Browsing: USAID

• Questions are lingering about US food aid to Tanzania that targets schools, with critics terming it unnecessary.
• US food aid to Tanzania has been ongoing for the past decade.
• Tanzania now wants the US to buy the food from Tanzanian farmers and fortify it in public.

An ongoing program of US food aid to Tanzania has come under sharp scrutiny after the public in East Africa’s second largest economy took to social media condemning the support from the American people.

At the moment, X (formally Twitter) is awash with Tanzanians and its thousands of nationals in the diaspora questioning the safety of US food aid which authorities in the country received recently.

Raising more questions was the fact that the food aid was not distributed to the general public but to hundreds of schools.

In its defense, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has issued a public statement saying the …

• EAGC funding seeks to tackle trade challenges directly by removing trade impediments and building food export capacity in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
• This is across export value chains such as Maize, Beans, Millet, Sorghum, and Rice.
• Further, a core part of this is to increase the ability of grain producers to export both regionally and to the rest of the world.

Food export competitiveness in East Africa

Through USAID’s Economic Recovery and Reform Activity (ERRA) program, the United States government has awarded a three-year grant worth $2 million to the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC).

The funding is geared towards strengthening the competitiveness of export-oriented staple food value chains in East Africa.

ERRA program is delivered by TradeMark Africa (TMA), with funding from Feed the Future. Via its five-year $75 million program, USAID and TMA are driving transformative trade and investment reforms in the East and Horn of Africa.

This …

• USAID is committing $3 million in funding for water and sanitation investment projects in Africa.
• The financing through African Water Facility (AWF) will be in grants and technical assistance to African countries.
• AWF assists African nations in achieving the goals and targets outlined by the African Water Vision 2025.

The African Water Facility (AWF) has received a $3 million commitment from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The financing will facilitate the planning of water and sanitation investment projects in Africa. Financing will be through grants and technical help to African nations and regional economic groups.

Housed by the African Development Bank, the African Water Facility was launched by the African Ministers Council on Water. It is the first institution in Africa fully dedicated to addressing water and sanitation challenges.

AWF assists African nations in achieving the goals and targets outlined by the African …

• Three startups Twende Green Ecocycle, Oceania Pacesetter, and Eco-Redemptors offered the most effective solutions in tackling Mombasa’s marine plastics problem. 
• Marine plastic waste is the most harmful form of scrap accounting for at least 85 percent of total marine waste.
• The Mombasa Plastics Prize Awards and Celebration by Challenge Works  was  funded by USAID and Global Affairs Canada. 

Three Mombasa-based startups that are helping reduce marine plastic waste have secured $50,000 in prize money for their innovations fighting pollution in the coastal region. 

Twende Green Ecocycle emerged first place receiving $25,298. Twende Green Ecocycle is a social enterprise that promotes sustainable development. It tackles pollution by recycling marine plastic waste from informal settlements into school eco-desks. The startup says it uses advanced recycling technology to turn plastic waste into eco-desks. The start-up’s high-quality school lockable eco-desk are used by students and teachers.

Startups reducing marine plastic waste

Oceania Pacesetter emerged …

• The government of Tanzania is looking to make the country cooking oil self-sufficient by 2025, that is in just two years.
• ASA reports that it has 13 farms covering a total area of 16,588 hectares, but unfortunately, of these, only 12,731 hectares are suitable for farming.
• The deficit costs the country US$ 250 million every year in palm and other edible oil imports.

Tanzania is short of 650,000 metric tons which is over 60 percent of its requirements plugged by imports. Now the country wants investors to close this gap.

Speaking recently to farmers in South Tanzania, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa challenged local and foreign investors to see this demand gap as an investment opportunity.

The deficit costs the country US$ 250 million every year in palm and other edible oil imports, making the edible oil sector, the second-highest foreign exchange earner by the value of transactions.

“However, the government …

• US$55 billion to be invested in Africa over the next three years along with several new partnerships and initiatives.
• The U.S.-Africa Business Forum was held and attended by 300 executives from American and African companies.
• For African youth development, the US announced more than $100 million in funding for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

This year’s U.S. Africa Leaders Summit (13-15 Dec) in Washington has been defined not by the African guest’s colourful dress code, but by the billions that were pledged in aid, grants and support.

To the welcome of the flamboyant African leaders and businessmen, US officials and corporate chiefs announced US$55 billion to be invested in Africa over the next three years along with several new partnerships and initiatives.

The sum is significant, but going with President Joe Biden’s statement, this is just the beginning. “There’s so much more we can do together and that we …

Before it infects humans, Ebola ‘is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope or porcupines found ill or dead or in the rain forest.

Notice the list of animals, these are very common not only in an African forest but any bushes or shrubs in any human settlement (across the world). Again, while scientists explain the epistemology of the disease, they fail to explain why after centuries of safe contact, now these animals are infecting humans.

What scientists do know is ‘Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola.’…

Worse still, the institute points to a much deeper conspiracy to force African farmers to buy agro-inputs from large corporations. In its report, the Oakland Institute says AGRA ‘imposes a regime in which farmers lose power over their own seeds and are forced to buy them back from large corporations year after year.’

“This system may also contribute to the marginalization of women.9 million smallholder farmer households, who are witnessing increased food security through AGRA’s direct interventions,” reads the report in part.

Then there is the matter overarching matter of climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser will increase nitrous oxide emissions, which increase the atmospheric temperature significantly.…

On behalf of Tanzania’s Minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, Director of Wildlife Division, Dr Maurus Msuha said; “The project is key especially in our changing environment as many of our wildlife movement corridors are increasingly becoming fragmented to reduce encroachment and conflicts.”

The project will extend across five years to restore destroyed wildlife corridors along with supporting the surrounding communities. As such, the majority of the funding will go into strengthening the institutional capacity of key players from both the public and the private sectors.

“Although we cannot reverse previous damage to wildlife and natural resources, moving forward, USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili will foster sustainable management at the community and national level,” Dr Masuha told stakeholders.

The project will engage and empower women and youth groups at both local and national levels. It is only through such communal engagement that the project can be sustained. A key part here is …