Monday 3 August 2009


But if Tanzania is to get anywhere near the targets international leaders have set for it, it will need more international aid?

Girls here face a number of extra obstacles. Many pupils walk 10km or more to school. They must look out for rapists who sit and wait for them, Tanzanian charities and the government admit. If pregnant, under Tanzanian law, girls are thrown out of school as punishment. They cannot come back later. Toilets are mixed and often without doors, causing girls embarrassment, particularly as they hit puberty.



The third MDG is to "eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education". The second Education for All target is to "ensure that all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to a complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality


If you take what the Tanzanian government says to be true, the country is well on its way to achieving universal primary education by 2015 - a target set by international leaders in Senegal in 2000 as part of the Education for All goals, and the second of the millennium development goals (MDG)




The ministry of education is so confident of this, it states in its statistics book published in June that by this year "all children aged seven to 13 can be enrolled".


But look deeper than the official statistics and education in Tanzania is an altogether different story?.While primary school tuition fees have been scrapped, Tanzanian parents are expected to contribute to other costs, such as uniform, a cooker for lunch, the cost of the school guards and, in some schools, a donation to the Aids bereavement fund for pupils who have lost one or more parents


"The private sector was assuming an increasingly larger and crucial role in national development and poverty reduction. It became necessary, therefore, for the government to maintain a continuous dialogue with the private sector and other stakeholders on critical issues affecting private sector development, and the economy as a whole. That is why I committed myself to creating a forum and a mechanism for institutionalised dialogue between the Government and the Private Sector."Hon Kigoda





Meet Mr Issa michuzi -Tanzania biggest blogger -doing 'his things' in his office





" the government is currently consulting with the World Bank for the extension of a substantial soft loan IDA facility for implementing a Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Project (MSME/PSD Project). The project will complement parallel efforts underway under the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) and supplements other ongoing initiatives on private sector development by the government/ including sectoral initiatives, by the private sector itself and by Community based organizations with own resources and based on bilateral donor support. The government is talking with DANIDA on the design of a Private Sector Development Strategy".Hon Kigoda






The Non Aligned Movement and Somalia

Somalia has been a concern of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) since the Jakarta Summit in 1992. The Movement has a task force on Somalia , and the NAM Caucus in New York monitors Somalia on a regular basis. The Non-Aligned Movement has always called for the peaceful resolution of the conflict to ensure durable peace and genuine reconciliation. In line with this tradition, this year's Ministerial Meeting in Havana welcomed the positive political developments made in the Djibouti peace process, and commended the Somali Government’s effort at reaching out to others, calling on all parties that didn't join the political process to do so. It also stressed the importance of re-establishing and training Somali security forces and welcomed the UN Secretary General’s proposal to develop a program of assistance to rebuild Somali security forces, and welcomed the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1863 (2009), expressing the intention to establish a United Nations peace keeping operation in Somalia as a follow-on force to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The meeting commended Uganda and Burundi for their involvement in AMISOM, paid tribute to the AU Partners and members states, in particular Algeria , for providing financial and logistical support and called upon its members and the international community to provide additional resources for the mission. It welcomed the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia in line with the Djibouti Agreement and expressed its appreciation for the sacrifice made by Ethiopia and its commitment to the search for a lasting solution to the conflict in Somalia . NAM 's ministerial meeting condemned all activities which posed a threat to navigation in the region. It welcomed the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1816 (2008), and the establishment of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia . This held its first meeting in New York in January. It called on the international community to mobilize resources and support urgently needed humanitarian assistance, and to extend financial and technical support to the TFG in its efforts towards re-building vital institutions, especially in the areas of security and the rule of law.

The stance of the Non-Aligned Movement on Somalia was firmly reiterated at the Movement's 15th Summit held earlier this month in Sharm El Sheik. The Summit welcomed the decisions of the 13th Ordinary Session of the Heads of State and Government of the Assembly of the African Union, held at the beginning of July at Sirte, including the decisions on Somalia , and encouraged their effective implementation. The 15th NAM Summit also welcomed the transitional arrangements being made by the UN Security Council including logistical support for deployment and strengthening of AMISOM, and to establish the United Nations Support Office for Somalia in Nairobi to coordinate a logistics base in Mombasa . UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the Summit : “We cannot fail the people there. Somalis must be at the forefront of resolving their conflict, but neighboring countries, the region and the broader international community must do more to help. We must give resources to the Transitional Federal Government and AMISOM and stop the insurgency.” The Summit commended the African Union for all its efforts in support of AMISOM, and urged the UN to move expeditiously to develop recommendations on the mandate of a future UN peacekeeping mission on Somalia as requested by Security Council Resolution 1863.

Only one country disagreed with the Non-Aligned Movement's unanimity: Eritrea . In spite of theoretically subscribing to the NAM consensus, Eritrea continues to follow a seriously adversarial role towards the TFG in Somalia and indeed the whole region. Its position was made clear at the Summit where the Eritrean delegation made highly critical and derogatory, remarks about both the TFG and AMISOM. Indeed, Eritrea has persistently remained at odds with the position of the Non-Aligned Movement on Somalia , calling for the dismantlement of the TFG and the removal of AMISOM. We wanted to highlight NAM ’s unqualified support to the TFG and AMISOM on purpose for we thought the point should not be missed that there is practically no organization in the world - regional, continental and universal - that has even remotely endorsed the position of Eritrea on Somalia .