Finland's development cooperation in Tanzania

Tanzania is Finland’s longest-standing development cooperation partner and the largestrecipients of Finnish development cooperation appropriations. From Tanzania's perspective, however, Finland is a small donor.Finland's bilateral support to Tanzania in 2013 totalled EUR 27 million.

• Country Strategy for Development Cooperation with Tanzania (PDF)

Fishing boats in Zanzibar. Photo: Milma Kettunen.

Tanzania has unforeseen potential for reducing poverty and becoming independent of external assistance in the next decades. This is made possible by the newly found natural resources, especially the discovery of major offshore gas fields.

The Tanzanian vision of its development is to turn the country into a middle-income country by the year 2025. Today, it belongs to the category of the least developed countries of the world, and approximately 30% of the people live in absolute poverty.

The use of the non-renewable natural resources will start in earnest only after about ten years. The Government of Tanzania and the development partners have a common challenge in putting the public administration, business environment, infrastructure and basic services in order, so that the revenue from the natural resources will reduce poverty in a balanced manner.

High raw material prices on the world markets have made Tanzania one of the fastest growing economies; the share of foreign assistance in the Budget has come down to about 20%.

Economic growth has reduced income poverty and maternal mortality only a little, but for example access to primary education has improved and child mortality has shrank considerably.

The challenges include strong population growth and climate change, which complicate especially the lives of subsistence farmers. About 75% of Tanzanians still earn their living from subsistence agriculture and forestry.

Finland leading a donor group for good governance

The objectives of Finland's development cooperation are based on Tanzania's own development goals and on the division of tasks agreed between other development partners.

Good governance and openness are important especially in the management of natural resources so that the obtained revenue is used to improve the citizens' wellbeing. Openness and good governance are promoted especially in the budget support cooperation, where Finland is currently chair of the donor group specialising in administrative issues.

Access to and quality of services is improved, among other things, by supporting the creation of a more equal allocation of public resources in Tanzania to ensure a more equitable distribution of income at the regional levels.

The rate of deforestation and forest degradation are key problems in the country. To prevent the damage, it is essential to create relevant regulations and policies, to register forest tenures, and to make forest use plans.

Finland has good experience of job-creation through enhanced productivity in the agriculture and forestry sectors in Tanzania. The development of the ICT environment and encouragement of local innovations as well as closer cooperation between Finnish and Tanzanian actors also generate employment.

The key objective of the cooperation in all programmes is to promote especially the human rights of women, youth and minorities and their empowerment as active members of society. Climate change issues are also highlighted.

Will Tanzania's growth benefit everybody?

The cooperation between Finland and Tanzania involves a number of risks. There is a risk of growing social inequality and increasing poverty. This may take place especially if natural resources are not managed responsibly and transparently and the fruits of economic growth are not channelled to poverty reduction and equitable provision of basic services.

The risks in the implementation of development cooperation often arise from local partners' incapacity, poor management of finances and corruption. Different programmes' and projects' risk management requires careful planning, monitoring, constant learning and rapid reaction.

Finland supports the role of the Tanzanian civil society and Parliament in monitoring of the Government's activities and use of public funds.