Tanzania: Facing crisis due to high levels of unemployment
By Elias Mhegera – The Tanzanian Government has admitted that it is facing an increasing alarming and uncontrollable risk due to the high rate of unemployment in this country.
street vendors in Tanzania
This confession came from the Chief Secretary President’s Office Ombeni Sefue, when he spoke to the Business Times exclusively, on the Wednesday of October 24, after an official launching of the Post 2015 Development Agenda.
The occasion which took place at the Kunduchi Beach Hotel in Dar es Salaam, attracted a big number of Tanzania’s experts and consultants in economics, members of the civil society, media and development partners in general.
This is a series of global development plan after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expiration in 2015. Papers from the government and from the UNDP were presented on this subject matter.
The Chief Secretary Sifue thanked the development partners who have supported Tanzania’s development efforts and that the current world economic geography on environmental degradation and Climate Change are taken care of.
“We have to review the uncertainties and work with a critical thinking for the MGDs to become more sustainable, any development effort in Tanzania must involve vision and joint work with many key processes,” he commented.
He counseled that the new agenda must be more ambitions and realistic, and that it must focus in reducing independence from international partners. Moreover he called for the new global development to focus more on issues of environment and nature.
He also counseled that education to young people to be enhanced in order to fill in gaps that were not met by the previously round of MDGs plan.
Ramadhani Kija Principal Secretary Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, said that development is a process which needs closer partnership between the public and the private sector and therefore it was not proper to blame the government only whenever there are misfortunes.
For her part Ms Florence Mwanri, Deputy Executive Secretary President’s Office Planning Commission (POPC), said that the best priority now is to invest more in education at all levels.
“I think if we give priority to education we will get rid of all the problems that are currently facing this country, the youngsters can employ themselves and the private sector will yield more,” she said.
It was established almost through all the speeches including the one from the UNDP that the post 2015 Development Agenda will be more successful if it is inclusive and transparent
It was also established that the focus of the future MGDs must start with evaluation of the current development trends. The role of the UN in this regard is to provide a framework of ownership but without disregarding the national consultative agenda.
Dr Laura Madete also from the POPC, appreciated that Tanzania has started the National Consultations on the Post 2015 Development Agenda because this will enlighten people on the purpose and importance of the process.
“This is important as it will invite critical inputs and a shared vision and provide influence and useful information of a development framework,” she commented.
She added that the main aim of this consultative conference was Inclusion, accountability, and transparency as well as national ownership of the programme in order to reduce the abuse through an involvement of stakeholders.
Dr Madete said that consultations are at various levels but from the national level the main activities are meetings, presentation and discussion of papers, workshops, and this must be done through various measures including peer review of the ongoing on process.
She elaborated that another method is direct consultation with the public through the media, and channels of discussions of high level consultation which will inform the lower level of consultation. “This is our opportunity, let us utilize it,” she said
Further she said that the main questions in this task are to ask who is responsible, how, when and what should be taken into account. Moreover consultations will have to involve the thematic areas by analyzing the inputs and outputs.
The structure of the exercise on national consultation starts with a steering committee will have a technical team and the secretariat to assist the technical team.
Moreover the steering committee will discuss the output of the technical committee that it supervises and towards the end of October this year will be the end of the consultation review.
In November there will be an assessment and continuing with consultation while December will be a time for consolidation through January consultations will continue and the report will be prepared.
Around the beginning of February there will be delivery of the first draft of the repost which will be tabled in March 2013.
During her vote of thanks, Dr Donatilla Kaino, the acting executive director of the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), said that there was a need for joint efforts of different stakeholders on the issues of Government accountability, transparency in order to make development a reality.
