Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs

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These briefs report on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region.

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    Multi-Dimensional Results Measurement in CDD Projects : Experiences from the Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda Social Action Funds
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-12) Pidatala, Krishna ; Lenneiye, Nginya Mungai
    In the last decade, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda have used the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach to implement projects that exhibit multi-sectoral linkages, complex institutional structures and implementation processes, creative tension between the supply and demand sides, and convergence at the Local Government Authority (LGA) level in environments compounded by the pace of decentralization. The projects have broadened the issue of results focus from the measurement of a few input-output indicators to include intermediate outcomes (which measure beneficiaries potentially reached by outputs produced by the projects). In the process, these projects have been able to scale up from 'isolated boutique-type projects' to a mass production of outputs through participatory decision-making, local capacity development, and community control of resources. At the national level, the projects have contributed to: (a) poverty reduction, (b) improved social welfare, and (c) improved transparency and accountability.
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    The Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) : Owning the Process of Measuring Impact and Achieving Results
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-07) Lenneiye, N.M.
    The Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) is now in its second phase, covering the period 2005-2009. It is focused on giving more voice to citizens at both community and lowest local government levels - village councils. While retaining direct community financing as a key empowering mechanism, it is being implemented through Local Government Authorities. Target beneficiaries are: i) communities with inadequate access to social services; ii) households with able-bodied adults suffering from food insecurity; and iii) individuals living in poor households affected by acute shocks (like HIV/AIDS). These three beneficiary groups will access resources from a National Village Fund using procedures that build on the lessons learned regarding accountability, incomes poverty, and improving impact links.
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    Reform Experience with the Tanzanian Cotton Sector
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-06) Baffes, John
    Cotton, Tanzania's second largest crop after coffee, was introduced at the turn of the century by German settlers as a plantation crop but later efforts focused on smallholder production. Output rose considerably with the releases of new varieties, along with better organization of the sector following establishment of the Tanganyika Lint and Seed Marketing Board in 1956. By 1966, production reached 80,000 tons, or 0.75 percent of world production of 10.7 million tons.
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    Tanzania’s Tea Sector : Constraints and Challenges’
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-12) Baffes, John
    In 1968, the government initiated a smallholder tea development program in which all aspects of smallholder tea marketing and trade were turned over to the Tanzania Tea Authority which assumed a wide array of responsibilities. The Authority promoted smallholder tea production. Most of the smallholder tea leaf went to the eight Tea Authority-owned factories for processing, and the rest to factories owned by the estates. Despite its apparent success, there were numerous signs of distress in the smallholder sector. This note describes the constraints and challenges faced by the production of tea in Tanzania.
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    Tanzania : Women in the Mining Sector
    (Washington, DC, 2001-08) World Bank
    The Government of Tanzania has, in recent years, focused on revitalizing its mining sector in order to attract foreign investment, with the goal of raising its contribution to Tanzania's Gross Domestic Product. With the support from the World Bank through the Mineral Sector Development Project (MSDP), the legal and fiscal regimes were revised and an environmental framework was put in place. As the growth of the small scale mining sub-sector continues, so do the challenges. This Notes discusses the obstacles faced by Tanzanian women and introduces the work of a women's nongovernmental organization -- Tanzania Women Miners Association (TAWOMA).
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    Gender and Law : Eastern Africa Speaks
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 1999-01) Gopal, Gita ; Adu, Elizabeth
    Gender issues, particularly with respect to women's status and rights, have for a considerable period, been in the forefront of donors' dialogue on social issues with Africa. While Africa countries have fully acknowledged the seriousness of the issues and the urgent need for action, the dialogue has been largely donor-driven and issues and priorities been donor-set. Recognizing the need for a new approach in this important area for Africa's progress, the Bank, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa, initiated a Gender and Law Program, in October 1997, at a Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Program shifts responsibility for identification and implementation of themes, issues, and priorities to in-country stakeholders rather than with donors. During the Conference, each country delegation voiced its priorities for change. The issues included land-related challenges, family law, violence against women, employment and labor, and decentralized governance frameworks. Land and the division of household property are prime areas where gender-based disparities marginalize and disenfranchise women of Eastern Africa. In an effort to improve women's social and economic life, two main themes emerged: the impact of customary laws and practices and the need for effective implementation. The delegates emphasized the need to initiate action for change at grassroots, institutional, and policy making levels.
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    Land Degradation in Tanzania : Village Views
    ( 1997-07) Dejene, Alemneh ; Shishira, Elieho ; Yanda, Pius ; Johnsen, Fred H.
    Declining soil fertility due to inadequate farming practices, deforestation and overgrazing are among the primary impediments to increased agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. These causal factors, driven by social, economic and political forces, manifest themselves in market, policy and institutional failures, inappropriate technologies and practices. This is also the case in Tanzania where over 90 percent of the population is rural and depends on land resources for its livelihood. This study examines the most significant issues affecting levels of productivity and land quality at the community and village level, where local land users take decisions on cropping and livestock management. The specific objectives of the study were to examine farmers' perceptions, particularly their understanding and interpretation of factors and indicators which they link to soil erosion and fertility decline, the level of degradation of crop and pastureland, and the institutional capacity to implement soil conservation and fertility measures with particular regard to land tenure policies, local organizations and extension service. The investigators also sought to identify the technologies, best practices and indigenous knowledge used by households to control erosion, enhance soil fertility, and increase crop and livestock productivity among smallholders.
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    Improving the Commercial Practices of an Electrical Utility : Electricity Dispenser System in Tanzania - A Component of the Tanzania Power VI Project
    (Washington, DC, 1996-06) World Bank
    The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) has experienced major problems with billing and collecting revenues. To improve customer services; and improve the collection of revenues, the utility company switched to an electricity prepayment system using Electricity Dispensers (ED). The ED which is an electric meter fitted with a circuit breaker, a computer logic chip and an input device, is installed in the customer's premises. The input devices are either magnetic card readers, similar to those on Automated Teller Machine (ATM), or numeric keypads similar to a telephone keypad. The input device allows the customer to control electricity-related consumption and expenditure.