Election score card

Australian NGOs are presenting succinct scorecards that make it easy to compare the policies of the main political parties on issues of interest.

Ben gives a handy list of eight NGOs that have scorecards on issues like:

Make Poverty History
Refugees
Climate Policy
Rural Health
Environmental Issues

. . . and others.

On the policy that affects poor countries like Tanzania, the scorecard at Make Poverty History gives the following scores:

Coalition = 2 points
Labor = 8 points
Democrat = 8 points
Greens = 7 points
Family First = 7 points

Check out the Make Poverty History site to see what earned them the points.

Many of us vote from our traditional preferences. See where your preferred party stands on the issues that matter to you. Poverty is one area where there is a real difference between the parties. There's no 'me too' here.

The suffering of the very poor is easily ignored when it is not right under our noses. Your vote can reflect a wider world view if you keep your eye on the larger picture.

Financial Times reviews Tanzania

In a recent article, the Financial Times gives a good overview of trends in Tanzanian development. It asks the question that many ask – why does Tanzania languish in poverty, given the natural resources and foreign aid it has received?

They note that Tanzania is

Rich in farm land, mineral resources and wildlife, it is free of tribal tensions and has experienced a series of peaceful transitions of power, thanks to a sense of unity forged by Julius Nyerere, its founding father. It also has a stable macro-economic environment and its administration is relatively well-organised: the principal achievements of Benjamin Mkapa, who ruled from 1995 to 2005.

The article notes that the current government's biggest achievement

. . . has probably been the introduction of universal primary education: more schools have been built in the past 18 months than in the previous 20 to 30 years, say officials, although there are now not enough teachers.

And they comment that

. . . In the United Nations' human development index, which measures standards of living and health as well as education, Tanzania has barely moved.

The following statistics reveal the depth of Tanzanian poverty.

According to the last national household survey, conducted in 2000-01, almost one in five people was receiving less than the minimum calorie requirements. More recent government research showed two-thirds of mainland households did not have access to piped water and 89 per cent were without electricity. The country's adult HIV/Aids infection rate is 6.5 per cent and in some regions hits 15 to 20 per cent.

In her 2007-08 budget speech, Zakia Hamdani, the finance minister, said the resources needed for the implementation of the previous administration's growth and poverty reduction strategy - known as Mkukuta - "were immensely large compared with the resources available".

Zakia Hamdani

One explanation for the lack of economic development is the culture of corruption that affects all levels of life in Tanzania. Gemma's book, St Jude's, describes some of her encounters with corrupt practices.

The Financial Times report notes that

Critics contend that Tanzania lacks political accountability, which means people in power are isolated from the masses. One manifestation of the problem is corruption. Suspicions of high-level graft were stoked by several multimillion-dollar projects that pre-dated the Kikwete era: the acquisition of a presidential jet; the building of a new Bank of Tanzania headquarters; and the purchase of a military radar system from BAE Systems. No wrongdoing, however, has been proved.

The current government seems to be ready to tackle corruption to some extent, and several high-ranking members of the dominant political party, CCM, have been arrested on corruption charges Mr Kikwete says: "If people want to get into leadership through corrupt practices, through corrupt means, I think that's detestable. We have to take action."

A bright spot is the increasing force shown by Tanzanian newspapers, which have become increasingly aggressive in their reporting. The number and prominence of civil society organisations is growing.

As I have mentioned before, donor countries are becoming tougher by tying their funds to improvements in anti-corruption practices. The Financial Times article quotes a Norwegian embassy official as noting the intent to take a firmer line on corruption.

Inch by inch, improvements are becoming evident.



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Where’s the evidence?

I guess you can tell that I think the School of St Jude is a great project. What was it that convinced me?

I was enthusiastic from my very first encounter with the School, on the ABC’s Australian Story program. I saw that Gemma had the right skills and was committed to the project. And I saw that the work of the School is much needed.

Since then, I have taken every avenue to find out more about the School. I read the annual reports on the website and the newsletters. I read blogs by people who have visited or volunteered there. I keep in touch with other supporters. I have learnt a lot about Tanzania and development aid to Africa. I met Gemma on her recent visit to Australia.

I have not discovered a single thing that has slowed my enthusiasm. If anything, I have become more amazed by the scope of the project and the effectiveness of its approach.
However, as I have some experience in program evaluation, I thought I would start to document this evaluation. It might help to give others the confidence to lend their support to the School of St Jude.

Students perform at St Jude's Day

There are three aspects to evaluating any program:

• Is it appropriate? Does it it fill a real need?
• Is it effective? Does it get good results?
• Is it efficient? Does it makes maximum use of its resources?

To get a good score, a program has to rate highly on all three things.

Here’s my thumbnail summary.

Does it fill a real need? Education is essential in breaking the cycle of poverty. Tanzania has one of the poorest education records in the world. UNESCO ranks Tanzania 6th last of all countries on education, with an average of 5.1 years education, compared with 18+ years for countries at the top of the table. Nationally, the teacher-student ratio was 59 in 2006. The Tanzanian government has been able to put more resources into education since gaining debt relief, but the task ahead is massive. 35% of Tanzanians live below the poverty line of $1 a day, and it is their children who fall below the average of 5.1 years of education. In these conditions, capable children from poor households have no chance of reaching their potential.

Does the School of St Jude provide an effective education for Tanzanian children? The School specialises in providing excellent education for capable children from poor homes. Rigorous screening ensures that children are academically capable and that they come from disadvantaged homes – if they have more than two rooms, concrete floors or electricity, they don’t qualify.

In 2007 the School enrolled 850 children in six grades. The school adds 160 children each year and is building a second campus. In national examinations, the School of St Jude has ranked third amongst all schools in the northern district and 10 children from St Jude’s have been in the top 20 of 17,000 students. So it is clear that the school is delivering excellent educational outcomes. It does this by providing meals, transport and clothing to students, and by strong educational practice, supported by professional development for teachers.

The School is in the process of building weekday boarding facilities and a secondary school. Long-term plans for a teachers college along with a tertiary education scholarship fund will meet the entire educational needs of bright children from impoverished homes.

Does it makes maximum use of its resources? I am constantly astonished by how much the School achieves with the resources it has. The resources include financial donations, volunteer work (long term volunteers and short term visitors) and in-kind or discounted services such as graphic design, website, accounting and shipping.

I am impressed by the no-frills decisons about infrastructure such as the school hall, which is basically a concrete slab with a metal roof. In addition, Gemma seems to have the ability to balance and prioritise her expenses to match the likely funds. On the one hand there is never anything left over, and on the other hand, she manages to avoid over-stretching.

The School has been successful in scaling-up its operations to fit the success in raising funds. This scaling-up has balanced needs such as new infrastructure, staff development as well as adding services such as school meals.

In an indepth feature on the ABC news on 1 May 2007, Gemma says:

It's a very romantic idea, setting up a medical centre or an orphanage or a school, but the nuts and bolts of it, on the ground, is extremely hard.

If Africa was easy to solve, then it would have been solved a long time ago.

So, if you care about important issues like breaking the cycle of poverty, and want to know more about an effective program that is fighting poverty through education, keep reading this blog. When you are ready to lend your assistance, visit the school website and offer what you can. Oh, and there's no harm in telling your friends, is there?



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I can’t help but encourage you

What is ‘normal’ for me? Whatever it is that is normal for me becomes the entirety of the world I live in. I tend to screen out other things – they are ‘out there’ or ‘over there’; they are less real than my normal world. My sense of ‘normal’ defines the horizons within which live.

With my interest in the School of St Jude, I find that my horizons of ‘normal’ are expanding. Suddenly a new horizon appears over the edge of the old horizon. I can now name all the countries in Africa; I have learnt to place each one on the map. I know the issues and I know some of the stories. I have become an activist.

I can’t help but encourage you to visit The Guardian newspaper site that is presenting news about the upcoming G8 meeting in Germany in June. They have all the regular news stories about the event, including a piece about the 7.5km security fence that will be built around the resort town where the meeting will be held. This touched my interest because of debate here in Sydney about the silliness that is likely to occur in Sydney later in the year when the APEC meeting is held in the city centre. With current security concerns, it seems very stupid to hold these high profile meetings in major cities. At least in Germany, they are closing off a regional town rather than a major city centre!

The surprising thing about the Guardian site is that they are doing more than reporting the odds and ends around running the G8 meeting – they have taken a deliberately activitist position by presenting the stories of eight African women, each one with a key message for the G8 meeting. Now this is an example of the press REALLY doing its job. They are making the news, as well as reporting the news.

Check out The Guardian site for the stories of the eight women – especially the story of the Tanzanian nurse, Sabina Nicholas, whose four daughters walk miles to get 10 buckets of water in the morning and again in the evening for their household of 14 people. This is because the water utility failed and their district no longer has running water, so they have to buy it by the bucket from trucks.

So, I can't help but encourage you to expand your horizons, redefine 'normal' and live in a whole new world.



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Rachel and Simon Tyrrell

Rachel & Simon Tyrell are two young(ish) professionals who put their careers on hold, rented their house and left Australia in June 2006 for a six month working holiday in UK & Europe, followed by 12 months teaching at the School of St Jude in Tanzania, East Africa.

Class 1C with Miss Rachel

Rachel is teaching Standard 1 and Simon takes care of the accounts, admin and anything else that comes to hand!

Rachel makes the following comments about her class at St Judes.

I think there is a careful balance here of respecting the existing culture and making changes for the better.

It took me almost all week to explain to the kids that they do not need to empty their desk and take every single book home each night. In the end I got a local teacher to explain to them (we are not really meant to do this, as the kids’ English improves a lot more quickly in the classes where only English is spoken i.e. with the western teachers).

Apparently the kids are used to not owning much and so they guard it with their life when they do. The following day there were all these excited gasps when the kids ran into the classroom and lifted their desks to find that all the contents were still there!

The kids are very enthusiastic and really want to be at school. They are very well behaved and particularly love more creative classes - which Gemma is really trying to encourage versus the traditional chalk and talk method. So, while the language barrier is of course a problem, the day is very rewarding and does not feel draining because the kids are an absolute pleasure to have.

Rachel and Simon have an online journal that you might like to check out.

Don't ask little of me

Don’t ask little of me, you might get it.

Aphorisms can say it all. Large ideas and big goals have a force that lifts us with energy. When I was growing up the problem of world hunger seemed massive and unsolvable. Jeffrey Sachs reports that a generation ago half the world’s population lived on less than $1 a day, but now this proportion has shrunk to one-quarter. At the same time, world wealth has grown massively.

Students at St Judes with gifts for orphans and hospitals

What was once an overwhelming problem has become a large-but-manageable problem. Let’s redefine it like this, big-but-doable, and give ourselves the energy to tackle it meaningfully.

And while we are re-orienting our thoughts so that we are prepared to give some of our surplus to helping the poorest people get a foothold on the ladder of prosperity, let’s keep in view the courage and hard work of the desperately poor. They do not have the luxury to ask little of themselves.

The children who attend the School of St Jude come to school eagerly. They stay after school and come again on Saturday for extra tuitition. They are ready to learn.

The most exciting thing about St. Jude's is that the kids LOVE it! They love going to school and they take pride in everything they do. I have watched my sponsor kids go from very shy, hesistant kids, to outgoing, enthusiastic students! I enjoyed the opportunity I was givien while working with Students for International Change, to find children within the community who would fit the profile. I love that the school is the best in town, but strives to reach out to the less fortunate.

Laura Hartstone, USA

So, I would encourage you to open a window to new perspectives and new ideas. Let the energy of new challenges refresh you.

Help the next generation of Tanzania children get a foot on the ladder of prosperity. Their own hard work will take them up the following steps, if only they have the chance to start.

Jeffrey Sachs -- End of Poverty

For the past few days I have been absorbed by reading "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs. It is a book that has been on my 'must read' list for a while. Not only does it deal with a subject that is important to me - the topic of extreme poverty - but it brings the highest level of knowledge to the topic and presents it in a very lively and readable way!

Jeffrey Sachs

Jeffrey Sachs knows about development economics and extreme poverty in both theoretical and practical ways, because it has been his life's work. He brings great intelligence, common sense and respect for others to his work, and has been a pivotal player in shaping policy at the top level.

His book is full of useful concepts such as the threshold effect. He observes that aid to the poorest countries has failed to impact on poverty because it has never been sufficient to reach the threshold of effectiveness. For example, he notes that aid is often given to pilot projects which can never make a difference at a national level unless they are followed by scaled up projects with national reach.

He debunks the myth that the US has given a lot of aid African countries. His analysis shows that in the past 10 years American aid amounts to 6c per African person per year. As he says, this is hardly enough to buy a paper cup, never mind fill it with water.

Sachs was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders in the world, and he is the author of hundreds of scholarly articles. The End of Poverty was a New York Times bestseller in 2005.

It is interesting to read Jeffrey Sachs with the School of St Jude in mind. It is clear that the school is run according to the success principles spelled out by Sachs for the end of poverty.

• First, it addresses one of the core elements that contribute to the cycle of poverty -- lack of education.
• Second, it provides sufficient resources to cross the threshold effect so that the children get a very good education -- they get a meal every day, clothes to wear, extra tuition and learning resources (library, computers, etc.).
• Third, the school educates boys and girls equally.

So, if you feel that you are able to contribute towards ending the grinding cycle of extreme poverty in Africa, this is a project that is making a real difference.

World Social Forum 2007 Nairobi

Kenya will host the massive conference of the World Social Forum (WSF) in January 2007. Starting in 2001 with 12,000 attendees, the WSF has grown rapidly and 120,000 are expected to attend in Nairobi.

Noam Chomsky at WSF 2003

The World Social Forum is an annual meeting held by members of the anti-globalisation movement to coordinate world campaigns, share and refine organizing strategies, and inform each other about movements from around the world and their issues. It tends to meet in January when the World Economic Forum is meeting in Davos, Switzerland. This is not a coincidence. The date was chosen because of the logistical difficulty of organizing a mass protest in Davos and to try to overshadow the coverage of the World Economic Forum in the news media.

Rallying around the clarion call of Another World Is Possible, the World Social Forum has placed social justice, international solidarity, gender equality, peace and defence of the environment on the agenda of the world’s peoples. From Porto Alegre to Mumbai to Bamako to Caracas, Karachi and now Nairobi, the forces and the contingents of the World Social Forum have collectively expanded the democratic spaces of those seeking concrete, sustainable and progressive alternatives to imperialist globalization.

By locating the conference in East Africa, WSF will draw attention to issues that affect Sub-Saharan Africa and will also give a boost to local economies through the business brought to the region by so many visitors.

Who knows, some WSF visitors may find themselves in Arusha and get the opportunity to learn about one of the great grass-roots projects that is Fighting Poverty Through Education – The School of St Jude.

.................

Oh, the 10-woman team climbing 3 peaks in 3 weeks has just completed the second summit – in pouring rain! They are really earning those sponsor dollars!

Amazing ability!

You should check out the December newsletter for Kim’s account of all the astonishing activities at the school in that single month!

This is a great newsletter because Kim is able to give us a picture of the remarkable capacities of Gemma to organise and encourage her large and growing team of staff, volunteers, parents, students and supporters.

Lunch for 2,400? No worries!

She certainly has a talent for running major events. The final school assembly was astonishing! 2,400 people were transported, seated, presented with awards and then fed!

School Assembly December 2006

Kim says that lists and schedules had been drawn up well in advance to include teams of workers involving every single person on the school grounds (even a chap who’d just wandered in to visit a friend for lunch) and preparations had been going on since lunchtime the day before when a thousand chairs had been placed in lines beside the hall to supplement the benches inside, a bus load of bananas was peeled, mountains of cabbages chopped, 350 kgs of meat diced, hundreds of tomatoes, capsicums, onions and carrots sliced, vats of water boiled, serving tables arranged, food bowls stacked, napkins prepared and the school grounds mowed and raked.

Gemma fosters a cooperative spirit in all the school’s activities. This is one of the core values that are transmitted by the school. There is such a good vibe about this place that people just WANT to be part of it. Kim says –

The most rewarding part of the whole procedure was watching the incredible team work as EVERY member of the staff pitched in and did his or her bit – drivers worked with heads of academic departments to chop tomatoes; the brickies served coleslaw with the security guards. And while teachers joined the gardeners to ladle out the cooked bananas, students stood with visiting Rotarians to offer soap and water for hand washing. Every person was vital to the success of the day … and it truly was a huge success. Not only did everyone have a meal within 15 minutes but there was time and enough for seconds!

The rewards of your contribution are massive. These children and their parents know through and through the life-changing value of the education offered at the school. Here is a mother of one of the 200 children who were accepted into the school in December.

A joyful mother hugs her newly-equipped daughter

What a smile! This small child is at the beginning of a wonderful journey that carries future hopes for her whole family. A lot rests on her shoulders. But with the support of her family, the school and supporters world-wide, she will realise her potential and break the cycle of grinding poverty that passes from generation to generation.

Water Sector Support Program

Drought has thrown Tanzania into crisis. While the country has one of the highest levels of natural water storage capacity per capita in Africa, more than 15 million people out of a population of 35 million are without a safe water supply. Moreover, the country relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture as a major contributor to its economy, with limited headwater storage for irrigated agriculture or for the hydro-electricity schemes. The current drought has reduced farm production and caused 18-hour per day electricity blackouts.

25m dam for hydro-electricity on the Kihansi River

The $900m Water Sector Support Program aims to build governance capacity in the Tanzanian water ministry, the National Urban Water Authority (NUWA), and prepare medium and long term plans that will improve the use of Tanzania’s water resources and set up a permanent supply of clean water.

Key activities of the Water Sector Support Program are

• river and lake basin management and development plans for five major rivers and four lakes
• management information system for the NUWA
  
• procedures and guidelines for environmental monitoring
• policy making

This program will give NUWA better skills and tools for effective long-term management of water which will help improve the water supply, hydropower, irrigation, and flood control.
The patchwork of international aid is evident in the list of donors who will contribute to this $900million program – the World Bank; the African Development Bank; the US Millennium Challenge Account; the governments of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany; and the NGOs WaterAid and UN Habitat.

It seems to me that this hodgepodge of aid organisations much be very inefficient! Imagine all the resources that get chewed up in coordination and accounting. I guess that this is probably inevitable where large scale projects address systemic issues.

I like the directness of a simple project like the School of St Jude because you give directly to the school and they spend the money directly on the kids.


The scarcity of water in Tanzania, is one reason why Mary-Elaine, a volunteer at St Judes, commented that buckets seem to be the very foundation upon which the country is built!

While individuals can make a big difference at the personal level, we really need to see assistance in capacity-building at the national level, if the country is to grow beyond the grinding cycle of perpetuating poverty. In Tanzania, we have reason for hope, because we see assistance given at both levels.

Tanzanian Demographic and Health Survey

The Tanzanian Demographic and Health Survey 2004 was based on interviews with over 10,000 women and over 2,600 men. It is one of a series funded by USAID to monitor progress towards the Millenium Goals to Fight Poverty.

St Jude's students bring gifts to local hospital

Here are some key figures from the survey:

• The fertility rate in Tanzania has not changed in ten years and Tanzanian women have an average of 5.7 children. This is one of the higher fertility rates in East Africa.
• More than 25% of young women age 15-19 have begun childbearing.
• Infant and child mortality decreased markedly in the past five years. The 2004-05 Tanzanian DHS found an under-five mortality rate of 112 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to a rate of 147 five years ago. This is one of the lowest mortality rates in East Africa, and yet one in nine children in Tanzania dies before his or her fifth birthday.
• Other child health indicators also improved. More infants are being exclusively breastfed now than in 1999. Vitamin A supplementation, which helps prevent blindness and infection, rose three-fold since the last survey with almost half of children under age 5 now receiving vitamin A supplements. Young children are also facing fewer nutritional challenges now than before.
• Doctors recommend that all children under age 5 and pregnant women sleep under insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) to prevent malaria. In Tanzania, only 16% of young children and 16% of pregnant women slept under an ITN the night before the survey.

These indicators are important measures that guide worldwide efforts to Make Poverty History. The grinding poverty of the poorest countries needs to be fought on many fronts simultaneously – the economy, education, health, infrastructure and governance all need systemic improvement.

The School of St Jude has taken the clear msision to Fight Poverty through Education. I will write tomorrow about a project that will make a big difference to Tanzania on the aspect of governance.

Tanzania leads in poverty reduction

Development economists use Tanzania as a measure. If they can haul themselves out of poverty, others can too.

Students at The School of St Jude

According to The Economist, Tanzania is one of east Africa's few good-news stories. The country remains wretchedly poor, inefficient, with little medical care in its remote areas, few roads and with frequent power cuts. But donors, disillusioned by the corruption and/or brutality that goes on elsewhere, are happy to give money to a country that is both peaceful and stable.

The country's GDP growth is expected to be 5.8% this year, rising to 6.7% next year, and inflation has been low for years. Tanzania's relative lack of graft means that some donors now put their money directly into the national budget with few strings attached. Britain has committed to deposit $170m a year into Tanzania's coffers for the next few years—just the kind of predictability of giving that the aid community has called for.

To put this gift of $US170 million into perspective, the NSW Government had a total revenue of $AU41,627million and it budgeted $AU9,667 million for education in 2005-2006.

Seen in this light, the $US170 million from Britain won’t help Tanzania catch up with the developed world, indeed it is barely enough to hold it in its current position at the bottom of the ladder.

Nevertheless, Tanzania has made great strides in education improvement in recent years.

The World Bank reports –

Increased Access : the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) in Tanzania has improved considerably over the past six years, going from 59% in 2000 to 96% in 2006.

Improved Quality: The passrate of students completing primary education, assessed through the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), has significantly improved. Over the past six years, the Passrate has increased from 22% in 2000 to 62% in 2006. This was achieved thanks to reforms in curriculum content and teaching; increased teacher training, development and deployment; better school support systems; improved ability of schools to purchase textbooks and teaching materials by using grants; and greater community participation in managing school affairs to enhance learning.

These achievements are a massive effort in a country where many village schools have up to four teachers sharing a single classroom – teaching a class in each corner.

Private citizens need to supplement the funding available to the Tanzanian government by supporting good projects. The School of St Jude is a great project that is worthy of your support.