Tanzania Social Action Fund

The Government has put in place a number of policies and strategies on poverty reduction. These include the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction which was finalized in 2000. The Strategy has enabled the government to make many achievement including increasing the coverage of education and health services, investing in infrastructure and supporting agricultural development.

However, one-third of the population of Tanzania lives below the basic needs poverty line. People living in poverty struggle to provide their families with the things they need. They can’t invest in improved seeds or fertilizer and therefore increase the amount of food their families have to eat, and there is very little access to local employment opportunities which might help them to earn enough money to purchase food, buy other necessities and find it difficult to afford basic health care and haven’t adopted a routine of taking children regularly to clinics.

This situation highlights the need for interventions focused specifically on poverty reduction and an effective and robust safety net which will protect the poor from the immediate effects of poverty, helping them to meet consumption needs and prevent further irreversible losses in assets; and also enable poverty-stricken households to invest in their futures and improve their livelihoods in the long-term.