THE United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Ireland Embassy have signed two projects worth 1.4 million US dollars aimed at analysing data for 2022 National Population and Housing Census and supporting local communities in Kigoma region.
UNFPA Country Representative Mark Bryan Schreiner revealed this while commemorating the 16 days of Activism against Gender Based Violence held yesterday in Dar es Salaam.
He noted that through the signing of the two projects which will be implemented for two years from 2023 to 2024, Ireland Embassy has provided a grant worth 200,000 US dollars that targets on strengthening national capacity to conduct analysis of 2022 population and Housing Census.
Schreiner further said that the project aims to support the utilisation of population data for evidence planning, strengthening the capacity of the National Bureau of Statistics to further analyse 2022 census data on issues of gender, disability and socio-economic status.
Additionally, he said that the other one-year project which will be implemented from 2022 to 2023 worth 1.2 million US dollars aims to support local populations in five districts of Kigoma Region.
The project targets empowering adolescent girls, young people and women on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
“We are delighted to be part of the two projects. The project will enhance national capacity and build the support on the efforts done by local actors for the benefit of people in the country,” he noted.
He added that the government will also take part in implementation of the two projects, which will involve various development partners.
On her part, the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania, Mary O’Neill commended the government of Tanzania on implementation of the 2022 Population and Housing Census with a response rate of 99.9 per cent during the enumeration period.
She has also commended UNFPA and called on other development partners to be part of the government’s efforts in promoting gender equality as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights in the country.
UNFPA and Ireland Embassy have partnered for a long time, where in 2018 to 2022, the Kigoma region project focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights and reached over 24000 young people and 82,000 pregnant women in different districts from the region.
