The PRSP’s in
The first Tanzanian Poverty Strategy.
The
developing of the first PRSP took place in 1999 under the guidance of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It took place in the context of
debt relief and the available resources were channelled to priority sectors
that were expected to have the most impact on poverty reduction. Inadequate
attention was given to cross-cutting issues, especially gender, although a
gender paragraph was inserted after intensive lobbying through the World Bank
and IMF missions.
The first
national poverty monitoring system was established in 2001, with data which
were not disaggregated by sex.
In 2004,
after three years of implementation, the government conducted an intensive and
highly consultative review, from the community to the parliament level. The
responsibility for the consultations with the communities was given to the
Association of Local Authorities in Tanzania (ALAT). The Gender Macro Working Group analysed these
ALAT reports.
The Gender Macro Working Group
The Gender
Macro Working Group, hereafter shortly called the Gender Group, established in
1999 with the Royal Netherlands Embassy support, has membership from government
ministries, NGO’s, higher learning institutions and multilateral agencies. This
Gender Group has a high level of technical experience, combining consultation
and advocacy with a ready response to government’s own request for technical
assistance. The group established a strategic working relationship with the Ministry
of Community Development, Gender and Children (MCDGC), and with the Vice
President’s Office (VPO), the institute responsible for the monitoring of the
PRSP. In collaboration with the gender ministry (MCDGC) they provided a paper
entitled Preliminary report on PRS II
from a gender perspective (2004) to the VPO, lobbying for the integration
of a gender perspective in the second PRSP. At that moment the ALAT results
from the consultations with the communities were not available. This Preliminary report, was based on a
series of reports each compiled by a separate author, and presented at the National Gender Platform
Forum on PRSP Review from the Gender Perspective, held in 2004.
A review of the ALAT reports
After the
publication of the ALAT reports the Gender Group carried out an analysis of the
consultations at grassroots levels on people’s perceptions of the gender
dimensions of poverty. The analysis
examined three categories of data: the broad dimensions or manifestations of
poverty; the reasons for these dimension from the perspective of the men and
women who participated in these consultations and the recommendations from the
grassroots.
The findings
revealed that the people were aware of the gender specific poverty issues, and
covered strategic needs such as participation in decision making, level of
education, basic human rights and systematized discrimination and
disempowerment through customs and traditions. The participants also singled
out four groups of females as being especially vulnerable: widows, girls,
pregnant women and mothers with small children.
The analysis
revealed that there was a significant degree of awareness on the part of the
men and women participants on the issues, the causes and how to solve
them. Among the causes of poverty, male
superiority culture, negative customs and traditions and poor education were
mentioned most frequently.
In terms of
ranking, harassment of widows was mentioned by all the districts, with gender
specific problems of girls as a close second at 95%. Lack of participation in decision making
including in leadership positions was significant at 88% while poor access
to health services (66%) stood out as
the most frequently mentioned problem in
access to basic services. Poor
access to each of the other basic services such as transport, water, fuelwood, maize milling was mentioned but less frequently
than health and more from the perspective of requiring high inputs of time and
labour.
Access to Basic Services
The most
commonly mentioned inadequacy in access to basic services was health: the
health services are too far away, poorly equipped, and the cost is
unaffordable. Better health facilities and services was by far the most
mentioned recommendation.
Other
health-related problems were the poor knowledge of health and HIV/AIDS, the
greater risk to HIV/AIDS by females, increased incidence and deaths among
females, increased orphans and widows, and increased work for women in caring
for those with HIV/AIDS. Another related problem was the poor participation of
females in decision making, for example about family planning.
With respect
to education one of the greatest problems was that pregnant girls are
discontinued from school.
Comparing
their two reports (the ALAT analysis and the Preliminary report) the Gender Group discovered few differences.
There were two issues which came out strongly in the district reports, but were
not discussed in depth in the Preliminary
report: the unfair division of labour, and the lack of decision making
rights for females. The recommendations from the grassroots also identified
certain groups such as widows that were more vulnerable than others. This shows the need to differentiate between
groups and between rural and urban women.
MKUKUTA, the new PRSP
The new PRSP
Mkukuta (2005) is an outcome-based strategy that puts
growth and poverty reduction high on the development agenda. It is strongly
committed to the Millennium Development Goals. Mkukuta
identifies three clusters of multi-sectoral outcomes:
growth and reduction of income poverty; improved quality of life and social
well-being; and good governance and accountability. Goals and interventions
relating to gender equality have been mainstreamed in the three clusters. This
owes a lot to the technical and financial support from the Gender Group.
The next
step was to ensure a monitoring mechanism to hold the government accountable
for further progress towards gender equality. The government initiated the
development of a revised poverty monitoring plan, encompassing discussions
around multi-sectoral institutional arrangements and
the development of indicators. Technical assistance from the Gender Group in
the design of the monitoring system, and their good relationships with the
government, resulted in sex disaggregated and gender-sensitive indicators with
respect to all sectors.
Both the new
PRSP and the monitoring plan are fully gender mainstreamed. The key challenge
lies in the implementation and monitoring of these commitments at the Local
Government and community levels.
Source: Gender Macro
Working Group; Maimu,
Z.& Jones, N.