Tanzania

The Swiss Cooperation Programme 2021-2025 supports Tanzania’s process towards an equitable and stable middle-income country and empowers young people to advance socially and economically. Especially supporting impoverished women, as the main driver of change to contribute to regional stability and prosperity. Switzerland reinforces state institutions and local, national and international civil society organizations in the domains of health, governance, employment and income with gender equality as a cross cutting issue. 

Map of Tanzania
© FDFA

Tanzania is Africa’s sixth-most populous and fastest-urbanising country with a population of 58 million. For the first time in 2020, the World Bank with a GDP per capita of USD 1,080 classified Tanzania as a lower middle-income country. However, economic growth has not been inclusive and not been able to raise incomes of the poor. Approximatively 14 million live below the national poverty line of 21 USD per month. Poverty is more prevalent in rural areas, among young people and women-headed households. 

Politically, Tanzania is at a crossroad after almost two decades of slow but steady progress towards a more inclusive democracy, although civil society organisations and democratic processes currently face increased constraints. While access to health care has improved, the quality of the services is not satisfactory. High and persistent gender inequality, mainly due to traditional social norms and the prevailing legal framework in Tanzania, hinder sustainable development. With most of the GDP based on natural resources, such as agriculture-based exports, climate change will factor into the future development of Tanzania’s economy.

Efficient, Effective and Inclusive State Institutions

Switzerland aims at strengthening core state institutions and local authorities to be more efficient and effective in a systematic and sustainable manner, to be more responsive and accountable to the society, particularly young men’s and women’s needs and less prone to corruption.

Switzerland supports Ministries to formulate and implement inclusive and sustainable policies and foster the ability of the public sector to deliver quality and gender-sensitive basic health and gender-based violence (GBV) services, social protection, market-relevant vocational skills development (VSD), and financial solutions and innovations that leave no one behind. As an example, Swiss support in the health sector has contributed to the improvement of service delivery and the accountability for utilized public funds of around 90% of the 6’000 clinics in the country. Furthermore, the partnership between the government and the private sector has guaranteed the availability of medicines: 80% of clinics report no stock-outs of essential medicines in 2020.

Good governance

Health - A prerequisite for development

Enabling Civic Space

Switzerland aims at protecting and promoting the space that enables citizens, especially poor young women, to express themselves freely and to shape, monitor and influence social, political and economic matters that concern them.

Switzerland supports advocacy activities of accountability actors and human rights defenders to preserve and open new spaces for citizens, especially youth, to engage with institutions at national and local levels and to hold them accountable for their duties. Concretely civil society organizations and national networks have been involved in monitoring exercises to assess the implementation of development actions plans and budgets. Their requests have led to service delivery improvements in education, health and agriculture, benefiting thousands of citizens. Switzerland has maintained its role as a lead agency in the media sector. Supported community radio stations have increased their audience, giving millions of young people the information they need to make decisions affecting their lives. 

Better Youth Livelihoods

Switzerland aims at empowering and improving the livelihoods of the youth, in particular poor young women, by contributing to increased access to market-relevant vocational skills, innovations and financial solutions; sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence services; and social protection for those most in need.

Switzerland promotes public services and private sector engagement to expand social and economic options for youths. This allows them to pursue new gainful income-generating opportunities and enhances the productivity of their current activities. Thus, supplementing and stabilizing income flows, and contributing to sustainable livelihoods and reduced income poverty. Thanks to the recent modest initial support of Switzerland to vocational skills development projects, nearly 90% of the targeted disadvantaged youth and young adults entered (self) employment in agribusiness and renewable energy.

Basic Education and Vocational Skills Development

Private sector development and financial services

Cross-cutting themes

Gender, governance and climate change 

Switzerland seeks to promote more gender-inclusive governance and public institutions, increase the participation of women in decision- and opinion-making processes, and improve living conditions for young women living in poverty. It also raises gender issues in its policy dialogue, planning and monitoring, capacity building and communication activities.

In addition, Switzerland aims to influence power relations and support leaders to deliver efficient and effective services so that citizen participation is strengthened and the public can hold decision-makers accountable at all levels.

Climate change is also factored into all Swiss projects as a threat multiplier – for example in malaria control, agriculture and especially forest management. 

Gender equality

Climate change and the environment

Other issues

Culture

Switzerland allocates 1% of its operational budget to promoting local artists and culture in order to help build a strong, dynamic and innovative arts and culture sector. 

Art and culture – drivers of social change

Approach and Partners

Switzerland has a set of various instruments to support the Government of Tanzania and Tanzanian non-state actors and to partner with Swiss and international NGOS. The main responsibility for implementing the Swiss Cooperation Programme Tanzania 2021-2025 lies with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), at the country level represented by the Swiss Embassy. SDC closely collaborates with the Political Division and the Peace and Human Rights Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and with Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Current projects

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Safeguard Young People (SYP) - Tanzania

Safeguard Young People Programme

01.01.2024 - 31.12.2026

With 62% of its population below 25 years, the Safeguard Young People (SYP) programme supports Tanzania’s demographic dividend. The project advances young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through a gender-responsive and inclusive policy environment, empowered youth who make informed decisions, and responsive health and education systems. SYP builds on 10 years of regional experience and UNFPA’s expertise.


Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF)

Ms. Maria Maguta, TASAF beneficiary in Katavi Region.

01.10.2023 - 30.09.2025

Switzerland’s contribution to Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) for the implementation of the Productive Social Safety Net Program (PSSN) contributes to the protection of 1.5 milion poor households in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar through cash transfers, public works and livelihoods enhancement. Also evidence generated through this support will inform and reinforce Swiss engagement in national policy dialogue on social protection, beyond PSSN. 


Skills for Employment Tanzania (SET)

Beekeeping training in Mvomero District, Morogoro Region.

01.07.2022 - 30.06.2026

The project enhances youth (self-) employment by improving the Vocational Skills Development system. It supports the government and private stakeholders to expand access to quality training that matches the demand from both the economy and youth. Building on Swiss expertise, the project improves relevance of labour market data for curricula development, enhances the quality of vocational teachers, and provides access to tailored practical vocational trainings for youth, in particular women, including young mothers.


Tanzania Cultural Programme Phase 1

Nafasi Art Space

01.05.2022 - 31.12.2025

Switzerland supports Nafasi Art Space to foster cultural expressions, stimulate public engagement and enhance outreach of cultural productions. Young cultural managers are capacitated to improve the quality of cultural initiatives and micro grants are provided to amplify outreach. Furthermore, capacities of emerging cultural spaces, particularly in underserved regions, are strengthened to contribute to an accessible and inclusive cultural scene.


African Risk Capacity Programmes in Zambia and Zimbabwe

01.11.2021 - 31.10.2026

This programme will contribute towards strengthening national systems for disaster preparedness through support to drought insurance premiums and capacity building. Switzerland is thus consolidating its engagement in climate change mitigation and disasters risk reduction with the aim to sustainably minimize risk to loss of lives and assets for vulnerable men and women. The Africa Risk Capacity, a specialized agency of the Africa Union, will implement this programme. 


Direct Health Facility Financing

Zuena Hussein Ismail with her baby attended by a health worker at Makole Health Centre in Dodoma.

01.09.2021 - 30.06.2026

Together with the Tanzanian Government and development partners, Switzerland’s contribution to the reformed Health Basket Fund builds on positive results achieved so far and pursues to strengthen the health system that benefits 58 million inhabitants. Switzerland’s contribution will further expand effective decentralisation through the Direct Health Facility Financing mechanism to state and non-state primary health care providers, thus accelerating Tanzania’s progress towards universal health coverage and “Leaving no One Behind”.


Rural Resilience in Southern Africa / R4 Initiative

01.07.2021 - 30.06.2025

The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative for Southern Africa enables smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate risk through improved resource management, insurance, livelihoods diversification, microcredit and savings. Through R4, Switzerland has become a credible and trusted partner in resilience building and its learnings have fed into policy dialogue. The emphasis of this final phase is on strengthening government and private sector, as well as the gender approach.  


Empowering Media in Tanzania

BBC Media Action presenter Melissa Michael

01.01.2021 - 31.12.2024

Citizens and governments rely on media to stay informed, communicate and be held accountable. Quality issues, revenue challenges, a difficult legal environment and security concerns limit the capacity of the Tanzanian media to play this role effectively. The Empowering Media Tanzania Program builds on long standing Swiss experience and works through contributions to six local and international media support partners to improve media quality, journalism security and content provided to young Tanzanian women. 


Impact Linked Financing for high-impact organisations suf-fering from the COVID-19 crisis

01.12.2020 - 31.12.2028

The Impact-Linked Finance Fund (ILFF) addresses major challenges, which private-sector organisations creating strong positive impact for vulnerable communities are facing due to COVID-19. These high-impact organisations (HIOs) will benefit greatly from an innovative financing approach that rewards them directly for verified outcomes. The project will focus on HIOs in Eastern and Southern Africa suffering from the COVID-19 crisis and providing important sustainable services at affordable prices to the poor.


O3+ Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future

01.10.2020 - 14.09.2025

This project uses targeted interventions in post-secondary educational institutions in Zambia and Zimbabwe to improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) among 18-24 year-olds. Working with UNESCO and Ministries of Higher and Tertiary Education, the project brings Switzerland’s lengthy experience in the HIV/SRHR field to bear by targeting an often neglected cohort of young people with tailored interventions to reduce HIV infections, unintended pregnancies, and gender-based violence. 


Innovation for Social Change

Innovation for Social Change

01.07.2020 - 31.08.2027

Switzerland promotes growth of impact-first enterprises in Tanzania through the provision of tailored technical assistance and innovative impact-linked financing (ILF) instruments. Support to enterprises is tied to their potential or proven social impact, measured against the extent of improvements in social and economic well-being among poor youths and young women. Switzerland further promotes strategic policy dialogues, paving way for systemic support to impact-first enterprises. 


Anti-Corruption Support

Anti-Corruption Support

01.04.2020 - 31.03.2025

The second phase of the Anti-Corruption Support program aims at accelerating the Swiss contribution to an institutional and social environment in Tanzania that is increasingly adverse to corruption. The main line of intervention remains technical assistance to the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) but increasingly includes other key anti-corruption agencies. This support is complemented by activities enhancing collective action to foster a society that is increasingly adverse to corrupt behaviour. 

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