Tanzania Journal of Development Studies

Public Employment Programmes and Development of Human Capacity for Disadvantaged Women and Youth: The Case of the Expanded Public Works Programme in S. Africa

Nomazulu Sibanda — 2023-11-02

Public employment programmes or public works programme are old programmes that have been used during a crisis such as drought, economic downturn, war and off-food insecurity, as well as unemployment, to provide a cushion to the poor and unemployed. After a long battle with unemployment—which is linked to the colonial and apartheid eras, laws, as well as the industrialisation of the country —South Africa introduced the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in 2004 to provide temporary employment opportunities to the poor and unskilled. This paper used a mixed method approach to analyse the role of the EPWP, a PEP on capacity development for disadvantaged women and youth. The methodology consisted of a survey, semi-structured interviews and literature review. Primary data was collected in two (2)—out of five (5)—districts of the Northern Cape Province, where 128 EPWP participants and 14 EPWP officials from Kimberley townships (Greenpoint, Veregenoerg and Roodepan) and Joe Morolong Local Municipality (Gamothibi and Glenred villages). The analysis of this data involved a two-step approach through which data from surveys was analysed using graphs and tables. Dominant issues identified were followed with semi-structured interviews on a smaller sample size, and EPWP reports were used to substantiate these findings. This data was then presented in thematic form. This paper reveals the complexity of the unemployment challenge, which is beyond the scope of the short-term crisis relief approach of the EPWP, therefore, making two proposals that will change the narrative with which these programmes are conceptualized. Firstly, is the need for a change in the manner in which skills development is implemented by moving away from project-based skills development to a more labour market response approach. Secondly, is the need for public-private partnerships to share the burden of fiscal constraints in skills development to enable labour market transition.

Ecological Restoration and Water Flow Improvement For Food Security in the Context of Changing Climate: Learning from Small-holder Farmers of Southern Tanzania

Norbert J. Ngowi — 2023-11-02

Wetland ecosystems are estimated to cover 10% of the land surface area in Tanzania. Human activities, together with environmental factors such as climate change, have been pointed out as a major threat to the services they provide on climate and flood regulation, water and food provisioning, sediment removal, and human welfare, among others. Various efforts have been undertaken to restore the ecological functions of wetlands in different areas of Tanzania. However, insufficient attention has been paid to understanding the impacts of restoration efforts on the sustainability of water access for people who have been influencing such efforts. This study investigated whether the ecological restoration efforts introduced in the wetlands of southern Tanzania between 2005 and 2011 had improved the flow of water for wetland agriculture to the people of the area in the context of a changing climate. The TREND v. 1.02-time series software was used to determine water flow in the sampled restored wetland. To supplement quantitative data, interviews and direct observation methods were used to get social and qualitative information from the people in the area on the trend for water flow. The results showed three key findings: (i) wetlands restoration efforts have not achieved remarkable results since the flow of water has declined from 6.3 m3/s before, to 4.7 m3/s after restoration efforts; (ii) the flow of water in wetlands (r = 0.37) is more explained by factors other than rainfall (r = 0.27), and that human activities have contributed to the decline in flow; and (iii) there is a close relationship between culture and wetlands, where sacred wetlands were found to continue releasing water all year round for food production, indicating that culture is one of the tools for water resources management in climate-risk environments. Therefore, studies on the importance of using sacred wetlands to conserve water for increased food production in a space-limited wetland system with zero water loss are recommended.

Challenges Facing Former Street Youth Graduating from Rehabilitation Centres in Rwanda

Felix Uwitonze — 2023-11-02

This paper, based on a study carried out in Rwanda during the period 2021–2022, investigates challenges facing former street youth who have graduated from rehabilitation centres (RCs) in Rwanda. It employed a theoretical framework grounded on empowerment and resilience theories. A descriptive longitudinal research design used quantitative and qualitative research methods involving 433 respondents, 365 survey questionnaires distributed to former street youth, 10 group interviews comprising 66 former street youth, 5 personal interviews with former street youth, 3 group interviews with 33 youth without street life experience and 1 group interview with 20 parents, 15 personal interviews with officials, and 4 key informant interviews. The findings indicate that 66.4 percent of the respondents lack financial support, 58 percent are not linked or connected with service providers, and 39.2 percent face family and community mistrust. Thus, 70 percent struggle to improve their livelihoods through jobs/income-generating activities, which are different from the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) skills acquired from RCs, after long waits for unobtained support, and 72.2 percent earn less than $50 per month. It was concluded that former street youth are incompletely/partially empowered; and are not resilient in terms of the capacity to improve their livelihoods. The findings suggest that RCs should start to involve parents, families and communities when former street youth are undertaking rehabilitation programs to collaboratively handle issues faced by RC graduates. Immediate support after graduation, and special consideration for former street youth in job/ income- generating opportunities were highly suggested to enhance empowerment and resilience for long-lasting improvements to livelihoods and selfreliance among former street youth.

Rural versus Urban Household Consumption and Income Inequality in Tanzania

Fulgence Dominick Waryoba — 2023-11-02

The current study analyses household consumption and income inequality using two levels; varying-intercept and varying-slope hierarchical linear model (HLM). The findings revealed higher levels of average consumption and income among urban as compared to rural households. On average, urban households face higher inequality in both income and consumption than rural households. Consumption dispersion is also much closer to income dispersion in rural stratum than urban strata. The novelty of the current study is the analysis of strata estimates deviations from overall National Panel Survey (NPS) sample estimates using two levels HLM. However, the application of more than two levels HLM that includes other socio-economic factors will significantly impact the methodology.

The Determinants of Rural Women’s Decision-Making On Adopting Improved Cook-stoves to Diversify Livelihood Strategies in Busega District, Tanzania

Debora Andew Ngusa — 2023-11-02

This article examines the determinants influencing the decision-making process of rural women in Busega District, Tanzania, regarding the adoption of improved cook-stoves and livelihood strategies diversification. The sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA) was adopted to explain key variables of the study. A crosssectional research design was applied to collect data from 210 rural women through a household survey. Findings show that 71.43% of the respondents preferred to use improved cook-stoves, but only 23.33% managed to adopt them; while 28.57% showed disinterest due to past accidents of kerosine stove explosions (mindsets). Price fluctuation (seasonality) emerged as the primary determinant affecting the decision to adopt improved cook-stoves; acknowledged by 96.19% of the rural women. A t-test (p-value 0.00 at p-value 0.05) analysis revealed a significant difference in food preparation hours between women with and without improved cook-stoves, indicating their positive impact. Moreover, excessive time spent on gathering firewood and cooking hindered 76.67% of rural women from effective participation in livelihood strategies diversification. In conclusion, mindsets and seasonality were the key determinants influencing rural women’s decisions on adopting improved cook-stoves. The article recommends for community development officers to empower rural women and address these determinants to facilitate informed decision-making on the adoption of improved cook-stoves to save time for livelihood strategies diversification.

The Influence of Higher Education Student Loans Scheme In Nurturing Graduates’ Future: The Case of Secondary School Teachers in Tanzania

J.S. Sululu — 2023-11-02

This paper examines the influence of higher education student’s loans scheme in nurturing graduate’s future in Tanzania by taking the case of secondary school teachers. Semi-structured interviews and a survey were used to collect data from 160 sampled beneficiaries of higher education students’ loans scheme. The findings revealed that, though HESLB has succeeded to support many students who graduated and enter into the labour market either in public or private sectors, the potential return of such investment to most of the graduates—such as the ability to own social and economic assets like land, houses, capital as well as to establish sustainable families— has been realized to a lesser extent. The expectation of investing in education is that, although costly, it brings benefits in the future through spurred economic growth and increased earnings that can provide space for future long-life choices, and better service delivery in work places. However, the results are on the contrary as the majority falls into lowincome jobs, which consequently subject graduates to unmanageable and prolonged HESLB debts recovery. This paper recommends the reduction of deduction rates of HESLB’s loans, and other conditions that subsequently increases the amount size of the loans. The government and the private sector, on the other hand, should look into annual salary increments so as to enable graduates to repay HESLB’s loans, as well as attain their life expectations adequately and sustainably.

Inclusive Green Growth and Shared Prosperity: Are they Basic Indictors for Tanzania to Attain an Upper Middle-Income Country? A Theoretical Review

Odass Bilame — 2023-11-02

This paper aims to show how inclusive green growth and shared prosperity could be sustained, and in a way enable Tanzania to achieve an upper middle-income country status. The big question in this regard is whether the kind of economic growth that Tanzania has been sustaining over the recent years, at least before the COVID-19 pandemic, has been associated with ‘inclusive green growth’ and with a ‘shared prosperity’ or otherwise. The main objective of this paper sought to shed light on the extent to which inclusive green growth and shared prosperity could be sustained and enable the country to attain an upper middle-income country status with traceable welfare effects for all Tanzanians. The methodology employed was a documentary review of various documents that address issues on inclusive green growth and shared prosperity. In particular, a review of publications by the World Bank occupied a central place. Key study results point out that the kind of growth agenda that Tanzania has pursued has neither addressed inclusive green growth nor shared prosperity. The development agenda has been addressing economic growth concerns at the expense of green growth concerns that acknowledge the role of natural capital growth and its important role in the welfare of future generations.

Women’s Representation in Tanzania LGAs: Achievements and Limitations

Lily B. Makalanga — 2023-11-02

The representation of women in decision-making processes is a widely discussed topic in both developed and developing countries since it is a crucial prerequisite for achieving gender equality. However, the representation of women in politics is marked by both achievements and limitations, which are experienced differently by women as compared to their male counterparts. Tanzania, being a developing country, faces a similar situation. Despite the government’s efforts to implement international, regional, and national instruments that promote equal representation of men and women in politics, the current state of affairs is still of concern. To understand the achievements and limitations faced by women in politics, questionnaires were employed, using the urban and rural local government authorities in Dodoma Region as a case study. The study surveyed 390 household heads, and the findings revealed that the quota system, character of political parties, electoral procedures, poor gender relations between men and women, and the financial positions of women: all are the factors that contribute to the success and challenges experienced by women local representatives in local politics. In conclusion, the government needs to address the challenges faced by women in local politics by taking such steps as improving gender relations, electoral procedures, and financial positions of women. Also, political parties have a role to play in ensuring that women are represented equally in decision-making processes.

Inclusive Tourism Asymmetries: Location and Gender Aspects

Dev Jani — 2023-11-02

The capacity of tourism to include marginalized groups and alleviate poverty has been widely researched with diverging results. This study aims at appraising the economic contribution of tourism comparatively using location and gender. Using a structured questionnaire conveniently distributed to households nearby national parks and historical sites in Tanzania, a dataset of 507 participants was used to perform descriptive and non-parametric mean comparison analyses. Overall, local residents in and/or around tourism areas perceive tourism to contribute to poverty alleviation. However, the contribution of tourism in poverty alleviation differs with location, with remote locations receiving lesser economic benefits compared to centrally located areas. Furthermore, the results show tourism economic benefits not to depend on the gender of residents. Inclusive tourism initiatives need to consider locality in designing and implementation of tourism projects in ensuring equitable benefits. The comparative approach using location and gender in assessing the tourism potential to alleviate poverty is the unique approach of the study.

Youth Perception of Participation in Decision-Making In Local Communities in Urban Tanzania: The Case of Dar es Salaam City Council

Davies Mlay — 2023-11-02

The youth represent one-quarter of the world’s population and one-third of the population in developing nations. It is predicted that Africa’s youth will continue to grow for the next fifty years, whereas those on the other continents are ageing. The youth are an asset to community development processes when they are positively supported to be active citizens. Support will enable them to participate in decisionmaking at all levels to ensure sustainable development in local communities. Despite the fact that participation is a fundamental human right, whereby all people have the right to participate in making decisions directly affecting their lives, studies show that there is a low level of youth participation in decision-making at local levels in urban areas. This study used focus group discussions and questionnaires to collect data from a sample of 407 youths in the Dar es Salaam City Council to find the perceptions of youth on participation; and why there is a low level of youth participation in decision-making among urban youth. The results revealed that the youth have misconceptions about what participation in decision-making means. Though the majority agreed that their participation is important in their communities, and that they would like to be involved in decision-making processes, they had little awareness of the existing development programs in their communities and how decisions were made. The study concluded that urban youth were not aware of government guidelines and policies that advocate for youth participation in decision-making in their communities. Hence, it recommends that local government authorities should motivate and promote participation among the urban youth through awareness training programs and involving the youth in different local activities. Reducing misconceptions about participation in decision-making needs to be prioritized for all youth. In addition, there is a need for decision-making mentorship at the local level by creating good youth- adult relationships.

In the Name of Standards: Challenges of Achieving Local-local Content(s) in Natural Gas Investments in Lindi and Mtwara Regions in Tanzania

Opportuna Kweka — 2023-11-02

Recent literature has shown that resource curse can occur at the subnational level, and in some cases without resources. This paper draws from the literature on subnational resource curse and local-local content. It presents evidence from a study on processes in which investments are implemented and negotiated between different actors. It provides an understanding on how and why resource curse occurs. The paper is based on a study that focused on two cases of construction: the natural gas pipe from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Lindi. A total of 85 interviews were done with local communities, the government, investors and non- governmental organizations. This was complemented by a review of different models for compensation or benefits to the communities. The study found out that none of the frameworks for benefitting the local communities can work in the localities where resources are extracted without modification. This is due to the fact that investors set unrealistic standards for the delivery of services, and there was also a conflict between national and international standards. As such, the local content was not customized to the local context of the localities where the natural gas was extracted, but only at the national level, which ultimately deprived these localities of the benefits of having the expected and real development from their resources. The paper argues that for local content to bring positive changes in the communities where gas is extracted, a local-local content is needed. It further argues that for the frameworks to function, they need to be applied not in isolation but in combination and modified to take into account the local-local context.