Britain has pledged £150 million (R2.7 billion) to Tanzania in support of the country’s rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene programmes.

The funding will support Tanzania’s programmes for five years from 2014 to 2019, and forms part of British backing of Tanzania’s Big Results Now (BRN) initiative.

BRN is based on the Big Fast Results model of development that has proven successful in Malaysia — the same policy that South Africa’s Operation Phakisa is based on. BRN provides a comprehensive system of development implementation for six priority areas: water, energy and natural gas, agriculture, education, transport and mobilisation of resources.

 

Water Sector Development Programme

Britain’s funding will also complement the second phase of the Water Sector Development Programme (WSDP), Tanzania Daily News reported. This will provide more than two million people with access to clean water and another 300 000 others with improved sanitation.

British investments to the WSDP will cover an input funding of £67.4 million for increased delivery of water supply services between 2014 and 2019.

However, a ‘Payment by Result Instruments’ policy will be implemented in the second phase. This is intended to make additional payments to local government authorities that are able to deliver additional results each year.

“The scheme is designed to provide incentives focused on sustainability of rural water supply as recent surveys indicate that about 40% of rural water points are not functioning, mainly due to weak systems and inadequate financial and human resources to maintain the water points,” Ros Cooper, Acting Head of Tanzania’s Department for International Development, told Tanzania Daily News.