The Whole Village Project – Iramba District

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Wakati The Boss akiendelea na mjadala wake wa nini kifanyike ili kuondokana na tatizo na msongamano wa magari na watu jijini Dar Es Salaam, nimeona kwa sisi ambao tulizaliwa na kukuzwa vijijini pia tuangalie jinsi ya kukuza vijiji vyetu ambavyo baadhi bado vipo kama wakati ule tulipokuwa watoto.

Hapo chini ni summary ya ripoti ya survey iliyofanywa Mei 2010 na Chuo Kikuu cha Minnesota kilichopo Marekani kupitia the Whole Village Project. Survey ilijikita zaidi katika vijiji vya Nduguti and Nkinto vilivyopo katika wilaya ya Iramba mkoani Singida. Survey inajaribu kuonyesha strengths na weaknesses katika vijiji vilivyoko wilaya ya Iramba. Pia inajadili baadhi ya opportunities ambazo zinaweza kutiliwa mkazo zaidi kwa manufaa wa wananchi wa vijiji vya Iramba.

Wengi wetu tumetokea au tunaishi vijijini. Hali ya kijiji chako ikoje kiuchumi na kijamii? Ukilinganisha na wakati ule ulipokuwa mtoto, kuna mafanikio yoyote ya kiuchumi na kijamii au bado hali ni ile ile? Umechangia kwa kiasi gani katika kuleta hayo maendeleo? Of course, hii survey haiwezi kuwakilisha vijiji vyote vya wilaya ya Iramba au Tanzania kwa ujumla, lakini data zilizopatikana zinaweza kusaidia kujua hali ya vijiji vyetu kwa sasa na tujikite wapi zaidi katika kuendeleza hivi vijiji kiichumi na kijamii. kwa hiyo, jadili hizo findings with a big picture in mind. Nimejaribu ku-extract sehemu za repoti, lakini repoti nzima inapatikana kwenye tovuti ya Chuo Kikuu cha Minnesota: http://wholevillage.umn.edu/documents/SIramba.pdf

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Introduction


The purpose of this report is to present district officials and local leaders with multi-sectoral data across several villages in this district. We hope these data may be useful in seeing the strengths and weaknesses of different sectors and the variation across villages. These data may be useful in prioritizing future development projects.

The villages represented here were selected by our donors for their project purposes and therefore they cannot be seen as representatives of the district. The data however, illustrate the diversity of economic and social development activities occurring across villages in the district. In this report, we present a summary of data collected within a single district. Household surveys, interviews and focus groups were conducted in Nduguti and Nkinto villages, Iramba District during the month of May 2010.

Methodology

The Whole Village Project’s survey tools and methodology has been reviewed and approved by multiple Tanzanian research authorities (COSTECH, NIMR and TAWIRI) and the University of Minnesota institutional review board for the ethical conduct of human subjects research. Further, permissions are sought by the respective regional, district and village leadership before beginning data collection.

Data collection tools included both quantitative and qualitative instruments. All interviews and focus groups were conducted in Kiswahili whenever possible. If respondents were not fluent in Kiswahili, a bi-lingual villager was identified by the leadership to translate from the local language to Kiswahili.

KEY FINDINGS

The research captured a broad range of information from two villages in Iramba District, Nduguti and Nkinto. Overarching district strengths, gaps, and opportunities were pulled from the abundance of data collected and analyzed and are presented below:

District Strengths

There are a number of common strengths observed between the two villages. In particular, there is relatively high mosquito net ownership, high rates of child vaccinations for BCG, DPT and polio, widespread latrine usage, and a moderately high HIV knowledge score. In Nduguti, 79% of households own at least one net and 87% in Nkinto. Despite this strength, only 60% of nets in Nduguti and 40% in Nkinto had recently had their nets dipped in insecticide treatment. Given the high rates of malaria in the area increasing bed net coverage to 100% and regular dipping of nets should be encouraged.

Infant and young child vaccination rates for BCG, DPT and polio were over 95% in both villages. However, vaccination rates for measles drop to about 75%; given the virulence of this disease, clinic officers and health committee members should identify strategies to meet the gaps in measles vaccination. Although more than 70% of infants and children took Vitamin A supplements, again the community should strive for 100% coverage given the low Vitamin A intake in local diets and the significant impact that Vitamin A deficiency has on child development.

Among the two villages surveyed, there was a high percent of households with latrines. Access to latrines and appropriate waste disposal reduce opportunities for communicable disease transmission and water borne diseases. Over 93% of respondents in Nduguti and Nkinto have a pit latrine, which is higher than most other districts.

General AIDS knowledge is relatively good among the two villages surveyed in Iramba district. The average AIDS knowledge scores ranged from 4.3 to 4.4 among males and 3.5 to 3.8 among females (on a scale of 6). The score for males is higher than most districts. However, the average female HIV/AIDS knowledge score is low. The high average male AIDS knowledge scores in Iramba district are largely due to the low percentage of respondents with no HIV prevention knowledge (0-2 points). 1 in five female respondents in both villages reported no HIV/AIDS prevention knowledge. Again, although there is an overall strength here, both communities should strive to increase women’s HIV knowledge in order to better protect themselves and their families.

District Gaps

The level of one’s education is often a predictor of other quality of life factors such economic productivity, food security, and overall health. In both villages, the quality of schools is a concern and the significantly lower per cent of girls attending secondary school. Girls’ education often is a predictor of family health in future; further Tanzania has set increasing girls participation rate in secondary school as a Millennium Development Goal. Other quality factors include a low teacher to student ratio, poor student exam results, and the limited food available at school. Only Nkinto provides any school meals, consisting of maize and beans for breakfast and ugali with peas and beans for lunch. Children are the future. However, if they are not able to access quality education their chances for improved quality of life as adults are greatly reduced.

Access to quality health services is also limited in the district. Most respondents in this district felt the treatment at local dispensaries was not helpful. According to men’s and women’s focus group discussions, malaria is the number one problem followed by reproductive and sexual health. In addition, maternal and child health services are offered only in Nduguti.

Any level of acute malnourishment among children under five must be considered a gap. Nearly 5% of children under five in Nduguti are acutely malnourished and parents have indicated in focus groups that kwashiorkor, a disease of malnutrition, is a problem. In Nkinto fewer children under 5 (2%) were identified as severly malnourished but these households also have greater food insecurity. In both villages, the main source of food for children under five is ugali, which itself cannot meet a child’s nutrition needs. There was also a significant lack of green vegetables and fruit in the diet of children and the limited intake of the nutrients these foods offer affect child development.

Farming, as the main source of income, is vulnerable to the problem of soil erosion. In both villages surveyed, over 75% of households considered soil erosion to be a serious problem, which is harmful to the sustainability and reliability of farming. Further, there is little to no irrigation of plots and very limited use of fertilizers. Both villages indicated that they had had no visits from agricultural extension officers in the past year and none of the NGOs working in these villages provide training in agricultural conservation techniques.

Newcastle Disease is the number one cause of chicken mortality in Tanzania. Vaccination rates against Newcastle Disease are low in Iramba District. Only 1 in every 2 households owning chickens vaccinate those chickens against Newcastle Disease. The highest vaccination rate (9%) in Nduguti) is still low given the severe consequences of infection with Newcastle Disease. Household surveys revealed that 37% to 45% of chickens had been lost to disease in the past year in these villages.

Opportunities

Girls’ participation in secondary school is quite low. The education committees in both villages have an opportunity to work with district leaders to identify opportunities for identifying solutions to this and improving the quality of schools in the district overall. As education creates a foundation for overall family health and economic opportunities, prioritizing education is critical for the future development of this district.

Farmers in both villages reported that did not receive a visit by an agricultural extension worker in the past year. These agricultural extension workers typically train a small group of local farmers in agricultural best practices and established model farms (growing maize, sunflowers, etc.) as demonstration plots. The trained farmers are expected to transfer knowledge and skills learned to their own farms. Given that the most common complaints of farmers was lack of knowledge of improved farming techniques and other measures, there appears to be an opportunity to further spread agricultural knowledge from model farmers to others and improve the productivity of farming.

The district should monitor the impact of the work done by agricultural extension workers. Increasing livestock vaccination rates will reduce the rate of cattle and goats lost to disease, which is still relatively high. In addition, although many households have heard of Newcastle disease, only a small proportion of chickens are vaccinated. Therefore, villages have an opportunity to reallocate resources to increase livestock vaccination rates, which is effective in reducing livestock lost to diseases.

Households with kitchen gardens tend to have less serious food insecurity problems. Specifically, villages with higher coverage of kitchen gardens tend to have a lower percentage of households that went to bed hungry, ate limited variety of food, and fewer underweight children. However, kitchen garden training remains very limited in the villages surveyed in Iramba district. Village leaders have the opportunity to convey knowledge about kitchen gardens as a means to alleviate food insecurity.

District leadership also has an opportunity to further protect the children in the district from vaccine-preventable disease. A high percentage of children under-five in Iramba District are vaccinated against tuberculosis (BCG), DPT, polio, and measles, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, vaccination coverage is not universal. Given the already high level of vaccination, the district has an opportunity to reach universal coverage against vaccine-preventable disease given the proper allocation of resources.
 
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wanaIramba wafe na serikali ya CCM na watendaji wake.can u imagine 1,307,750,970 zilibaki kwny account 2012 ka fund za miraji ya maji tu.
 
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