Finland Times

 

File picture of a girl stands on a ridge as floodwaters surround her home in the flooded Jangwani neighbourhood, an informal settlement in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on March 28, 2014. Heavy rains have wreaked havoc on the streets of the coastal city and have prompted some people living in low-lying areas to seek shelter at higher ground. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said that Finland for the first time on April 2 is going to become for one year the chair of the group of countries and organisations providing budget support to Tanzania. 

 

Budget support is an essential form of development assistance and Finland will chair the cooperation concerning it in Tanzania, according to a press release of the foreign ministry.

 

"For Finland, the chairmanship is both a big challenge and an opportunity to yield much more influence than our size would normally warrant," said Finland's Ambassador in Tanzania, Sinikka Antila.

 

Finland will represent the entire group of budget support donors in the direction of the Tanzanian government. 

 

Last year, Tanzania received euro 410 million in budget support, of which Finland accounted for euro 11 million. From 2005 to 2012, approximately 40 per cent of the development assistance received by Tanzania was budget support. 

 

"A recent, independent evaluation showed that budget support has significantly improved access to basic services, such as clean water and health care, and boosted economic growth. Now, for example, almost all children start school, and the girls have caught up with the boys in school attendance," Antila said.

 

Budget support has also helped to strengthen the role of the Tanzanian Parliament and to enhance the operations of national auditors and the Combating of Corruption Bureau.

 

"The purpose of development assistance is to render itself unnecessary and to be sustainable. In Tanzania, it is of special importance to strengthen the country's own economic and governance systems, government accountability, and service provision now that gradual detachment from development aid seems to be on the horizon, as the country's own revenues grow."