The Contribution of Vulnerable Groups’ Sub-projects under Tanzania Social Action Fund to Income Poverty Reduction in Bahi District, Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) is a programme instituted by the government for reducing income poverty among the poor in Tanzania and has been implementing poverty reduction projects in Bahi District since the heyday of the first phase of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP I, 2005 - 2010). However, there is only slight change in income poverty, reduction especially among vulnerable households in the area. The reasons for this problem were not clear. Thus, the research on which this paper is based was conducted in Bahi District to determine TASAF beneficiaries’ income and impact of monetary values of support from TASAF on beneficiaries’ households’ incomes. It was found that net income for TASAF beneficiaries was TZS^[1] 1,140,000 per capita per year and for non-TASAF beneficiaries it was TZS 3,680,000. The incomes were significantly different at p < 0.001, with a t-value = 4.449. The amount of grant received had negative impact on income (ß = -0.025), but which was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). This implies that access to grants by vulnerable groups (VGs) did not help much vulnerable groups' households reduce poverty. The results substantiate a need for the government, through TASAF, to increase the amount of funding grants in favour of TASAF sub-projects so as to enable the vulnerable groups to generate more income for effective poverty reduction.

Key words: income poverty, vulnerable groups’ sub-projects, Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF)

[1] USD 1 = Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) 1,678 in June 2014