The United Kingdom (UK) yesterday unveiled its new 1.5 trn/- aid package for Tanzania for the next four years, to support the country’s development projects.
“UK’s overarching objective is to support Tanzania to reduce the poverty of its people and become independent from aid,” said Andrew Mitchell, the UK Secretary of State who heads the Department for International Development (DFID) in his plan.
Mitchell said that was the reason they have made a commitment to provide 0.7 per cent of the UK’s Gross National Income as aid. “As a result of that decision, we have faced criticism from some who think that aid should be cut,” he said.
“The UK Government is prioritising its development efforts. Around the world, we will work with fewer countries, where we believe our assistance can have the greatest impact,” he said.
Mitchell said the plan would focus more sharply on boosting trade and private sector development in order to help Tanzania grow its way out of poverty and aid dependency. DFID will also continue to support the delivery of basic public services.
According to him, DFID will have a growing programme of direct assistance to the wealth creating sectors, including smallholder agriculture - in line with the Government of Tanzania’s ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ initiative.
He said Tanzania needs a more vibrant, broad-based private sector for its prosperity.
“We will also provide support to regional integration efforts to boost trade and prosperity within the East Africa region,” the UK said.
UK expressed its commitment to help Tanzania achieve the Millennium Development Goals through a range of programmes that will tackle acute poverty, health and nutrition needs directly.
According to the Secretary of State, the UK’s development programme in Tanzania will especially prioritise initiatives that benefit women and girls, for instance helping 443,000 women a year to have choice over pregnancy by providing contraceptives, enabling more girls to attend secondary school, and women to start their own businesses.
The new UK aid programme, Mitchell said, will also ensure that more than 400,000 people have access to clean water and sanitation; more children will have toilets in schools; and 563,000 men and women in rural areas will increase their incomes.
“To achieve all this, the UK plans to spend a total of £643 million (about Tsh. 1.5 trillion) in the four years between 2011 and 2014,” he said, adding UK government is prioritizing its development efforts.
“We will tackle poverty and insecurity in some of the world’s most unstable places. Development can help tackle the root causes of global problems such as diseases, drugs, migration, terrorism, and climate changes, which matter to all of us,” he added.
As part of this global review of aid, the UK have also taken a hard look at the value for money offered by international organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations.
“No-one doubts the importance of such organisations in the efforts to fight poverty. But we know that they are not all equally effective. The United Kingdom will no longer provide funding to organisations which do not deliver – instead, directing more of our aid to those which do, and pushing them to deliver even more.
Above all, he said, the UK government will be relentless in providing value for money and achieving results. That matters because UK need to be able to show our taxpayers that we are delivering with their money, and because we need to ensure that every pound of our aid has the maximum impact for the people we are trying to help.
“That is why I have introduced a new Aid Transparency Guarantee, and set up an independent aid watchdog. I believe that the United Kingdom is leading the way on aid transparency, and I am encouraging others to join us in this effort,” said Mitchell.
Aid spent well has the power to improve millions of lives. I am proud of what British aid is achieving, and I sincerely believe that in working together, we have an opportunity to transform the life of millions of people around the world and making a big difference here in Tanzania.
