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By ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO, 18th October 2011 Daily News
THE World Bank has called for introduction of cash transfer to people
as poverty is on rise among individuals in Tanzania despite general
economic growth.
The WB's report issued on Tuesday with a title; 'Tanzania: Poverty,
growth and public transfers' noted that poverty in the country was
widely spread.
"The report proposes that for the country to have a sustainable
economic development, two options should be enforced, one of which is
cash transfer and another is public works", said the WB Lead Social
Protection Specialist, Ms Anush Bezhanyan.
Ms Bezhanyan observed that cash transfer involves giving cash to
individuals who are unable to work in which the government is supposed
to dictate modalities of expenditure and make a follow-up to get
feedbacks.
"The government can, for example, direct the beneficiaries of the cash
transfer to use the monies in taking their children to school, and
then a follow-up must be made to see whether the target has been
achieved," she said.
On public works, Ms Bezhanyan said the government was required to
allocate some public works in people's localities from where the poor
would earn something in terms of cash.
Citing examples, she said Ethiopia was one of the African countries
which could provide best practice on how the two modes could
effectively transform lives of individuals, hence, lead to overall
economical growth.
WB's Consultant, Mr Jim Smith said 83 per cent of the poor are in
rural areas but there are many poor people in non-poor areas.
"Targeting specific areas basing on geographical locations is not
proper, the report shows that poverty in the country was evenly
spread," he said.
The report also shows that over 6.4 million people live below the food
poverty line, some 10 million people are facing severe seasonal food
insecurity and about 12.7million people are below the basic needs
line.
According to the report, the existing projects on poverty reduction
have a limited coverage which is less than one per cent of the poor
and there are inclusion and exclusion errors due to generalization
approach.
It suggests that "the government should move towards a single national
programme large enough to cover the country and big enough to make a
difference".
The Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) System Manager, Mr Ladislaus
Mwamanga, said the fund has already started working on some of the WB
report's recommendations.
"We have already started cash transfer as a pilot project in three
districts whereby some 10 US dollars are disbursed to every household
per month," he said.
He said that the pilot project which began in 2008 covers Bagamoyo,
Kibaha and Chamwino districts in Cost and Dodoma regions respectively.
"Already 200 households have benefited and the project has already
received some 1.9 million USD from Japan Social Development Fund and
4.5 million USD from WB to support the project's implementation", he
said.
THE World Bank has called for introduction of cash transfer to people
as poverty is on rise among individuals in Tanzania despite general
economic growth.
The WB's report issued on Tuesday with a title; 'Tanzania: Poverty,
growth and public transfers' noted that poverty in the country was
widely spread.
"The report proposes that for the country to have a sustainable
economic development, two options should be enforced, one of which is
cash transfer and another is public works", said the WB Lead Social
Protection Specialist, Ms Anush Bezhanyan.
Ms Bezhanyan observed that cash transfer involves giving cash to
individuals who are unable to work in which the government is supposed
to dictate modalities of expenditure and make a follow-up to get
feedbacks.
"The government can, for example, direct the beneficiaries of the cash
transfer to use the monies in taking their children to school, and
then a follow-up must be made to see whether the target has been
achieved," she said.
On public works, Ms Bezhanyan said the government was required to
allocate some public works in people's localities from where the poor
would earn something in terms of cash.
Citing examples, she said Ethiopia was one of the African countries
which could provide best practice on how the two modes could
effectively transform lives of individuals, hence, lead to overall
economical growth.
WB's Consultant, Mr Jim Smith said 83 per cent of the poor are in
rural areas but there are many poor people in non-poor areas.
"Targeting specific areas basing on geographical locations is not
proper, the report shows that poverty in the country was evenly
spread," he said.
The report also shows that over 6.4 million people live below the food
poverty line, some 10 million people are facing severe seasonal food
insecurity and about 12.7million people are below the basic needs
line.
According to the report, the existing projects on poverty reduction
have a limited coverage which is less than one per cent of the poor
and there are inclusion and exclusion errors due to generalization
approach.
It suggests that "the government should move towards a single national
programme large enough to cover the country and big enough to make a
difference".
The Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) System Manager, Mr Ladislaus
Mwamanga, said the fund has already started working on some of the WB
report's recommendations.
"We have already started cash transfer as a pilot project in three
districts whereby some 10 US dollars are disbursed to every household
per month," he said.
He said that the pilot project which began in 2008 covers Bagamoyo,
Kibaha and Chamwino districts in Cost and Dodoma regions respectively.
"Already 200 households have benefited and the project has already
received some 1.9 million USD from Japan Social Development Fund and
4.5 million USD from WB to support the project's implementation", he
said.
