For Mwashamba Alimuse, a simple product – eggs – has changed her life
DAR ES SALAAM, 16 May: Just two years ago, Alimuse, who lives on Zanzibar off Tanzania, used to spend her day at the sewing machine, trying to earn money by making handicrafts.
But now Alimuse has a guaranteed income through the sale of eggs to hotels catering to tourists who flock Zanzibars two islands in the Indian Ocean for their famed beaches and historic old town.
Alimuse was one of 17 women and one man who banded together and pooled their money to secure a grant under a community-based farmer project aimed to improve agricultural production in Zanzibar and on the mainland, Tanzania.
Called PADEP (participatory agricultural development and empowerment project), it is a scheme targeting an estimated 376 farmer groups in Zanzibar, with the aim of benefiting people in more than 7.500 homes.
Under the scheme, Alimuse and the other members of her committee had to put in about 26 US dollar (ca. 145 DKR), with the money matched by a grant funded by the local government on Zanzibar and the World Bank. The money was used to build a hut (hønsehus) to house egg-laying chickens.
For Alimuse and the others it is an investment that has paid off – they have now sold more than 220.500 eggs, earning themselves 2.538 dollar (ca. 14.000 DKR).
Alimuse – a mother of five children ranging in age from 18 to the youngest at 5 years old – now says she has money to spend on her family and to invest in extending their business. The group has plans to build another chicken hut and buy 500 more chickens.
About a 20-minute drive away in another village, community members proudly show off a shop they have built under a similiar community investment project.
The farmers of Bumbwisudi community contributed about 20 percent of the total cost (13.270 dollar) of the shop and its supplies – by putting in materials and manpower – with the shop now selling fertilisers and other farm goods.
In the village, the average income is only about 250 dollar (1.375 DKR) a year and community members say the returns from the shop allow them to increase their agricultural yields (udbytte/afgrøder) and use the extra money to send their children to school and hospitals when they are sick.
The PADEP scheme, now five years old, is funded by 3,5 million dollar from the World Banks concessional financing arm (bløde udlånsvindue), the International Development Association (IDA), and 77.700 dollar from the Government of Zanzibar. So far about 784.000 dollar has come directly from the people.
And it is that element – a contribution by the community – which officials believe contributes to the schemes success.
Kassim Biwi, PADEP coordinator for Zanzibar, says because farmers have to put their money into the project, it creates a sense of ownership.
– In my opinion the best aspect of the project is that element of ownership, he says adding:
– You see we have had many, many projects before, but at the end of the donor contribution, that is the end of the project, because it did not involve the people very much. But this project involves the people right from the start, right up to maintaining the project.
The PADEP scheme is just one side to the Banks work in Zanzibar and Tanzania. In the last 12 years, the Bank through the IDA has supported Tanzania with more than 3,2 billion dollar (17,6 milliarder DKR).
Now the Banks Board of Executive Directors has approved a future funding strategy for Tanzania which will see the Bank provide more than 2 billion dollar to the year 2010.
The move came as the Board approved the new Joint Assistance Strategy for Tanzania – a strategy jointly developed by 35 donor groups, including the Bank.
Tanzania stands out as a country in which assistance from the international community is all channeled through a single strategy – supporting the governments own efforts to reduce poverty and promote the economys growth..
It is a move applauded by Tanzanias president, Jakaya Kikwete.
– It has worked well because we have evolved in our relationship with the donor community, Kikwete says.
– Initially the donor knew everything. They knew what was in our interest so they would simply say you want this, you want this; this is how we are going to do it. So, the paradigm has shifted through this new compact. Now, there is greater involvement of us, the recipients now have a great say, greater ownership on what we think is what works best for us, noted the President.
In an interview with the Bank last month, Kikwete singled out the need for the country to improve its agricultural base, as one of its key challenges going forward. Eighty percent of people live in the rural areas – but as the President readily acknowledges “it is subsistence agriculture – living from hand to mouth.”
– Of course the overriding challenge really – the major challenge for me is how to attain higher growth levels, because if we were able to get to 8-10 per cent growth, sustained over a period of 10 years, probably that’s going to really make the difference, Kikwete concludes.
Tanzania Becomes a Top Reformer
Tanzania, once an economic laggard among African nations, has become a world-class reformer.
– Africa is speeding the pace of reform, with Rwanda and Tanzania showing the way, and this is a very positive development, said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development and IFC Chief Economist, at a recent Washington meeting where the Bank and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) honored top reformers.
Klein was referring to Tanzanias leap (spring) to the No. 10th slot among reformers worldwide in the World Banks ”Doing Business 2007” ranking.
To make the leap, Tanzania slashed the cost to register new businesses, streamlined port operations in Dar es Salaam, cut property transfer red tape and strengthened laws protecting small investors.
While the country has doubled its per-capita growth rate over a reform-filled decade, it still ranks 142 out of 175 countries in the overall Doing Business ranking. To continue this reform, the World Banks IDA, with DENMARK, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK as partners, is supporting a number of projects.
Those initiatives are aimed at modernizing taxation, improving competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses and broadening access to judicial and legal services and making public financial resources more accountable and transparent.
In separate action, the Bank has approved a 190 million dollar credit to Tanzania to support implementation of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUTA på swahili).
All those moves can favorably impact on Tanzanias growth rate, which is slightly under 6 percent, and help it achieve its Millennium Development Goals.
In the World Banks ”Africa Development Indicators 2006,” Tanzania ranked in the middle of the 16 Sub-Saharan nations that had sustained their growth since the 1990s.
The report said Tanzania is one of the selective African countries that “have the ability to compete effectively in certain global service markets”.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
