Enhancing lives: TASAF’S commitment to poverty alleviation
THE government has put in place a number of policies and strategies on poverty reduction.
These include the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction which was finalised in 2000.
The strategy has enabled the government to make many achievements including increasing the coverage of education and health services, investing in infrastructure and supporting agricultural development.
One in place has been the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), which for nearly 24 years, has been dedicated to lifting poor households out of poverty.
Operating under the Office of the President, TASAF emphasises evaluation as a crucial component for securing funding and improving future initiatives.
It operates through various components, including conditional cash transfers, public works programmes, capacity building and community-driven development projects.
The programme provides cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households with the condition that the transfers are used on health and education services along with opportunities to earn additional income through public works and livelihoods.
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Project phases and evaluation
TASAF has structured its Poverty Alleviation Project into two phases: PSSN I and PSSN II, with PSSN II set to conclude next year. TASAF Executive Director Shedrack Mziray highlights that evaluations help assess the programme’s efficiency, citing a 70 per cent success rate from PSSN I, which was evaluated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician of Zanzibar (OCGS).
Here, PSSN aimed at enabling the 1.1million poor households living under the poverty line in 161 Project Area Authorities to increase incomes and opportunities while improving consumption.
On September 21, 2024, TASAF launched the Final Evaluation of PSSN II, officiated by Hemed Suleiman Abdulla, the Second Vice President of Zanzibar. This evaluation is crucial as it assesses the outcomes of a programme aimed at benefitting 1.4 million households and over six million people since its initiation in February 2020.
Programme achievements
From July 2021 to June 2024, the programme distributed over 945.5b/- in subsidies. In addition, TASAF has initiated a Public Works Programme, creating 27,863 community projects that employed 662,374 households. These projects include infrastructure improvements like irrigation, tree planting and road construction.
Mr Mziray noted that by June 2024, over 60,000 groups had formed, predominantly comprising women, who collected savings of 7.9b/- and loaned out 3.2b/- for income-generating activities. Furthermore, 84,674 households received entrepreneurship training and grants totalling 31.3b/-.
Recently, a joint field visit to PSSN projects in Simiyu was conducted by, TASAF, the International Development Association (IDA), the European Union, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Department for International Development (DfID) and local government authorities and UN agencies. (UN Agencies involved into the programme are UNDP, UNICEF, ILO and UNFPA).
Key components of TASAF PSSN for Simiyu Region, Itilima District: Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT); Public Works Programme (PWP); Community Savings and Livelihoods Enhancement and Targeted Infrastructure
In Simiyu, beneficiaries have received a total of 7.3b/-. The programme has stimulated activities that create income like agriculture and livestock-keeping.
Here, snapshot of PSSN’s impact in Simiyu is that 329 villages have received support, 37,880 households have benefitted from Conditional Cash Transfers, 5,118 households have benefitted from the Public Works Programme, 197 hand-dug wells in 55 villages are currently being built and 50,661 children from enrolled poor households are benefitting from PSSN through health and education services.
Evaluation’s role in future planning
The upcoming evaluation will be instrumental in securing future funding, as it identifies areas needing attention. Mziray mentioned that initial assessments revealed over 395,000 households ready to exit the programme, marking significant progress.
Reached for a comment, Vice President Abdulla emphasised the alignment of TASAF’s efforts with global standards for project evaluation, urging timely completion of the assessment to inform government actions. He noted that the programme has helped approximately 1.45 million households, significantly improving the living conditions of many.
Community involvement and implementation
The evaluation will cover 17 regions, including 14 from mainland Tanzania and three from Zanzibar, involving 434 shehias, villages and streets. Chief Statistician of Zanzibar, Salum Kassim Ali, elaborated on the programme’s reach and its impact on communities.
Global partnerships
Claudia Zambra, a World Bank representative, praised the success of PSSN II and affirmed their commitment to continue partnering with the Tanzanian government through TASAF to further uplift citizens.
