Africa-Press – Tanzania. KAGERA Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Prof Faustin Kamuzora, has appealed to families which benefit from Tasaf grants to use them wisely to improve their livelihoods.
He urged the beneficiaries to be creative in coming up with small projects that would boost their incomes.
He further called upon the community to utilise the funds given by the government, donors and various financial institutions so that the money could make positive changes in their lives.
He stressed the importance of coming up with small-scale projects like pig and goat rearing to improve their incomes.
He also asked the community to abandon out-dated traditional practices by enabling women to exercise their right to own property and engage in investments, saying they had proved to be excellent in financial management.
Kagera Regional Tasaf Coordinator Efrazi Mkama told ‘Daily News’ that at least 53.721bn/- had been disbursed to 68,915 poor households in Kagera Region through Tasaf phase 3.
About 70,346 poor households were initially targeted, but 1,431 were dropped out due to various reasons, including deaths and lack of qualifications.
“During the past five years (2015-2020) the government set aside 54,322,167,800/-, but what was paid to beneficiaries was 53,721,340,750/- while 600,826,050/- was returned to the government,” he said.
Mr Mkama explained that Tasaf beneficiaries were using the funds to improve their living standards through the construction of decent houses while others initiated income generating projects.
“At least 13,621 houses have been constructed while 25,956 households were running income projects, including cattle (386), goats (41,401), pigs (10,849) and chicken rearing while 95,062 iron sheets were bought.
He further said about 37,759 households out of 50,179 had joined the Community Health Fund (CHF), implying 75.2 per cent coverage.
About 1,069 poor households in Ngara District were paid 1,204,695,720/- for participating in a public work programme (PWP), including tree planting, road construction and clean and safe water management.
“Some of the beneficiaries, including widows had formed saving groups (Vikoba). What is needed is to equip them with entrepreneurship skills to enable them to manage well the funds and eventually graduate from poverty,” he remarked.
