Without Them, Progress Crumbles: The Invisible Owners of Development in Mowambique

Martinho Cumbane"

We live in the so-called Information Society, a paradigm that, according to Castells (2000), redefines social structures based on digital flows and knowledge production. In this context, information professionals assume a strategic role that goes beyond document management, positioning themselves as critical mediators in the process of democratizing knowledge. Studies such as those by Floridi (2014) demonstrate that information is now the fourth fundamental element of reality, alongside matter, energy and life. This centrality requires an ethical and technical approach on the part of information specialists, as Capurro (2003) warns in his analysis of digital ecology. UNESCO (2005), in a seminal report, already pointed out that access to qualified information is a sine qua non condition for the full exercise of citizenship in the 21st century. In Mozambique, where the rooster’s crow still competes with the sound of messages on mobile phones, the information revolution is happening in two distinct periods. While young people in cities are browsing social media at high speed, students in rural areas are still traveling for miles to consult a book in a mobile library. This duality is not only technological, but also civilizational. The cold figures from the INE (2022) show that 60% of Mozambicans live in rural areas, but they hide a harsher truth: many of these fellow citizens are being excluded from the greatest cognitive banquet in human history. As Professor Brazão Mazula rightly pointed out, “a people without information is a people without direction.” And it is precisely here that information professionals can write a new chapter in the history of our development. The importance of these professionals for national development becomes increasingly evident in view of the profound asymmetries in access to knowledge. Data from the INE (2022) reveal that, while urban areas have internet penetration rates of around 35%, vast rural regions remain virtually disconnected. This reality poses specific challenges for information managers, who need to develop creative and contextualized solutions. The experience of the Beira Community Library Network demonstrates the transformative potential when combining technical knowledge with cultural sensitivity. By adapting materials and methodologies to local languages, the project recorded a 40% increase in community engagement (UEM, 2022). Results like these confirm Nhantumbo's (2021) theses on the need for cultural mediation in information management in Mozambican contexts. The challenge facing the government, universities, and communities themselves is clear: we need to train a new generation of professionals who are as good at cataloging books as they are at dialoguing with chiefs, as comfortable with technology as they are with traditional orality. At the national level, the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020-2025 represents an important step forward by foreseeing the creation of digital hubs in remote districts. However, as Massingue (2022) notes, the effectiveness of these initiatives depends on the training of professionals capable of: (1) developing infrastructures adapted to local constraints, (2) promoting critical information literacy and (3) integrating traditional knowledge into information systems. The case of the "Arquivos da Liberdade" (Archives of Freedom) project (UEM, 2021) illustrates how preserving local memory can combat epistemicide and strengthen cultural identity, resonating with Santos's (2018) reflections on the importance of cognitive counter-hegemonies in the global South. As the Macua proverb says: “The knowledge we need is always within our reach, when we are ready to receive it.” The time to seriously invest in information professionals as agents of development is now. To overcome current challenges, Mozambique needs to train a new generation of technically competent, culturally sensitive and socially committed specialists. As experiences in Nampula and Tete (AIM, 2023) demonstrate, when information management respects and incorporates local contexts, its impacts on human development can be profound and lasting. They may, in fact, be the key to building a Mozambique where access to knowledge is not a privilege of a few, but a right of all.

2025/12/3