In Mozambique, democratic backsliding has come amid intensifying armed conflict and a worsening fiscal outlook. Corruption is a key driver of this growing fragility across economic, political, environmental and security dimensions. There is therefore an acute need to come to grips with and strengthen the safeguards against corruption. Meanwhile, the discovery of vast natural resources has increased the stakes to curb corruption, and revenues from natural resources can both help finance poverty reduction, development and structural transformation – or incentivise continued grand corruption with disastrous consequences. Driven by a complex set of overlapping grievances, the proliferating conflict in Mozambique’s north has added to the list of reasons for investing in the rebuilding of trust in state institutions rather than in a one-sided security-focused approach.