INTRODUCTION

The definition of economic development varies among individuals, politicians and countries.
Development has been defined Todaro, (1985) as a multidimensional process which involves
changes in the social structures, national institutions, attitudes, and national institutions,
acceleration of economic growth, reduction of ineualit! and absolute povert! eradication. The
"conomic development creates opportunities in the education, emplo!ment, healthcare and
enivironmental conservation. #uman development inde$ (#D%) is one of the method used in
measuring economic development as it ta&es into account the rate of literac! rates and life
e$pectanc! that affect productivit!.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES SINCE 1961
Tangan!i&a got her independence in 19'1 from the (ritish )olonialist and united with *an+ibar.
in 19', to form the present da! -nited .epublic of Tan+ania. /t the time of independence
Tan+ania was among the poorest countr! in "ast /frica. To promote economic development in
the countr!, the government of Tan+ania increasingl! become active developing varous
strategies.
Growth strategy fro 1961 to 1966
/fter 19'1 the main goal of the government of Tan+ania was to stimulate economic growth and
build an independent state. The econom! remained in the hands of the (ritiains and the /sian
businessmen especiall! %ndians and the /rabs. "conomic policies remained the same as those
persued b! colonial power. The government made efforts in developing a five !ear plan to
support industrial and agricultural development through foreign direct investiment. %mport
Rodrick Wilbroad Mugishagwe (MSC/PPM/MZC/030/T.13| e!elo"#e$% &co$o#ics
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substitution strateg! which relied on private investors was implemented to support industrial
development. %n this period per capita income grew b! 01 per annum (2orld (an&, 1998).
)apital formation increased steadil! and macroeconomic variable such as inflation and balance
of pa!ment remained stable. Despite of the industrial growth and inflow of e$ternal resources,
ineualities as well povert! increased as those improvements could not meet the e$pectation of
the government and the citi+en. /s a result the government under 3resident 4!erere came with a
new strateg! (discussed in the ne$t section) necessar! to speed up economic development.
Ar!sha De"#arat$o% $% 196&
The second strateg! came in 19'5 when the 6overnment of Tan+ania adopted the /rusha
Declaration which landed the socialism and self reliance and their to the economic development
of Tan+ania. -nder this declaration Tan+ania follwed socialist based political and economic
policies. /ll privatel! companies including industries, farms, ban&s and mines were nationali+ed
and controlled b! the government. The ob7ective was to create public ownership of the econom!.
8ome improvements were observed after declaration, the industrial sector accounted for 191 of
6D3 in 1955 form 81 in 19''. The number of childred attending primar! school grew from
805,999 to 1,5:0,999 pupils in 1955. 8ince the publication of education for self reliance in 19'5,
great advances were made in adult education to eladicate illiterac! where over 5 million people
were registered in literac! clasess in 1955. %n daation techinical and agricultural trainging was
offer to all students in primar! and secondar! schools. There were also improvement in the
health sector, fore$ample in 19'5, there were onl! ,0 rural health centres in operation compared
Rodrick Wilbroad Mugishagwe (MSC/PPM/MZC/030/T.13| e!elo"#e$% &co$o#ics
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to more than 150 in 195' (4!erere, 1955). 3er capita income grew at a rate 9.51 per !ear. This
was contributed to b! the agricultural and manufacturing sector.
Ten !ears after independence Tan+ania was neither socialist or self relient (4!erere 1955).
"$lpoitation and ineualities still e$isted, and ma7orit! of the the citi+en were sstill poor and
seffered from diseases and high level of ignorance. The nationalisation private business limited
opportunities for entrepreneurship. The public lac&ed adeuate managerial and technical s&ills
and was characterised b! high levels corruption and embe++lement and relied on government
subsidies for their survival as a result the! became loss ma&ing entities and deliver the e$pected
results.
E"o%o$" Re"o'ery Prograes
#aving e$perienced economic decline in the late 1959;s and a financial crisis in the earl! 1989;s,
the government adopted domestic economic recover! programs &nown as 4ational "conomic
8urvival 3rogramme ("83) between 1981 and 198: and 8tructural /d7ustment 3rogramme
(8/3) between 198: and 198'. The goal was to free the econom! from financial crisis and
eliminate state controls. (ut the reforms were limited and unsuccessful and in 198', Tan+ania
accepted 2orld (an& (2() and %nternational <onetar! =und (%<=) macroeconomic reforms
under the name of "conomic .ecover! 3rogramme (".3). The reforms put ceiling on
government financing and reuired the government to devalue its currenc! b! 151 and the
rmoval of state control in the foregn e$change mar&et, ((an& of Tan+ania, 0910). The financial
sector was liberali+ed in 1991 for private sector and foreign ban&s to participate. =inancial
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mar&ets were established and the use of indirect instruments of monetar! polic! was introduced
in the econom!. /s a result the number of ban&s increased from : before the 1999s to ,0 in
0919, ((an& of Tan+ania, 0910). Despite of all the efforts, Tan+ania remained one of the poorest
countries and man! people were unable to meet their basic needs. /s part of response to this
situation, the government of Tan+ania developed 4ational 3overt! "radication 8trateg! (43"8)
in 1998.
Po'erty Re(!"t$o% Strateg$es
3overt! has been as one of the ma7or concern to the government since independence and has
adopted various strategies to reduce povert! and income ineualities in the countr!. /ccoding to
the Tan+ania )oalition for Debt and Development (T)DD) and 3overt! .eduction 8trateg!
3aper (3.83) report in 0999, 591 of in the Tan+anians in 1999s were poor in the 1999s, of
which :'1 lived in ver! poor conditions and about '91 of the population rural areas was poor
compared to the urban population at :91. To address the isssue of povert! in the countr!, the
government in 1998 adopted povert! reduction strategies locall! &nown as 4ational 3overt!
"radication 8trateg! (43"8). The overall goal of 4"38 was to provide a framewor& in order
guide povert! eradication initiatives. The target of 4"38 was to reduce absolute povert! b! 591
b! the end of !ear 0919 and eradicate absolute povert! b! the end of !ear 0905. Desptie of the
efforts povert! still was a seriousl! problem. /ccording to the #ousehold (udget 8urve! (#(8)
of 0999>91 the proportion of the population below the national food povert! decresed from
01.'1 in 1991>90 to 18.51 in 0999>91 while the national povert! line decresed from :8.'1 to
:5.51 in 1991>90 and 0999>91 respectivel!. 2hen the figures of #(8 are compared, we see that
Rodrick Wilbroad Mugishagwe (MSC/PPM/MZC/030/T.13| e!elo"#e$% &co$o#ics
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there were a small decline in the proportion of the population below the national povert! lines.
The 4ational 8trateg! for 6rowth and .eduction of 3overt! (486.3) was a second povert!
reduction strateg! to be adopted in 0995. 486.3 putt povert! reduction high on the countr!;s
development agendas. The motive of 486.3 was not onl! to reducing povert! but also
unemplo!ment b! '.91 in the !ear 0919. The 486.3 recorded improvements in terms of
economic growth from ,.'1 in 0999>91 to 5.01 in 0998 and reduced unemplo!ment to 11.:1 in
0998. 486.3 faced with several issues including inadeuate prioriti+ation and coordination of
interventions, inadeuate financing and guidance on 486.3 supporting strateg!, wea&
monitoring and evaluation s!stem. %n response to the apparent wea&nesses noted in 486.3 %,
the government made a resolution in 0919 to develop 486.3 %% a five !ears povert! reduction
strateg!. 486.3 %% started b! reviewing 486.3 % in 0999. The new strateg! (486.3 %%) is
currentl! under being implementation.
CONCLUSION
8ince independence in 19'1 the government of Tan+ania has formulated various development
strategies both addressing the vulnerabilit! of povert! and achievement economic development.
#owever, there is still inadeuate institutional mechanism and capacit! to ensure the
implementation of the formulated policies and strategies and people at the communit! level are
unaware of the presence of these strategies. This has been accompanied b! corruption, lac& of
funds, poor monitoring as well as evaluation. "conomic development strategies need to be re
revisted becuase in some cases the strategies could have succeeded but the e$isting institutional
framewor& have supported the effective implementation of those strategies. / combination of
good governance, well functioning legal and regulator! framewor& as well as proper institutional
Rodrick Wilbroad Mugishagwe (MSC/PPM/MZC/030/T.13| e!elo"#e$% &co$o#ics
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framewor& that match the e$isting policies will drive Tan+ania to a new leve of development.
There fore the govenment need to establish mechanisms that will ensure full! participation of all
sta&eholders in the communities including 46?s, communit! based groups, trade unions in
polic! formulation, implementation and monitoring.
RE)ERENCES
1. (an& of Tan+ania ((?T). (0911). Tan+ania <ainland;s 59 @ears of %ndependenceA /
.eview of the .ole and =unctions of the (an& of Tan+ania (19'1B0911).
0. Culius D. 4!erere .(1955). The arusha declaration ten !ears after. -nited .epublic of
Tan+ania.
:. T)DD>3.83. (0999). E3overt! .eduction 8trateg! 3aperA %nput from )ivil 8ociet!
?rganisationsF Draft paper, presented at T)DD>3.83 feedbac& wor&shop, 01G00 /pril.
,. -nited .epublic of Tan+ania (-.T). (1998). The 4ational 3overt! "radication 8trateg!.
3rinted b! 6overnment 3rinters, Dar es salaam, Tan+ania.
5. 2orld (an& (2(). (1998). 2orld "conomic %ndicators 1998.2ashington, D).
'. /ndrew marcelin &omba. (0919). / stud! on integration of emplo!ment issues in
development framewor&s. <inistr! of =inance and "conomic /ffairs.
5. <%4%8T.@ ?= =%4/4)" /4D ")?4?<%) /==/%.8. (0919). 4/T%?4/H
8T./T"6@ =?. 6.?2T# /4D ."D-)T%?4 ?= 3?I".T@ (486.3 %%).
</.)# 08, 0919.
Rodrick Wilbroad Mugishagwe (MSC/PPM/MZC/030/T.13| e!elo"#e$% &co$o#ics
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