After the Opening Session paper presentation followed. The Chairman for the session, Dr. Damas K. Mbogoro, Planning Commissioner in the Office of the President and Ex-Minister of Finance, invited one by one the presenters. The summary of the papers and participants' main comments are hereunder presented.
Dr. Fidelis Mtatifikolo and Prof. Robert Mabele5
Summary
The broad purpose of the paper is to present an analytical discussion of development strategies for poverty alleviation in the global context in Tanzania.
Specifically the paper discusses:
(i) the notion of poverty, identification of the poor, and measurement of poverty.
(ii) development strategies and poverty in Tanzania as linked to the political and economic environment and the poverty profile.
(iii) the logic and content of poverty alleviation by addressing the analytical conceptual and operational initiatives for poverty alleviation.
(iv) poverty reduction initiatives in Tanzania at both policy and operational levels.
The study winds up by a synthesis, conclusion and recommendations.
The paper comes up with several findings that are linked to the areas of discussion stated earlier.
The major observation of the paper is that poverty remains largely a rural phenomenon.
The paper also indicates that it is well documented that there has been a lot of government initiatives on the poverty front but it was until during the adjustment process that the concept of poverty found operationalization.
Five approaches have been used to address the conceptual framework for poverty alleviation scheme.
These are:
1. Increasing access to productive assets for the poor.
2. Raising returns to such assets.
3. Promoting employment opportunities.
4. Investing in human capital.
5. Empowering the poor to expand their economic and social participation.
The paper further indicates that practical policy evolution in poverty eradication in Tanzania is traceable to ESAP (1989/90 - 91/92). In 1994 poverty eradication was institutionalized in the comprehensive rolling planning and forward budgeting followed by establishment of a division responsible for multi sectoral and multi institutional linkage in the Vice President's Office.
The paper concludes by giving a list of recommendations on poverty assessment and reduction programme at community level. These are:
1 Exploration of local conception and indicators of poverty, vulnerability, deprivation and powerlessness.
2 Involvement of the poor in designing effective actions for poverty reduction.
3 Investigation of major problems of the poor.
4 Gender analysis.
5 Investigations and coping mechanism for the poor.
6 Initiating and carrying out self help development activities.
Comments by the Participants
The following is a set of major comments:
1. The fact that poverty in Tanzania is largely a rural-phenomenon requires deeper analysis and profile that distinguishes the urban rural dictonomy.
2. Poverty as one of three enemies (ignorance, disease and poverty) of Tanzanians was identified since independence. However, poverty alleviation has taken a slow pace for a variety of reasons. Authors should stress the reasons which will indicate the way out.
3. The process of reform should aim at increasing productive capacity of the poor. This is in line with the author's emphasis.
4. The agricultural sector plus public programmes which provide services, infrastructure research and technology should be simultaneously improved to address the rural poverty.
Summary
The purpose of the paper is to assess the relevance and limitation of economic measures and indicators in gauging poverty alleviation.
Four major measures and indicators are discusse consumer price indicates (CPIs), Engel ratios, income elasticities of demand and poverty datum lines.
Regarding CPIs, which make use of prices and quantities of selected commodities, the paper stresses that their relevance in gauging variation of standard of living of individual groups will depend on relevance of the commodities included in the basket purchased by the group and also on the price variation of the commodities under consideration. In Tanzania, the paper points out, CPI currently includes 210 items. A few of them are basic to the poor like maize flour, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, fish and meat. However, other items consumed by the poor and vulnerable like sorghum and millet are excluded. Their exclusion may affect the CPI.
Furthermore, the impact of structural adjustment on the poor is largely transmitted through prices of both consumer and producer prices. However, CPI captures directly consumer prices.
Regarding the Engel ratios or budget shares the paper discusses them in line with Engel's law which states as follows: "The proportion of income spent on food decreases as income increases." The proportion is therefore expected to increase as income decreases towards or below the poverty line. This may imply that high prices on food items mainly affect the poor. The paper then gives empirical evidence to show the separate line of the poor: Those spending 60-70 per cent of their income on food are (food) poor and those spending 80 per cent and above are in severe poverty.
The paper then stresses the need for determination of poverty line in Tanzania, which can be used comprehensively to show, which households are poor or vulnerable.
Finally the paper recommends that:
1. The Bureau of Statistics should make effort to improve the CPI by relaxing some of the limitations such as covering more places including the rural areas; including more commodities relevant to the poor and vulnerable and possibly other groups.
2. The government/Bureau of Statistics should attempt to reduce the time interval between the nation wide household budget surveys, say to five years instead of ten years.
3. Researchers (including OSSREA researchers) and officials should work together to establish official poverty lines using the current and future national household budget surveys.
Comments by Participants
The participants generally agreed with the author's recommendations. However, it was argued that the gender issue is controversial and needs more research beyond the author's categorization of poor women using the selected indicators/measures by the author.
Summary
The paper emphasizes the crucial role that education plays in development. Nevertheless, it is pointed out that women have very limited access to education opportunities. The authors cite several studies that indicate the small proportion of girls who receive formal education. In Tanzania, the situation is no better than elsewhere in Africa. Whereas, education facilities have recorded expansion in general for girls have not. Despite the increased rates of environment, the quantitative increase in the enrolment of girls has not matched with qualitative improvement. To verify that, the authors focus on the performance of secondary school girls and boys in the Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations (CSEE). The authors hypothesize that the quality of education offered to and received by girls in secondary schools is poor and therefore perpetuates the simulation of poverty.
The results revealed that the performance of girls in all girls' schools and in co-educational school was poorer than that of boys. The results have direct implications for girls' education and occupation. The results reveal that women often do not receive good quality secondary education. Yet quality education is the basis for developing various skills needed in the modern world. The contributing factors being linked to social, family backgrounds, school environment, teachers' satisfaction and motivation and teachers' attitude to the teaching profession and toward female students.
The implications of girl poor performance in schools for poverty, is linked through the labour market. It is argued that the majority of the poor, especially in Africa are women. This arises because of limited access to better paid jobs due to less access to educational facilities. Morever, increased educational and literacy is associated with better human development indicators such as lower birth rates, increased life expectancy, reduced infant mortality rate and increased access to general health services.
The authors point out that it is necessary to assess factors which explain differences between boys and girls in practice. If qualitative improvement in education does not match with the quantitative increase in the girls' enrolment, the public will be falsely led to conclude that girls and boys have equal access to education. Consequently, women will not benefit from educational opportunities nor contribute efficiently to poverty alleviation.
Comments by Participants
After a hot discussion participants agreed generally with the arguments put forward by the authors. However, they recommended further research work on the gender issue since it is controversial and the findings generally seem to be indicative to further research.
Summary
Poverty alleviation has become topical issue among researchers and policy makers. Different policies have been pursued in various countries in trying to alleviate poverty with differing results. However, the conspicuous result is that the majority of the people (including those in Tanzania) are still living in conditions of absolute poverty. Beginning early 1980s Tanzania like most of the fewer developing countries faced with economic crises adopted economic reforms (SAPs). A noticeable feature of SAPs is people losing jobs and declining levels in their real purchasing power an indication of increasing poverty.
Given the shrinkage of the formal wage employment and erosion in real wages, Tanzania has envisaged the informal sector as one of the priority development policies towards poverty alleviation. These have been significant efforts by the government to reverse previous discriminative policies against the informal sector. Moreover, some conductive environments have been provided to the sector in recent years including trying to have a national policy on informal sector. More important, the government has even initiated deployment measures to enable retrenches engage in self-employment in the informal sector. However, of importance for the informal sector to contribute towards poverty alleviation is the existence of significant employment and income opportunities in the sector.
The author examines the potentials available in the informal sector through enhanced employment and income generation and how they can be harnessed for the purpose of poverty alleviation with particular reference to Kilimanjaro Region.
The results reveal significant employment and earnings potential in informal sector with an urban bias. It employs the youths, women, men, the less educated and less skilled. In particular informal sector is observed to be an important sector during SAPs as it experienced rapid growth during that period.
However, informal sector activities are found to be of a small size, an indication of the dominance of self employment. But certain industries and activities are found to have high employment opportunities and if properly harnessed can be of importance for poverty alleviation. These include urban agriculture and livestock; wood products; cloth making; clay products; masonry; selling food related products; selling local beer and vehicle repair. The main problem related to small size of enterprises is the small size of initial capital.
The author argues that if informal sector is to contribute towards poverty alleviation, enterprises with high employment and earnings potentials have to be established. Unfortunately these happen to be in manufacturing, construction and services where entry is difficult due to high financial and skills requirements. He suggests creation of financial institutions or regulations that would increase the accessibility of these enterprises to financial/credit need. Establishment of enterprises through partnerships/co-operatives and informal sector associations would increase the employment potentials available in the informal sector.
He further points out that, generally, activities with high employment potentials also have high earnings potentials. The implications of that for poverty alleviation is that a policy intended for poverty alleviation through the informal sector, should at the same time lead to employment income generation in the sector. However, interventions through education and skill acquisition and accessibility to capital markets (financial resources) are important.
Comments from the Participants
Despite the various arguments, the participants generally agreed with most of the arguments and suggestions/recommendations of the author. However they noted the need to do more research work on the informal sector especially in the gender direction.
Summary
The author points out that, for an agricultural based economy like Tanzania water supply plays a crucial role in rural development and agricultural production. Where irrigation is practised, poverty caused by drought is reduced. Moreover, with water scarcity, lower quantities and qualities of water are consumed by people. This attributes to waterborne diseases, waterwashed diseases and waterbased diseases, as sanitation becomes low. A sick society cannot contribute towards economic growth or poverty alleviation. Long distance to water sources, occupies and consumes the time of those involved that could be used for other productive activities. Moreover, a sick society cannot effectively contribute to economic growth or poverty alleviation. Time and resources will be used in taking care of the sick.
Proper water simply and water resources development are therefore of crucial importance for poverty alleviation because they:
(i) provide an alternative to income generation during drought period;
(ii) improve quality and quantity of water, and promote health betterment and sanitation;
(iii) improve women's and children social life and give them more time to engage into more progressive programmes.
The author points further, any strategy of poverty alleviation must concentrate on aspects of human welfare. In the view of water resources development/management, a substitute for bad weather should be put in place of sustainable production. Water as basic human need for poverty alleviation encompass crop production/irrigation and water supply system for human consumption. The government and the private sector should work hand in hand to improve them.
Comments from the Participants:
Whereas some participants noted the argument on the importance of irrigation and water system in general, others stressed that the Ministry responsible for water supply has not done enough work to ensure the smoothness of water supply system in the country. Shortage of water in the urban areas especially in Dar es Salaam is becoming chronic; preparation for drought in both urban and rural areas is still inadequate.
