Policy paper

UK–Tanzania development partnership summary, July 2023

Published 17 July 2023

Introduction

The Strategy for International Development (IDS) places development at the heart of the UK’s foreign policy. It sets out a new approach to development, anchored in patient, long-term partnerships tailored to the needs of the countries we work with, built on mutual accountability and transparency. This approach goes beyond aid and brings the combined power of the UK’s global economic, scientific, security and diplomatic strengths to our development partnerships. Our 4 priorities are to deliver honest, reliable investment, provide women and girls with the freedom they need to succeed, step up our life-saving humanitarian work, and take forward our work on climate change, nature, and global health. The Integrated Review Refresh (IR23) reiterates that sustainable development is central to UK foreign policy and sets out how the UK will go further and faster on development to reduce poverty and reinvigorate progress towards the SDGs. This Country Development Partnership Summary details how the IDS and IR23 will be put into practice with Tanzania.

Country context

Tanzania has the fifth largest population in Africa, with 62 million people spread across a landmass 4 times the size of the UK ^{[footnote 1]}. The mainly rural population has one of the fastest rates of urbanisation in the world ^{[footnote 2]}. Dar es Salaam is on track to be the world’s third largest mega city by 2100 ^{[footnote 3]}. Tanzania’s long history of political and economic stability, abundant natural resources, and strategic location as a gateway to East Africa give it the potential to become a regional economic powerhouse.

Two decades of steady economic growth ^{[footnote 4]} saw Tanzania achieve middle-income status in 2020. Tanzania’s macro-economic stability is strong for the region, with relatively low inflation and external debt and a stable currency. Tanzania’s economy also weathered COVID-19 well ^{[footnote 5]}. Growth reduced to 2% in 2020 but is forecast to return to 6% by 2024.

However, Tanzania’s tax revenue performance is below the average for Sub-Saharan Africa and many social indicators remain at low-income country levels. Poverty has stagnated since 2012, despite the economy almost doubling in size. Of the population, 45% still live on less than $2.15 a day, a proportion well above the 30% average of other recently graduated middle-income countries ^{[footnote 6]}. Only 40% of the population have access to electricity, 90% still use charcoal or firewood for cooking, and only a third of children complete lower secondary school ^{[footnote 7]}. High population growth of over 3% a year continues to outstrip service provision and job creation.^{[footnote 8]} Over 2010 to 2020, Tanzania had the fifth highest level of deforestation globally ^{[footnote 9]}. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) ^{[footnote 10]} assesses that Tanzania is highly vulnerable to climate change, with increasing floods and droughts and nearly 2 thirds of the working population relying on vulnerable agriculture jobs ^{[footnote 11]}. Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) suggests corruption may be starting to rise ^{[footnote 12]}, enabling serious organised crime – which in Tanzania is often linked to the trafficking of drugs or people.

The Tanzanian government acknowledges that the country needs to shift rapidly to more inclusive, productive, and climate-resilient growth if it is to fulfil its needs and potential. Continued progress will require political and economic reforms, making best use of support from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and development partners. The UK supports Tanzania to deliver its development priorities, as set out in the Tanzanian government’s Five Year Development Plan (PDF, 4 MB), and to tackle global challenges that affect both our countries. It builds on the UK and Tanzania’s longstanding political, commercial, and development partnership.

Although a multi-party democracy since 1992, Tanzania has been continuously governed by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been in power since 2021. The period 2015-21 under the previous administration saw a deterioration in relations between the government and private sector and increased restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly. Though many of these laws remain, President Samia’s administration has lifted the ban on political rallies, reduced attacks on freedom of expression, initiated domestic political reconciliation, and promoted gender equality. It has adopted a more open approach to the private sector, including through promoting more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This has increased the alignment with UK goals and values.

The UK’s development work in Tanzania prioritises:

• economic growth and climate action
• education and health
• governance
• combatting crime and corruption
• inclusion (including women and girls and refugees)

Our plans build on past achievements in all these areas, working in partnership with the Tanzanian government and other development partners. The UK is increasingly using its diplomatic, security, scientific, and commercial levers, alongside development funding and expertise, to deliver development objectives in Tanzania.

Why and how: the UK’s development partnership with Tanzania

Tanzania is critical to UK development goals on poverty reduction, UK commitments to Africa and women and girls, and to global efforts to meet the SDGs. We will continue working in partnership with Tanzania to support its efforts to deliver a more prosperous, equitable, better educated, and resilient country. The UK will contribute by supporting joint priorities aligned with the UK’s comparative advantages and the IDS:

Growth

We will help facilitate more investment and trade, supporting Tanzania to move towards more productive, better jobs and more inclusive growth. The UK is already a trusted development partner in this area through:

• a well-regarded UK-Tanzanian Business Forum
• our coherence across aid, trade, and diplomacy
• our quality expertise and analysis

The UK will continue to:

• provide technical advice and UK expertise to support economic reforms,improve the business environment and increase revenues
• facilitate investment deals and improve critical infrastructure, including through British International Investment (BII) and UK Export Finance (UKEF)
• actively facilitate UK trade and investment with Tanzania

Climate

We will help Tanzania mitigate and adapt to climate change and protect its natural resources. Existing work has helped protect biodiversity, promote clean cooking and renewable energy, and strengthen agricultural and urban resilience. UK technical assistance supported Tanzania to double its climate mitigation commitments at COP26 and helped secure £260 million of World Bank (WB) funding to build flood resilience ^{[footnote 13]}. We will explore new opportunities to facilitate clean energy and cooking sources and green infrastructure, protect forests, and attract climate finance.

Human capital, and women and girls

We will increase opportunities for women and girls through stronger education and health systems. Previous UK support helped increase primary leaving exam pass rates from 57% in 2014 to over 80% currently, and almost halve under-5 mortality from 81 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010 to 43 in 2022 ^{[footnote 14]}. UK technical expertise has influenced support from other donors, including a new $120 million Global Partnership for Education Grant. Our current flagship education programme will improve learning, inclusion, and safety in schools. A new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Tanzania on health will strengthen our partnership. We will look to support government mechanisms and United Nations (UN) partners to strengthen the national health system, with a focus on quality maternal, reproductive, and sexual health services, responses to global health threats and effective use of UK expertise. Water and sanitation efforts are well-funded by other donors.

Security and justice

We will help strengthen security and the rule of law. The FCDO and the National Crime Agency (NCA) will continue to support the Tanzanian government to pursue serious criminals and reform security and justice systems, enabling Tanzania to better tackle serious organised and financial crime and strengthen its resilience to radicalisation. The UK will work through multi-agency taskforces, and Mainland and Zanzibar State Houses, to leverage long term reforms which will improve the detection and investigation of serious organised and financial crime. Since July 2022, cross-UK Government expertise and funding has helped recover £13.2 million of criminal proceeds back to the Government of Tanzania.

Governance and accountability

We will facilitate stronger relationships between government and civil society. Previous support has strengthened public financial management systems and accountability, including through a new Data Protection Bill and National NGO Sustainability Strategy. In line with current opportunities, future work will strengthen the relationship between citizens and the state, including supporting civil society and media to engage on the government’s reform agenda and hold institutions to account for delivery.

Inclusion

We will support more opportunities for women and girls, people with disabilities and other marginalised groups across all our development work. We will continue to protect the most vulnerable, including refugees. We will increasingly use diplomacy and technical engagement, alongside funding, to strengthen humanitarian and social safety net support.

Who we work with

The UK delivers its bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes in Tanzania through a range of local stakeholders and international partners including UN agencies, the WB and International NGOs (INGOs). We work closely with the Governments of Tanzania and Zanzibar to deliver all outcomes. We leverage British knowledge and expertise through partnering with UK institutions such as the NCA, His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and the International Growth Centre.

The UK has strong partnerships with the major development actors in Tanzania, including IMF, WB and US who together provided more than 50% of ODA to Tanzania in 2021 ^{[footnote 15]}. Other major donors include the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), the European Union (EU), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Sweden. We regularly lead coordination of the wider development community and currently co-chair development partner groups with the Government of Tanzania in health, technology and innovation, macro-economics, and good governance.

Key programmes

The UK has 10 active bilateral programmes in Tanzania covering education, health, private sector, humanitarian, and governance, all with a focus on women and girls and – when relevant – climate. These form part of the UK’s combined ODA, technical, and diplomacy development offer. We have responded to recent challenges (such as COVID-19 and ODA reductions) by developing a smaller, more agile, and flexible portfolio, increasing influencing, and piloting innovations to be scaled up by partners. Three major UK bilateral programmes are:

Shule Bora ‘Better Schooling’ (£89 million from 2020 to 2026)

An education programme working to improve enrolment, learning, inclusivity, and safety for 4 million children (2 million girls) in pre-primary and primary schools. Shule Bora works intensively in 9 regions to test approaches to:

• improve reading, writing, and mathematics
• help girls’ transition to secondary school
• reduce physical and sexual violence in schools
• educate more children with disabilities

The programme includes independent evaluation.

Productivity for Prosperity (P4P) (£35 million from 2021 to 2027)

This nationwide programme aims to increase labour productivity and climate-resilience in job-creating sectors to support a more inclusive growth model, also supporting UK trade. It facilitates commercial lending to agricultural businesses, business environment reforms, and major investment deals. It aims to support government and the private sector to access over $10 million in climate finance funds, enabling conservation of 400,000 hectares of forest.

Building Sustainable Anti-corruption Action in Tanzania (BSAAT) (£13 million from 2017 to 2025)

BSAAT aims to reduce the harmful impacts of corruption and serious crime on Tanzania’s sustainable growth and poverty reduction. It works to improve state capability of law enforcement, judicial cooperation, and civil service organisations to convict high-level offenders. It is delivered through strong partnerships across both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar and has leveraged additional funding from the EU.

Recently completed programmes and achievements: The Support to Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene programme (£133.5 million, 2014 to 2022) used an innovative low-cost behavioural change campaign and combined technical and institutional interventions to increase access to improved hygiene and sanitation from 44% of the population to 72% and the availability of functioning rural water points nationwide from 39% to 57% ^{[footnote 16]}.

These bilateral programmes are complemented by the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF), Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), NCA and Home Office funding, by multilateral funding, and a range of central programmes (primarily focused on trade and prosperity, climate, nature and agriculture, health, and education). In particular, the Global Partnership for Education and GFATM have significant programmes in Tanzania.

We are committed to maximising the impact of every pound, including through innovative payment mechanisms, tracking value for money, combining programming with development diplomacy, driving continuous savings, and using the best available evidence. Our commitment to evidence-based decision making includes: supporting better Government data (such as on family planning and education); commissioning evaluations to fill critical evidence gaps (including on education and social safety nets); and, strengthening beneficiary feedback.

Financial information

Initial allocations have been set internally to deliver the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy (May 2022) and the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, based on the FCDO’s Spending Review 2021 settlement.

The department’s spending plans for the period 2022 to 2023 to 2024 to 2025 have been revisited to ensure His Majesty’s Government continues to spend around 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) on ODA. This was in the context of the significant and unexpected costs incurred to support the people of Ukraine and Afghanistan escape oppression and conflict and find refuge in the UK, and others seeking asylum. The Government provided additional resources of £1 billion in 2022 to 2023 and £1.5 billion in 2023 to 2024 to help meet these unanticipated costs. The Government remains committed to returning ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI when the fiscal situation allows, in line with the approach confirmed by the House of Commons in July 2021.

The country development partnership summaries include the breakdown of programme budgets allocated to individual countries for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. These allocations are indicative and subject to revision as, by its nature, the department’s work is dynamic. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

It should be noted that these figures do not reflect the full range of UK ODA spending in these individual countries as they do not include spend delivered via core contributions to multilateral organisations, or regional programmes delivered by the FCDO’s central departments. Other UK Government departments also spend a large amount of ODA overseas. Details of ODA spent by other UK government departments can be found in their Annual Report and Accounts and the Statistics for International Development.

FCDO bilateral ODA

The UK expects to spend up to £17.6 million in the financial year 2023 to 2024 and up to £57 million in the financial year 2024 to 2025 in FCDO bilateral ODA. In the financial year 2023 to 2024, nearly 2 thirds of this is expected to be spent on sectors which benefit women and girls and a further quarter to support economic growth and investment. In the financial year 2024 to 2025, we expect to scale up the proportion of spend on humanitarian and climate, nature, and health.

Of FCDO bilateral programmes with spend in the financial year 2022 to 2023, 63% are marked as principally or significantly focused on promoting gender equality, and 38% are marked as principally or significantly focused on disability inclusion.

Figure 1. Indicative Allocations for 2023 to 2024 (£17.6 million): Women and Girls, 63%; Economic Growth and Investment, 25%; Humanitarian, 9%; Climate, Nature and Health, 1%; Other, 2%.

The following table presents bilateral FCDO ODA budget. It excludes spend from centrally management programmes and the rest of UK Government.

Allocated ODA budget Financial year 2023-2024	Indicative ODA budget Financial year 2024-2025
FCDO bilateral ODA: £17.6 million	FCDO bilateral ODA: £57 million

1. World Bank (WB) database, May 2023; Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics Population Census, 2022. ↩

2. WB database, May 2023. ↩

3. Ontario Tech University, City Population 2100. ↩

4. WB database, May 2023. ↩

5. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Article IV – United Republic of Tanzania: 2023 Article IV Consultation and First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement-Press Release; Staff Report. ↩

6. WB Tanzanian Economic Update – Tanzania Economic Update : Raising the Bar – Achieving Tanzania’s Development Vision. ↩

7. WB database, May 2023. ↩

8. Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics Population Census, 2022. ↩

9. https://www.sprep.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/forest-resources-assessment-main-report.pdf (PDF, 82.7 MB) ↩

10. IMF selected issues paper (PDF, 2 MB) ↩

11. WB database, May 2023. ↩

12. Tanzania’s score in Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perception Index deteriorated in 2022 after several years of improvements. ↩

13. New World Bank Financing Will Strengthen Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in Flood-Prone Dar es Salaam. ↩

14. Education Quality Improvement Programme PCR, and Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey, 2022. ↩

15. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Creditor Reporting System (CRS) database, May 2023. ↩

16. Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) Service Delivery Management System (RSDMS) – not publicly available. ↩