CARE Tanzania

After our meeting with CIDA on September 15^th, I decided to tag along with David and one of his grad students Alice to their meeting with CARE International in Tanzania. I was aware that CARE Canada and CARE Tanzania have been working together to move forward an agenda on private sector, and I was very interested to hear how their plans were coming. We were received by Chris Sykes, director of programmes and Nick Southern, Country Director in their very comfortable and centrally located offices in Dar.

Nick very briefly gave us an overview of CARE in Tanzania, where they are working and the areas of focus where it is concentrating its efforts. Currently CARE works in the Education, Health, livelihoods and Natural Resources sectors in 40 districts/Municipalities across 11 regions on mainland Tanzania and on both Unguja and Pemba Islands of Zanzibar. Their program is actively engaged at the community, village, district and national levels in all sectors.

CARE is beginning to flirt with the idea of Private Sector and it is emerging somewhat organically through its Livelihoods and Natural Resource Sector of work. This area includes projects around common property resource management, livelihoods of households and next to protected areas, on-farm income generation, off-farm income generation, food security and HIV/AIDS. However at the moment CARE does not know exactly where to house a private sector initiative, and consequently they are being very thoughtful and patient in exploring this work. There are three areas CARE Tanzania could have natural links to piloting some work in private sector. These include their activities in agriculture, ecotourism and finally the potential around Artemisia, a hardy species of herbs and sub-shrubs known for their volatile oils and medicinal properties.

In the agricultural sector, CARE has had tremendous success with small-holder farmers and small-scale savings and loans. Many of these groups of farmers have formed associations that have an apex structure. Recently in an ad-hoc manner, some of these associations have begun to engage with agribusiness on their own accord. This is a very interesting development that might warrant some research into potential business models, market analysis, and the development of a tools kit to measure impacts. What might be the proper structure for these associations that can best represent their collective interests? In the meeting, the idea was raised that governance issues for these associations is also key, since only some of the members are literate or innumerate. Thus, how do they make sure that the collective interest is being best served?

The idea was raised that a mentoring system that links the business community in Dar es Salaam to these associations, providing advisory services could be an avenue to build business capacity.

This was a good brainstorming session for all meeting participants and we left with a positive vibe. It will be a slow process for CARE to begin exploring private sector in more detail for a number of reasons, but I have confidence that they will be moving forward and doing so in a very intelligent manner.

Comments

[Dennis Tessier]

I met with Care Tanzania while studying stakeholder engagement in the gold mining sector and I agree with your observations on this very progressive organization. In meeting CARE's Kahama Education Enhancement Project, I observed a very goal oriented group of people who approached thier work in a logical and participatory manner. Care Tanzania is certainly an example of an NGO on the right track.