TANZANIA is expected to secure 200 million US dollars (about 466.4bn/-) for extension of the Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) programme phase II to enable the country and project beneficiaries to realise the goals.
That was unveiled here in Mwanza on Wednesday by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) Acting Director Shedrack Mziray when speaking to journalists during the handing over of the report for implementation review of the PSSN-II in Mwanza Region.
The review is done between the development partners and the government.
The programme was supposed to be completed in September this year, but some of the activities were not completed as according to the planned schedule, hence calling for extension.
“During the review development partners have come to see the progress, and we have discussed increasing 200 million US dollars to extend the programme from 2023/2024 to 2024/2025,” he explained.
He said the development partners were very satisfied with the level of implementation, so far.
“They have heard about different challenges encountered during the implementation and steps taken to resolve those challenges,” Mr Mziray pointed out.
He said the review was also meant to obtain all required needs for completing all the remaining projects/activities in the programme including the additional funding.
“Our discussion with the development partners was, among others, about additional funds for the extension of this programme in another two years,” he said.
He said the joint review is usually done after every six months to see the progress of the various projects/programmes implemented under the TASAF.
The main objective is to enable the beneficiaries to graduate from the programme after managing getting rid of extreme poverty.
“We have been told that Misungwi council has around 600 beneficiaries who are expected to leave the programme as their living conditions have improved,” he said.
The objective of PSSN II is to improve the access to income earnings opportunities and socio-economic services for the targeted poor household and enhancing and protecting the human capital of their children.
World Bank Representative, Mr Wout Soer said their official tour to see the implementation progress of the programme has given them a clear picture of what was happening on the ground.
For his part, the Acting Misungwi District Executive Director. Mr Chrispin Shami said a total of 12,680 households were targeted in 74 villages and only 9,395, which is equivalent to 74 per cent, were enrolled for conditional cash transfer in the district.