Real Wages and Labour Productivity in Tanzania. How Do They Link?
This paper undertakes an empirical analysis of the linkage between Labour productivity and real wages in Tanzania. The paper finds no clear pattern in the link between real wages and productivity. Real incomes in the private sector have registered
Tourism, Development, and Inequality: The Case of Tanzania
The challenge of intermediary coordination in smallholder sugarcane production in Tanzania
Orthodox approaches to development view the market as a key institution for driving economic transformation and for fostering innovation and competitiveness. The working of markets alone, however, does not always lead to improved outcomes such as increase in productivity or production efficiency in the context of smallholders. The role of non-market institutions, therefore, remains important. […]
The Invisibility of Wage Employment in Statistics on the Informal Economy in Africa: Causes and Consequences
Through a Tanzanian case study, this paper challenges the claim, along with the statistics that support it, that self-employment is the dominant employment status in the informal economy. The paper begins by reviewing key insights from the relevant literature on the informal economy to argue that conventional notions of ‘wage employment’ and ‘self-employment’, while unfit […]
Political accountability in East African countries
Who should make MPs and councillors do their jobs? One of the critical challenges facing African countries today is how to make governments work for the people – using resources at their disposal efficiently, delivering public goods and services, and guaranteeing an equitable distribution of opportunities and national income among citizens. In many places, systems […]
Cultural Factors Influencing Youth Attitudes on the Use of Condoms in Fighting Against HIV Infection in Tanzania
This study investigates the relationship between cultural factors and youth attitudes and the implication of this relationship for the use of condoms in preventing HIV infection. The study employs questionnaires and focus group discussions to collect information from three districts, namely Ludewa in Njombe Region, Muleba in Kagera Region, and Handeni in Tanga Region.
Rural Non-Farm Activities and Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania
A Case Study of Two Villages in Chamwino and Bahi Districts of Dodoma Region The study assessed the role of rural non-farm activities on poverty alleviation in Tanzania. Specifically, it examined the factors affecting the performance of rural non-farm activities, the mechanisms through which rural non-farm and farm activities are interlinked, and the ways through […]
From Passive to Active Industrial Policy:
Improving Locally Manufactured Supplies
to the Tanzanian Health Sector
This brief reports findings from a REPOA research project, with the Open University, UK, and ACTS, Nairobi, on Industrial Productivity and Health Sector Performance, including interviews in 2013–14 with seventeen manufacturers and distributors.
From Passive to Active Industrial Policy: Improving Locally Manufactured Supplies to the Tanzanian Health Sector
Seizing a major opportunity: industrial development with health sector benefits Local manufacturers in Tanzania are not sharing in the large and expanding market for health-related commodities. The health sector buys medicines and other supplies such as cotton wool, protective gloves, syringes, diagnostic test kits, laboratory supplies, medical equipment, and infection control items such as soap […]
The performance of the manufacturing sector in Tanzania Challenges and the way forward
Challenges and the way forward Tanzania’s industrial sector has evolved through various stages since independence in 1961, from nascent and undiversified to state-led import substitution industrialization, and subsequently to de-industrialization under the structural adjustment programmes and policy reforms. The current development agenda, however, has brought industrial development back to be one of the policy priorities.
The Changing Economy of Tanzania
Patterns of Accumulation and Structural Change This working paper explores past processes of economic transformation in Tanzania, particularly since the economic reforms of the 1980s. The paper starts with the premise that it is not sufficient to look at the evolution of the rate of economic growth to assess the macroeconomic performance of the economy, […]
Economic Transformation in Tanzania: Vicious or Virtuous Circle?
This paper explores the concept of economic transformation and investigates its relevance to present-day policy debates in Tanzania. This paper, therefore, is conceptual in nature and starts by taking a critical look at a homemade definition of economic transformation. It then presents a brief literature review of the concept of economic transformation and its relation […]
Assessing the Potential of Development Grants as a Promotive Social Protection Measure
In addressing generalized poverty, social protection strategies have taken a promotive approach whereby strategies are extended to arenas such as strengthening the production capabilities of the poor. This approach emphasizes the design of public actions for helping people to manage risk and adversity, but also contributes to larger policy objectives of economic growth and poverty […]
In Quest of Inclusive Growth: Exploring the Nexus between Economic Growth, Employment, and Poverty in Tanzania
Tanzania’s impressive economic growth during the past decade has not resulted in significant poverty reduction. It is in that context that this study seeks to analyze the nexus between economic growth, employment, and poverty in a manner that contributes to the understanding of how the rate poverty reduction can be accelerated
Hydrocarbon Resources in Tanzania: Achieving Benefits with Robust Protection
Natural gas, like many other natural endowments, is a finite resource. Its consumption today is a subtraction from, and detrimental to, the resources of future generations. Therefore, the extraction of finite resources must be based on, and guided by, broad and long-term considerations instead of being limited to immediate and short-term proceeds and benefits. Put […]
Citizen Participation and Local Governance in Tanzania
Active participation in local governance is necessary for improving a citizen’s quality of life. Participation is manifested by the citizen’s active role in governance structures (village/ neighborhood (mtaa) assembly meetings), active involvement in public service committees (water management committees, school committees, etc.), and active involvement in preparing village/ neighborhood and ward plans.