Sweden pledges support to anti-poverty war in Tanzania

SIFA LUBASI in Dodoma

Sweden’s Deputy Minister of Development and International Cooperation, Ulrika Modeer.

SWEDEN will continue to cooperate with Tanzania in the fight against extreme poverty, a senior Swedish government official declared over the weekend.

Sweden’s Deputy Minister of Development and International Cooperation, Ulrika Modeer, made the pledge at Nkwenda village in Chamwino district, where she toured development projects geared at poverty eradication which are supported by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) through Swedish aid.

“I came here to study the implementation of the projects and have concluded that the money is properly spent but government’s challenge is to ensure that people involved in the programme accrue its benefits,” she said.

Modeer, who was accompanied by the Swedish Ambassador in Tanzania, Katarina Rangnitt, said as part of the international community, Sweden feels it has a huge debt of helping other societies to be able to obtain basic social services. “The level of poverty cannot be eliminated by the money we sent but the commitment to change attitudes,” she said.

The minister, who visited one of the homes of the beneficiaries and enjoyed the cool weather of the tembe house in the village, urged the government to strengthen social services in order to provide opportunities for many children to go to school.

He said such kind of the initiatives to help poor households was enforced in Sweden and showed success “that’s why we are happy to help other nations to emulate our success.”

TASAF Chief Executive Officer Ladislaus Mwamanga said the aim of the visit is to enlighten donors about the project and see for themselves how their money is being used to fight poverty and improve the lives of rural people.

He said the programme, being implemented in 9,960 villages in the country, helps poor households to to have sustainable income.

“The Deputy Minister and the Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania have come here to see the achievements and challenges during the implementation of the project and we thank them for that,” he said.

He said Tanzania and Sweden have forged cooperation since the former gained independence from Britain in 1961.

TASAF Dodoma Region Co-ordinator, Bogit Samhenda, said following the successful implementation of TASAF l and all donors agreed to go on sponsoring the programme’s second phase. TASAF, established in 2000, has to date touched the lives of millions of people in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar through supporting community projects