Tanzania

Overview

Tanzania is a young but stable democracy and has one of Africa's stronger governance and human rights records. Institutional capacity remains weak but is slowly increasing, particularly in the ministries of Finance, Education, and Health.

Tanzania continues to be affected by the global economic downturn and is experiencing shortfalls from projected revenues due to lower prices and diminished demand for tourism and for major exports such as cotton, coffee, tanzanite, and diamonds. The country ranks 152 out of 187 on the United Nations Development Programme's 2011 human development index.

While food security is not currently a significant problem, Tanzania's vulnerability in this area remains moderately high. Over the past several years, cereal production has only been sufficient to cover national requirements, and regional disparities in availability and access to nutritious foods persist. To date, the government has responded effectively to these issues as they have arisen.

Tanzania is on track to meet the education, equality between women and men, and some health-related Millennium Development Goals but is off track on reducing income poverty and maternal mortality and in combatting HIV/AIDS.

Thematic Focus

In 2009, as part of Canada's new aid effectiveness agenda, Tanzania was selected by CIDA as a country of focus. CIDA supports the achievement of the development outcomes outlined in Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2005-2010 (PDF, 864.47 KB, 119 pages) with which CIDA themes closely align.

In this strategy Tanzania's aims include:

• Improving economic growth and reducing income poverty
• Improving the quality of life and social well-being of Tanzanians
• Promoting good governance and accountability

CIDA is committed to tightening its focus and scaling up its impact in three sectors, in line with the strategy. These sectors include health, governance, and private sector development-all identified by Tanzania and Canada as central to poverty reduction efforts. CIDA will continue to consolidate gains made in the education sector.

Children and youth

CIDA's focus on maternal and child health is critical to improving the quality of life and well-being of Tanzanians―specifically by supporting delivery of health services to children and to pregnant women. In particular, CIDA provides support to Tanzania's health systems, increases the population's access to qualified health care workers, and promotes measures to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among youth while mitigating its impact on children and their families. At the same time, CIDA also continues to consolidate gains in education through existing programs.

Economic growth

CIDA contributes to sustainable economic growth through its financial support to Tanzania's national budget. This includes support to core reform programs, continued investments in the social sectors, increased agricultural productivity, and improved rural infrastructure. This is advanced through the restructuring of the business-enabling environment by expanding access to credit and financial services to small businesses, by engaging women and youth in agricultural development and other small-scale productive activities, and by improving compliance with environmental laws and legislation. CIDA's support to the national budget helps the government to deliver on its renewed commitment to food security and economic growth and to respond to ongoing and emerging priority issues such as the global economic crisis at both national and local levels.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

Tanzania has been a leader in aid effectiveness, showing strong national ownership, high-level commitment to important reform areas, and leadership in coordinating development efforts around the PRSP. The 2006 endorsement of the Joint Assistance Strategy for Tanzania (Microsoft Word format) by the government and donors has led to increased alignment with national priorities and increased use of country systems for program delivery. This has improved harmonization among donors.

Significant progress has been made on a division of labour exercise, whereby the government and donors agreed to rationalize sectors of engagement by donors based on Tanzanian priorities. CIDA has been identified to lead donors in important social sectors―education, human resources for health, and HIV/AIDS―as well as on the crosscutting legal reform.

Accomplishments 2009-2010

Economic growth (2008-2009)

• Helped create market opportunities for farmers through the construction of 110 market centres for crops and 38 for livestock
• Helped create more than 1.2 million jobs by providing business and job creation funding to the private sector

Children and youth (2007-2009)

• Supported the construction of 968 classrooms, 709 teachers' houses and 716 pit latrines, at the primary school level
• Helped increase by 15 percent the annual rate of boys and girls advancing through secondary school
• Helped distribute more than 60,000 English, braille, and local language books to schools across the country
• Helped 248,280 people with advanced HIV infections receive antiretroviral combination treatment by May 2009, compared with 80,628 persons at the end of 2007
• Helped 88 percent of the population receive measles vaccinations in 2009; this number is expected to rise to 90 percent by 2010