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Govt commended for discipline in managing Canadian aid
2008-01-23 08:50:23
By Nasser Kigwangallah
The government of Tanzania has been commended for discipline in managing Canadian aid.
The Canadian High Commissioner to Tanzania, Janet Siddall, gave the praise on the government yesterday while officiating at a five-day Canada University Services Overseas (CUSO) regional meeting which opened in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting aims at drawing a roadmap on future operations of CUSO in partner states and has drawn participants from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania.
She said ever since Tanzania was designated a priority country for Canadian International Development Assistance (CIDA) in 2002, the budget for this programme has increased five-folds.
``CIDA is now in a position to engage more actively and directly with the local authorities, civil society organizations in collaboration with other donors,`` she said.
Siddal said that the CIDA programmes in Tanzania focus on four priority sectors which include good governance, health and HIV/Aids, education and private sector development.
She named other areas of concentration as including social justice, women and youth empowerment; and capacity building which were in line with the Tanzania`s national programmes and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (Mkukuta).
The envoy said CIDA partnership programming was a key piece of the puzzle for aid effectiveness.
``We estimate that partners such as CUSO delivered approximately USD13 million worth of programming to Tanzania alone last year,`` Siddall disclosed.
She said her government has earmarked USD 4.4bn during the year 2008/09, as international assistance and Africa`s budget alone would be given $ 2.1bn.
According to her, Canadian development assistance would continue to focus in building of democratic governance, health outcomes including HIV/Aids, basic education, private sector development and environmental sustainability in consistent with the Millennium Development Goals, where it has traditionally been working over the last decade.
She said the government has also renewed its commitment to concrete actions across all sectors to promote and ensure genuine equality between men and women; and added that Canada has taken leadership role at the international level in promoting the role of civil societies, and civil society organizations in ensuring greater aid effectiveness.
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