Tanzania

In Tanzania, Oxfam's focus is on building sustainable livelihoods, improving the quality of education, and supporting accountable transparent governance.

Oxfam in Tanzania Annual report 2007-9 (2.8MB pdf)

Intro

Development

Emergencies

Investing in the future

For Tanzania, 2002 was a good year. The government introduced free and compulsory primary education, made possible by debt relief.

1.6 million children attended primary school for the first time
Numbers have been rising ever since.

However, for the increased numbers of children to receive a good education, teachers need to receive adequate support and training.

How Oxfam is helping

We've been training and mentoring teachers to help them provide the best possible education for their pupils and have witnessed tremendous improvements to the quality of teaching.

In pictures: Teacher mentoring slideshow

Lessons have become more participatory, interesting, and pupils' confidence has increased along with teachers' morale and skills. Exam results have improved by over 30 per cent, and more than twice as many children are now progressing to secondary school. Drop-out rates of children have also halved.

There used to be such a big gap between the teacher and the pupils. Now we get on. We’ve all realised we’re working toward the same goal – to get children to learn better.

Eunice Kisakwa, Science Teacher, Shinyanga

Learn more

Read more examples of our work in Tanzania:

Supporting rural livelihoods

Poverty in Tanzania is predominantly a rural phenomenon. 80 per cent of Tanzania's poorest people live in rural areas and are dependent on subsistence farming or smallholder businesses in order to survive.

Productivity in rural agriculture remains low, meaning that few Tanzanians have benefited from recent economic growth. If anything, they have become poorer – hugely vulnerable to the effects of HIV and AIDS, they also bear the brunt of climate change. When drought hits, many communities can't cultivate enough to survive, let alone sell.

How Oxfam is helping

We've launched an ambitious programme to lift one million people out of poverty in rural Tanzania. This includes providing the support and expertise needed to produce higher quality commodities that can fetch higher prices

Samaka Jilungile is a leading member of Zanzei's chicken group. [Photo credit: Harriet Griffin]

Oxfam trained us in chicken keeping. Then they worked with us to set up a project group. We’ve vaccinated nearly 800 chickens so far. Disease was a real problem before. People can see the benefit and are now copying what we are doing.

Samaka Jilungile, member of Zanzei’s chicken group, Shinyanga

Case study: counting their chickens

Other development work

Promoting women leaders
Helping ensure free quality education for all
Supporting special needs children
Ensuring more girls go to school, stay in school, and excel
Promoting more accountable government
Raising the voices of the marginalised
Helping women live more free of violence
Campaigning for positive change

Oxfam's work in Tanzania in depth

East Africa Food Crisis 2006

In 2006, eight million people across East Africa were affected by severe food and water shortages.

Catherine Shija and Regina Bundala separate the sorghum husk from seeds provided by Oxfam. Photo: Maite Alvarez

The seeds we planted in January 2006 were all lost. Had the drought not happened these crops would have taken us all the way through to next year... but we were left with nothing. The food we received from Oxfam helped us during dark times.

Catherine Shija, Shinyanga

How Oxfam responded

With our partners, we assisted more than 784,000 people across the drought-affected areas by providing water, supporting people's livelihoods and distributing food aid.

Find out more about our East Africa Food Crisis response