Achieving the MDGs: Challenges and Prospects

Tanzania is clearly on track to achieving the MDGs related to primary education, child mortality, gender equality, and access to improved sanitation, but is lagging behind in other MDGs.

Although progress has been made, the spread of HIV/AIDS is the single most impoverishing force facing people and households in Tanzania today. If not halted and reversed, it threatens not only the achievement of the targets in the Poverty Reduction Strategies MKUKUTA and MKUZA but the MDGs more broadly.

Despite the progress made, the country still faces huge challenges: economic growth has been neither broad based nor robust enough to lead to a significant reduction in poverty, and indicators for social progress are less than impressive. As a result, the overall human development remains low, with a human development index of 0.398 in 2010, compared to 0.329 in 1990.

With a sound policy framework for poverty reduction and its comprehensive poverty monitoring system, Tanzania can achieve most of the MDGs by 2015, if concerted efforts are directed towards addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic, strengthening institutional, structural, policy and infrastructural capacity, improving efficiency in resource mobilization, and strengthening the PRS focus on MDGs as a strategic tool for meeting the 2015 target.

The outcome-oriented MKUKUTA and MKUZA integrate most of the goals and targets in their policy and their monitoring frameworks. However, the effective implementation of these policies would be critical in achieving these goals. The issue of meeting the resource needs, (human, financial and institutional), for the achievement of the MDGs also needs to be properly addressed.

Although recent statistics and information (2000/01 and 2007 HBS) show that it is unlikely that Tanzania will reduce extreme poverty by 2015, Tanzania has a potential of reducing food poverty by 2015, if the current efforts to revive and accelerate agriculture production can be sustained (MDGR 2008).

Policy direction towards a pro-poor growth strategy targeting investments in key areas such as income and employment generating activities, provision of basic services such as health and quality education and infrastructure would be critical for meeting the MDG targets. (Also see link to MDGs at a Glance bottom left).