Tanzania has achieved
an excellence in Local Economic Development
(LED) to the ground of practice where
Primary Education Development Program
and Municipal managements have been sited
as practice examples. Unlike other Sub
Saharan Africa countries who have done
better in policy and legislative framework,
yet lack ground practices.
Shortly after presentations made in Africa
Local Government Action Forum (ALGAF),
the Director of Ilala Municipal sited
some examples that Tanzania have adopted
as action steps to practice LED. He sited
Tanzania Primary Education Development
Program (PEDP) reform in Tanzania as well
as action taken by Municipals to bid the
city cleaning activities to the local
partner.
In order to create decent job to the
citizens and maintain sustainable development
in the country Local Economic Development
(LED) is an essential process to undertake.
In the LED, local governments and community
based groups manage their existing resources
and enter into partnership arrangements
with private sector to create new jobs
and stimulate economic activities.
PEDP is one of the most ambitious reforms
undertaken in Tanzania in recent years.
It aims to provide access to quality education
for all, with specific institutional measures
to ensure increased participation and
better accountability.
The Ministry of Education and Culture,
therefore has recognized the need to embark
on the strategy to streamline and strengthen
its core functions of policy formulation,
co-ordination, monitoring, and evaluation
of Adult and Non-Formal Education to ensure
that all out-of-school children, illiterate
youth and adults get the best quality
education.
The provision of quality of education
to this target group will contribute to
the creation of a lifelong learning society,
improvement of people’s livelihoods,
an increased awareness and prevention
of HIV/AIDS, gender and environmental
issues, good governance, sustained social
and economic development of the country
and to poverty eradication.
According to Andres Rodriuez of London
School of Economics who did research on
Sub Saharan Africa, Led has become often
identified with self-reliance, survival,
and poverty alleviation, rather than participation
in the global economy, competitiveness,
and finding market niches.
Why do we prefer imported goods? In most
cases some of the imported goods are easily
made here within the country, even the
biscuits are imported from Bangladesh
and India!
What do we import from Kenya and Uganda
after one year down the line since the
Custom Union was adopted?
During the presentation, the question
seem to be asked repeatedly especially
by the colleagues from Uganda. Ugandans
seem to make a lot of cries into this
by claiming that foreign entrepreneurships
where in favour to grow beyond local private
sectors due to the unjustified policies.
The contributor cited the growth of coca
cola to the local beverages.
However, it has been advised that local
private sectors should work hand to hand
with giant investors in some number of
things so as to learn the basic skills
of survival in the competitive market.
In Tanzania, sugar from Thailand is
fetches higher prices than that from Kilombero.
There is something smelly about the way
we do business. The worse we believe in
so many fallacies that keep us from venturing
into the export market.
In South Africa the policies and legislative
framework are yet in place but very little
has been done to make these policies and
legal frameworks to be pro-poor LED, and
Led is unevenly developed and operationalized
across the country, says Etienne Nel and
Ian Goldman of Rhodes University.
‘The key pro-poor interventions
are in small business support, community-
tourism, providing township business centers,
market and urban agriculture,” says
Etienne Nel.
In Ghana local private sectors, especially
in beverage industries are supported by
the LED policies where by only local beverages
are advocated for use in the sponsored
public boarding schools. One contributor
form Ghana says, “In the government
purchase, local private sectors are given
first priority.”
Through videoconference that took place
at Tanzania Global Development and Learning
Centre (TGDLC), Andres Rodriuez agrees
that LED can indeed be complemented, if
not an alternative, to existing development
strategies in the Sub Saharan Africa context.
He concludes that LED can provide a more
flexible and effective approach to simultaneously
enhance economic growth and reduce poverty
across Sub Saharan Africa. However, it
has been advised that local private sectors
should work hand to hand with giant investors
in some number of things so as to learn
the basic skills of survival in the competitive
market.
