UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative

     Please download the PEI Country fact sheet on Tanzania (PDF)



Basic Facts about Tanzania

• Phase I of PEI Tanzania (October 2003–December 2006) focused on “Integrating Environment into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process”. It was mainly led by UNDP with UNEP technical support.
• The programme was jointly prepared by the Government of Tanzania and UNDP and funded by DANIDA, DFID, UNDP and UNEP (with contributions from Belgium and Norway).
• The current Phase II (July 2007–June 2011) focuses on “Integrating Environment into National Strategy for Growth and the Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP/MKUKUTA) Implementation”.
• PEI is executed by the Government of Tanzania through national partner institutions, led by the Vice-President’s Office (VPO) / Department of Environment (DoE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment, National Environmental Management Council, National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, and Prime Minister’s Office/Regional Administration and Local Government.
• The total budget is close to USD 7 million: USD 2,930,000 (2003–2006) and USD 4,000,000 (2007–2010).
• In 2008, the PEI was instrumental in the development of a One UN Joint Program on Environment and Climate Change (2008–2010) that brings together five UN Agencies (FAO, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNIDO) under the One UN Programme Framework. This Joint Programme includes core PEI activities related to mainstreaming environmental sustainability in sector and subnational planning processes and environmental fiscal reform.Agency resources are complemented by funding from the multi-donor supported One UN Fund.
• In 2010, PEI committed to supporting the United Nations Development Action Plan (2011–2015) through a key output on mainstreaming environment issues in national policies, strategies, budgets and monitoring systems (equivalent to an extended PEI Phase II/UNDAP).The output will require an investment of USD 4 million for the duration of the UNDAP. PEI has committed USD 500,000, with USD 3.5 million to be mobilized.

The context of poverty-environment mainstreaming in Tanzania

• The 1^st PRSP was developed in 2000. A national Poverty Monitoring System (PMS) was set up as an integral part of the strategy in order to facilitate the evaluation of progress towards poverty reduction. Environment was recognized in the paper as a cross-cutting issue, but the profound linkages between poverty and environment in the country were not adequately addressed.
• In 2001, the Government of Tanzania / Vice-President’s Office initiated a process aimed at integrating environment into the PRS process, including the Poverty Monitoring System and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). The PEIprogramme was initiated in response to a request by the Vice-President’s Office to UNDP for assistance in this process.
• In 2005, as an outcome of a formal PRS review process, the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP), known by its Swahili acronym MKUKUTA, was adopted. As a result of the PEIprogramme, poverty-environment issues are integrated in the strategy, and poverty-environment indicators have been incorporated into the revised PMS, now known as the MKUKUTA Monitoring System. 
• Following a review of the implementation of MKUKUTA in 2010, the government has developed a new National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA II) that includes the goal of “Ensuring food and nutrition security, environmental sustainability and climate change adaptation and mitigation” as a key goal under the first pillar on Growth for Reduction of Income Poverty.The other two pillars of the new strategy are Improvement of Quality of Life and Social Well-being, and Good governance and accountability. 

Main activities

The current poverty-environment programme builds on the successful mainstreaming of environment into the NSGRP/MKUKUTA achieved during the first phase of the programme, and the enactment of the Environmental Management Act. The programme focuses on the realization of environmental targets contained in the MKUKUTA and contributes to the implementation of the Environmental Management Act through support to the following four components:

• Capacity strengthening to integrate environment in sector and district plans and implement strategic poverty-environment interventions at local level
• Improved access and utilization of poverty-environment data in the MKUKUTA process and local-level planning
• Sustainable financing of environment targets in the MKUKUTA and in local-level planning processes
• Promotion of efficient utilization of rangelands and empowering pastoralists through improved livestock productivity and market access

During 2011, PEI will elaborate key activities to implement the environment mainstreaming component in the UNDAP jointly with UNDP Tanzania, to be included in a Joint UN Annual Work Plan from July 2011.

What has been achieved to date?

Improved understanding of governance and capacity issues affecting potential for sustained, country-led poverty-environment mainstreaming

• The PEIprogramme supported drafting of new environmental legislation, the Environmental Management Act (EMA), which was enacted in 2004.
• Strengthened national capacity to carry out integrated environmental assessment and reporting through the production of scientifically credible and policy-relevant national and/or city state of the environment reports. An intersectoral team led by VPO and NEMC have identified the key thematic areas and issues that will be used to prepare Dar esSaalam City Environment and Climate Change Outlook report.

Improved collaboration between environmental agencies, planning/finance agencies and key donors in mainstreaming environment into national development planning processes

• The PEI programme enabled different environmental actors to engage in the PRS review process laying a foundation for future co-operation. The programme has also had a significant role in disseminating the MKUKUTA to civil society actors across the country.
• The PEI programme has been able to respond to capacity building needs of the national implementing agencies (Vice-President’s Office, National Environmental Management Council, local government authorities). Zonal “Training of Trainer” workshops have been carried out on mainstreaming livelihood data into district plans and awareness raising on environment management tools (e.g. Environmental Impact Assessments, Strategic Environmental Assessments) .

Improved understanding of contribution of environment to poverty reduction and growth

• Focused research on environmental issues through the development of a National Environment Research Agenda (NERA) has been carried out and funding made available for proposals from researchers.The focus has shifted from environment protection to environmental issues as challenges to livelihoods, vulnerability, health and economic growth objectives.
• The Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) methodology was introduced and a pilot IEA Study was carried out for the Livingstone Mountain Ranges.
• A regular poverty-environment newsletter with articles in both English and Swahili is produced and disseminated to MDAs, research institutions and civil society organizations at various events. 
• Civil society organizations trained on understanding poverty-environment-related policy frameworks, including MKUKUTA, Environment Management Act (EMA), Climate Change, and sustainable income generation opportunities.

Integration of poverty-environment issues in key planning frameworks for poverty reduction, growth and national MDG targets (plans, budgets, monitoring frameworks)

• Successful integration of environment into MKUKUTA and its monitoring system. Environmental concerns have been integrated into all three clusters of MKUKUTA: 16 out of 96 development targets are related to environment. Ten poverty-environment indicators have been incorporated into the MKUKUTA Monitoring System, composed of 60 different indicators.
• An Environment statistics module has been developed and incorporated into Tanzania’s web-based Social Economic Database (TSED) at www.tsed.org. This is complemented by an environment statistics publication that incorporates poverty-environment indicators collected from across sectors.
• Two reports on assessing the implementation of Environment commitments in the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (MKUKUTA) and an analysis of poverty-environment Issues. The studieswere used to inform the development of the new Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (MKUKUTA II:2011–2015) completed in 2010 and the United Nations Development Assistance Plan (2011–2015)

Improved financing strategy to meet investment targets through domestic resource mobilization and harmonized donor support

• The budgetary allocation for environment has increased since 2005 following a public expenditure review on environment that highlighted critical investments required.
• Studies on environmental budgeting in three districts (Sengerema, Singida and Mbozi) and public expenditure review of Kongwa district undertaken. The Prime Minister’s Office has used these studies as best practices and made this a requirement in other districts using public funds.

Lessons learned

• The housing of both the Poverty Eradication Division (PED) and the Division of Environment (DOE) in the Vice President’s Office (VPO) at the beginning of the PEI programme was a great benefit for mainstreaming poverty-environment issues in the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Challenges to collaboration have arisen since the move of Poverty Eradication Division to Ministry of Planning and later the Ministry of Finance.
• Making the case for environment in the framework of national development challenges including poverty reduction provided a focus to operationalize the discussion of the importance of environmental sustainability, making it practical, concrete and real rather than an abstract issue.
• Establishing an entry point is critical. As a tool for national planning, decision making and consensus building, the PRSP (MKUKUTA) provided the basis for getting agreement on the relevance of environmental issues for national development goals.
• Involving relevant stakeholders from government, research institutions and NGOs at national, sector and local levels, as well as promoting their effective participation, is very important to successful mainstreaming.
• There is a need to provide capacity development support over a sustained period for government bodies responsible for developing and monitoring the PRS at national, sector and district level.
• Focusing on implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms contributes to making the effort operational. This includes the incorporation of poverty-environment indicators into the monitoring system and enhanced coordination of data collection.
• Pooling of government, UN and donor resources into a joint programme helped to achieve results.
• Moving from policy commitments to actions requires sustained effort by champions in key sectors, with strong coordination and technical support from lead policy and decision making institutions in poverty and environment.

Way forward

• Moving from “making a general case” to “committing to specific actions” and more emphasis on mainstreaming environment in key sector programmes and budgets, such as energy, agriculture and water.
• Supporting more comprehensive engagement on poverty-environment mainstreaming between DOE and key sectors.
• Strengthening the capacity of sector and subnational/local government authorities to identify and integrate poverty-environment issues in sector and district development planning processes.
• Tackling underinvestment in environmental assets through better economic analysis and business models for environmental investments, including mobilization of government and donor resources for environment.
• Continuing generation of evidence, advocacy and awareness-raising on poverty-environment linkages within the context of the development of Tanzania’s long-term growth strategy.
• Increased emphasis on poverty and budgeting aspects through increased collaboration with PED and the UNDP Poverty Unit.