how we’re doing it:

1.      Building a Unified Strategy.

We’ve brought together key voices—government counterparts, AMM municipalities, and civil society organizations—creating three Advisory Committees to guide the project. Inside the World Bank, our team is co-led by teams from Transport and Social Protection with strong support from teams from Education, Poverty, EMBED, and the Africa Gender Innovation Lab (for impact evaluation), ensuring a holistic, multi-sector approach.

2.      Putting in place an innovative framework for systemic barriers

We adapted the well-known 4A’s for Education Framework—Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Adaptability, originally developed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education—and expanded it with the 3 A’s Transport dimensions (affordability, acceptability and accessibility), adding the social norms as a crosscutting theme, providing a comprehensive lens through which to assess the barriers young women and low-income students encounter.

3.      Using robust data collection and analysis to pinpoint the problem

We’re blending qualitative and quantitative research, including GIS mapping and mobile phone data, to track where lack of transport and entrenched social norms intersect. This allows us to identify “hot spots” where students are struggling the most, ensuring our interventions are targeted for the most impact.

4.     Proposing evidence-based, multisectoral recommendations

We’re conducting an impact evaluation to assess interventions in transport, social protection, and education. We’ll look at both demand (e.g., boosting youth motivation) and supply sides (e.g., transport subsidies, safer public transport, enhanced TVET capacity). These findings will shape policy recommendations, offering concrete paths to enhance vocational training access. Ultimately, creating equitable, sustainable avenues into education and employment will strengthen Mozambique’s human capital and accelerate its progress.

By taking a holistic approach, we can tackle these challenges together ensuring that education, transport, and employment opportunities are truly accessible to women and youth in Mozambique. Because access isn’t just about education; it’s about the ability to reach it and to stay in it.

-0- PANA AR/MA 14March2025