Tanzania has received a funding boost worth 71 million Euros (190.5bn/-) from Germany and will be utilised in the execution of various projects including water, maternal health, tourism and fighting against gender based violence (GBV).
According to dailynews.co.tz, Tanzania’s Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning Amina Khamis Shaaban and head of Germany Delegation, Marcus Von Essen signed the grant dossiers in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
After signing the deal, Ms Amina said out of the released fund, a total of 24 million Euros will be channeled to maternal health while 6 million Euros has been set aside to solve conflicts between human beings and wildlife.
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“Other areas which will get a portion from released funds are mitigation of consequences caused from COVID-19 in the tourism sector, anti-poaching and improvement of infrastructure of human settlements surrounding National Parks whereby a total of 15 million Euros will be spent,” Ms Amina was quoted.
She added that 20 million Euros will be used to improve water services in the rapidly growing towns and remaining 3 million Euros will be spent to improve water services in the selected urban areas.
Similarly, 3 million Euros will be spent on protecting the rights of women and girls, who are victims of gender based violence (GBV) by offering them legal aid.
Speaking at the event, the Germany Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Regine Hess said and her counterpart Germany mission leader, Mr Marcus Von Essen, who participated in the talks of securing the support, said the goal was to support Tanzania’s development.
According to them, under the new arrangement, Germany will focus on supporting antenatal care, issues relating to health insurance through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), water and environmental conservation.
Other areas include public finance management, protection of world heritage sites like Selous Game Reserve and protecting the rights of women and girls against GBV.
They further expressed Germany’s commitment to support development projects in Zanzibar, noting that they have started carrying out a feasibility study on water projects in the country.
“In the coming week Tanzania and Germany will sign more grants’ agreements signaling a new beginning for cooperation between the two countries in bringing development to Tanzanians,” they said.
Ms Hess is pleased with the fact that Tanzania marks its 60th Independence Anniversary on December 9, noting that this was the time Germany and Tanzania established ties with the country’s founding Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Nyerere and the then Germany Leader Prof Grzymek taking the lead.
She further noted that Germany has increased its commitments to Tanzania by 30 percent in comparison to the previous years, citing that the goal was to further raise more support to the government under the theme of “more projects, more financing”.