Tanzania
OVERVIEW
Tanzania's political stability, sound macroeconomic management, and considerable resources all contribute to Tanzania's great potential for sustained growth. Driven by tourism, mining, trade, and communications, the private sector has grown considerably, with economic growth averaging 7 percent since 2000. Despite these gains, the percentage of people living in poverty has decreased only marginally over the past ten years, while rapid population growth has increased the number of Tanzanians living in poverty by more than a million, overwhelming an already fragile social service system. Tanzania is not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015.
Tanzania relies heavily on foreign aid, with a third of its budget financed by donors. Lack of basic healthcare and the impact of HIV/AIDS and malaria, low levels of education and agricultural productivity, and corruption persist as major challenges to development. USAID partners with Tanzania to address these issues through programs in democracy, education, health, and economic growth.
PROGRAMS
GOVERNING JUSTLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY
USAID builds the capacity of civil society to monitor accountability and transparency in local government through public expenditure tracking at the community level. USAID also supports election monitoring and civic education in advance of the October 2010 general elections.
INVESTING IN PEOPLE: HEALTH
Life expectancy in Tanzania is just 48 years due to HIV/AIDS, the leading cause of death, and malaria, the number one killer of children. USAID supports national efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact, combat malaria, and increase the use of reproductive and child health services. By the end of 2009, U.S. assistance had provided HIV prevention services to over 5 million Tanzanians, treatment to more than 200,000, and care for 750,000 people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, including 330,000 orphans and vulnerable children. In March 2010, the United States and Tanzania signed a Partnership Framework to scale up prevention efforts while maintaining support for care and treatment.
USAID is also a key partner supporting national malaria prevention and case management strategies through education, bednet distribution, indoor spraying, and strengthening of the health care system, especially for children and pregnant mothers. With USAID support, Zanzibar has essentially halted malaria transmission, with prevalence at less than 1 percent, and shifted its focus to sustainability. On the mainland, malaria deaths have dropped by half, from 120,000 in 2005 to 60,000 in 2008, but prevalence remains high. USAID has played a role in reducing infant mortality by 32 percent since 1999, but the rate remains high (112 deaths per 1,000 lives births), as do the rates for maternal mortality and fertility (578 per 100,000 and 5.7 children per woman). Over the next five years, USAID will focus on working to control malaria, prevent mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission, provide 6-8 million children with life-saving nutritional supplements, train health workers, improve maternal health facilities, and scale up family planning services.
INVESTING IN PEOPLE: EDUCATION
USAID improves the quality of primary education by targeting reading, math, and science in teacher training, policy, and management. In secondary education, USAID improves girls' opportunities through scholarships, and is working with the government to ensure that all students have access to quality math and science books.
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Four out of ten Tanzanians-17 million people-live in poverty. Since the vast majority live in rural areas,USAID seeks to increase rural incomes by improving agricultural productivity, increasing market access, and promoting investment and trade in keeping with Tanzania's Agricultural Sector Development Plan. USAID supports value chains in horticulture and livestock to improve family incomes and nutrition, especially for women and smallholder farmers. USAID also improves access to credit for agri-businesses through a $20-million credit guarantee, and enhances food security through school feeding and employment programs in areas most affected by the global economic slowdown.
The livelihoods of the rural poor depend almost entirely on natural resources. USAID is improving conservation of these resources in some of Tanzania's critical ecosystems through community livelihood improvement, with over 6 million hectares of land and key marine areas brought under improved conservation management since the inception of the program. USAID supports the establishment of wildlife management areas, which empower communities to plan and manage land-use, and attract investment for ecotourism and other conservation friendly enterprises that improve rural livelihoods while conserving biodiversity. USAID continues to build on successful, long-term efforts developing Tanzania's first Environmental Management Act and regulations, and is now supporting implementation of the act.
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