Impacts of Microfinance on Livelihoods and Environmental Conservation in Tanzania
Local Communities in the Uluguru Mountains Case Study This paper presents the results of research undertaken to assess the impacts of MF services on livelihoods and environmental conservation. The overall objective was to assess the effectiveness of different MF models in reducing income poverty and inducing the adoption of environmental conservation practices in local communities […]
Resource nationalism and local content in Tanzania
Experiences from mining and consequences for the petroleum sector Many resource-rich African countries have recently drafted local content policies for their petroleum sector. Using Tanzania as an example, this paper argues that previous experiences in the extractive industries are a central factor for public sentiments and debates on resource nationalism and local content in the […]
Making Medicines in Africa
Fiscal Incidence in Tanzania
We use methods developed by the Commitment to Equity and data from the 2011/12 Household Budget Survey to assess the effects of government taxation, social spending, and indirect subsidies for poverty and inequality in Tanzania. We also simulate several policy reforms to assess their distributional consequences. We find that Tanzania redistributes more than expected given […]
REPOA Annual Report 2015
This year was the first year of implementation of our Strategic Plan for 2015-19. Responding to changes in the priorities and commitments of development partners, REPOA’s model for financing the plan was reviewed. Under this new model, collaborative research grants will be increasingly emphasized as our primary source of income, and new partnerships on mutually […]
Mineral Extraction for Socio-Economic Transformation of Tanzania
The Need to Move from Papers to Implementation of Mining Policy and Law The paper argues that having in place a good policy and legal framework is nothing if it is not implemented for the benefit of local communities and the entire nation. There is, therefore, a need to move from papers to Journal of […]
Can Tanzania’s news media maintain popular support for watchdog role?
In successive Afrobarometer survey rounds, more than seven of 10 Tanzanians have said they feel free to say what they think, placing Tanzania near the top among African countries in perceived freedom of speech. The Tanzanian news media environment, however, is only partly free, according to Freedom House assessments, and recent years have witnessed extensive […]
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 […]