The objective of Swedish development cooperation is to create opportunities for people living in poverty and under oppression to improve their living conditions. People living in poverty are in the centre of Swedish development cooperation and all interventions are based on their situation, needs, conditions and priorities. Swedish development cooperation takes as its starting point poor people’s perspectives on development and the rights perspective. Therefore, we must understand who is living in poverty, how they perceive poverty and how they are affected dependent on who they are and where they live. Development cooperation is based on the principles of aid and development effectiveness, the 2030 Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
In January 2020, the Swedish government approved the strategy for Swedish development cooperation with Tanzania covering the period of 2020-2024. The strategy has four result areas:
Swedish development cooperation as a whole will contribute to poverty reduction in the country, better conditions for democratic development and respect for human rights. In addition, Sweden will support research cooperation which aims at strengthening Tanzania’s capacity to plan, implement and use research as a tool in addressing poverty in the country.
Kindly note that the embassy does not accept spontaneous project proposals or applications. Our development cooperation with Tanzania is guided by the Swedish government strategy. All development partners are selected and approached by the Swedish embassy, based on consultancy studies and analysis.
Results area 1 on Human rights, democracy, the rule of law and gender equality includes three expected results:
The main target groups for this results area includes women, youth (especially girls), LGBTQI, people living in extreme poverty, people living with HIV/Aids and disabilities as well as human rights defenders, and other marginalised groups. The target groups also include duty bearers (e.g. Parliament, ministries, the justice sector), specific accountability and transparency institutions, as well as media and digital platforms.
Expected changes in this result area are increased legal literacy, awareness and empowerment, which for rights holders augments their right and capacity to be heard and to demand justice while being safe. For duty bearers the expected change is the same, but that augments their understanding of the needs and enhances their willingness and capacity to provide justice and safety for actors that are protecting human rights. The work shall furthermore contribute towards strengthening access to SRHR with focus on boys and girls and young mothers to increase the opportunities to informed choices concerning their own sexuality. Interventions aimed at women in politics that enhance women’s political participation and representation in decision making have the potential to boost women’s confidence and capacity to lead as well as transforming gender norms so that women are accepted as legitimate and effective leaders. Lastly, changes are expected in strengthened opportunities for women and men, and particularly the vulnerable and marginalized, to influence political processes and demand accountability from duty-bearers.
Examples of interventions:
Results area 2 focuses on education and is expected to contribute to an inclusive and gender-equal education and quality lifelong learning, focusing particularly on girls and young mothers.
The main target groups are children, mostly living in rural areas and poorer urban areas as well as young mothers and vulnerable secondary school age girls. The Embassy’s support also targets children with disabilities and youth.
There is often a gap between the de jure offer of services – what people are supposed to be entitled to and under which modalities and conditions – and the de facto delivery of services, or what the people receive in reality and how these services are delivered. The expected change includes strengthened capacity, transparency and accountability in the education sector to support an inclusive, equitable education system. It is therefore the Embassy’s ambition to enhance the education service delivery aspect of public administration from a rule of law perspective since this aims to improve levels of accountability and to enhance the credibility of public education service providers.
The change actors identified are: i) the ministry of education, lower administrative education official structures and technical institutions, and ii) CSOs active in the education sector to be advocacy voices for the right to quality education for all. With an ambition to increase harmonization between donors, the Embassy will seek jointly financed programs, and explore deepened collaboration and dialogue with multilaterals.
Examples of interventions:
The third results area supports inclusive economic development. Within this field, the Swedish embassy in Tanzania is working towards two expected results:
With gender equality as a starting point, youth, micro-, small- and medium-enterprises (MSMEs) and women linked to the agricultural sector are the key target groups for area 3.1, whereas the broader population living in extreme poverty, with focus on women and children, are in focus for 3.2 on social protection.
The expected changes are increased knowledge of sustainable production methods among smallholder farmers to enhance productivity and reduce the stress on biodiversity. Emphasis is on agriculture-based structural transformation, on which most poor households are dependent, as well as through agri-based industrialisation. This will build on a market systems approach to place our support within the larger market context as well as to aim to support systemic changes. For social protection changes are expected at two levels. The expected structural change includes the development of a more comprehensive and permanent structure and system for social protection. The expected changes for the households reached by the social protection are reduced deprivations in the dimensions of resources and opportunities and choice. This includes increased income, improved living standards in terms of housing, water and sanitation, improved income earning opportunities, increased access to health care and education. Households’ resilience to shocks is expected be strengthened.
Examples of interventions:
The fourth and last results area is environment and climate. For this area, which is under development, the Swedish strategy for development cooperation with Tanzania outlines two specific goals:
The key target group for this results area consist of women, girls, boys and men living in poverty, primarily in rural areas, and in particular people living in off-grid areas.
The expected changes will materialise through a holistic approach which addresses multiple challenges simultaneously, i.e. addresses competition for land, unsustainable energy use, water use, unsustainable agricultural activities, regulatory and customary circumstances and mechanisms for conflict resolutions. Interventions shall identify and support governance models for sustainable use of natural resources that ensures livelihoods and development, without increasing conflicts and increasing gender inequalities. For the second part of the results area, providing access to renewable energy will increase educational and business opportunities, as well as address health or physical drudgery, as well as in terms of social inequality and limited personal and economic empowerment.
Examples of interventions:
In addition to the four results area, the Embassy is conducting research cooperation. The overall objective of the research cooperation is enhanced research capacity at public universities and the application of evidence-based knowledge in society. The cooperation further includes support to national research policy development and the strengthening of Tanzania’s research council.
The implementation of the research strategy links to the bilateral strategy in numerous ways. It complements private sector development and job creation through the development of innovations and business clusters in agriculture and livelihood linking innovation, research, public and private sectors for national development (COSTECH and SIDO). The work carried out by one of the partners in the research cooperation, the Institute of Marine sciences (IMS) of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), will be looked into further to see if and how they could support the result area on environment and climate.