UK continues budget support

The UK government has announced ongoing budgetary support for Tanzania.

Tanzania’s progress in tackling poverty provides an ‘excellent example’ for other African countries to follow, says Hilary Benn, the UK International Development Secretary.

Hilary Benn at the Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Speaking after a meeting with President Kikwete of Tanzania, Mr Benn pointed towards the development of democracy, economic growth and more effective government across Africa. He highlighted the progress in Tanzania, where:

• The number of children in primary school has doubled from 4 million in 2000 to 8 million today. Almost all children are now in primary education, with 96% enrolment,
• Infant mortality has fallen by a third (in the five years to 2004), and
• There has been strong economic growth, with annual GDP increases of between 5% and 7% since 2000.

Mr Benn announced that the UK will provide £105 million of direct budget support to Tanzania in 2007/8, up from £90 million this year. Budget support is money provided directly to the Government of Tanzania to support its poverty reduction plans.

He said:

Tanzania is an excellent example of the progress Africa is making, with a constitutional democracy, economic growth above five percent a year, and nearly all children in primary education.

This aid from the UK government is equivalent to AU$7 per person, or AU$16 per child in Tanzania. This does not seem a lot of money, but it is valuable for three reasons:

• It is a reliable amount that can be expected to continue annually and allow the Tanzanian government to do forward planning.
• It is not tied to goods/services provided by the UK and therefore can be used to maximum efficiency, e.g. buying local goods and services.
• It is given to budget support which allows the Tanzanian government to develop internal capacities and improved governance.

DFID is the UK Dept for International Development had lots of information about Ending Poverty.

Just as the reliable annual support from the British government will make a real difference as Tanzania climbs out of chronic poverty, so will your continuing support for the School of St Jude. By committing to give a regular amount, you will give the School income security that will allow it to provide excellent education to increasing numbers of bright children from poor families.

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.

World Economic Forum Davos 2007

I am very cheerful at the news from the just-finished World Economic Forum (Davos 2007) that the Doha Round talks will resume. These talks on the reform of global trade were suspended six months ago. They got stuck on the massive farm subsidies paid by rich countries to their own farmers, and the tariffs that protect their markets.

These subsidies and tariffs distort world markets and are a big factor in world poverty because farmers in poor countries can’t compete with heavily subsidised and tariff-protected farmers from rich countries.

Leaders of developed and industrialised nations have warned that a failure of the talks would be "catastrophic". And Tony Blair says a deal is now more likely than not, so perhaps we can hope for some progress.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Tony Blair and Bono at The Promise of Africa session at Davos 2007

The end of world poverty needs action at both the individual level and the system level. The literate children of Tanzania and other extremely poor countries will need to find jobs in local businesses, and these businesses can’t develop if global trade is restricted by the entrenched protective practices of rich countries.

Bono points at some typical examples of trade rules that prevent African countries from developing stronger economies:

If Africans sell us orange juice instead of oranges we slap a tariff on; if they sell us chocolate instead of cocoa we slap a tariff on. THIS is corruption.

Why are open markets better?

• Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner found that developing countries with economies open to trade grew by 4.5% a year in the 1970s and 80s, while those closed to trade grew by only 0.7%.

• Europe's farm subsidies are doomed because the EU is adding 10 new members and it cannot afford to extend its current lavish farm subsidies to the millions of Polish and Romanian farmers.

The Promise of Africa was a panel session held at WEO to review the progress made in the past year on the goals and promises made a year ago with respect to ending poverty in Africa. The panel of heavyweights (Tony Blair, Bill Gates, Bono, Hubert Burda, German media tycoon, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and Africa’s first female president, Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, Kumi Naidoo, boss of the Civicus, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Sadako Ogata, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency) gave their perspectives.

I was particularly struck by one of the points made by Mbeki:

There is a capacity constraint across the board, and we need a radical increase in every respect: teachers in math, science, nurses, doctors, engineers, all sorts of people, so that we don’t have to go to Paul Wolfowitz, to borrow money from his World Bank and then hire consultants from him to say how we should spend it.

I thought straight away of the great work underway at the School of St Jude where the foundations are being laid for the future economists, lawyers, teachers, medical staff, program administrators, accountants and scientists who will provide the capacity needed by African countries to take each step along the path to prosperity. They don’t need our help to climb the ladder – they only need our help to step onto the first rung.

The BBC has a brief summary of The Promise of Africa session.

3 peaks 3 weeks challenge

Well, the ‘3 peaks 3 weeks Challenge’ has reached all its goals. The ten women have succeeded in climbing the three East African mountains in three weeks, and have raised $250,000 for the three projects they are supporting – the School of St Jude, Laikipia Wildlife Forum and Students for International Change. The School of St Jude will use the funds to build classrooms at the Usa River campus, Laikipia will use the money to support their community conservation work and International Change will buy three new mobile HIV testing vehicles.

Mission Accomplished! 10 women who did it!

How did these ten women raise so much money?

In their last dispatch from the field, the team gives a wrap-up of this BIG achievement.

One of the first successful events was a black tie dinner held in Wagga Wagga, Australia. Though it is a small town which rarely sees such a formal event, the community pulled together to support us and in that single night, raised over $15,000! Similar events to that were held in Tucson, Arizona and in London, UK. Pub crawls proved to be very effective, especially for our age group, and we appreciated all of the folks who came out for a good night at the bar in support of our work. Other events included movie screenings, overland treks, barbeques, and marathons. Some events were more successful than others, and we began to learn what worked and what did not. We tried selling chocolate, t-shirts, and Christmas cards. Most of these smaller initiatives did little to raise money, but were great for raising awareness and spreading the word about what we were doing. We met with companies across the globe in hopes they would put some of their “good will” money towards helping Africa.

A breakthrough came when Serac Adventure Films said they would film the trek. You can look out for the release of the film about the climb and the three projects that will benefit from the funds raised.

We are departing and going our separate ways, but have no doubt that the friendships we have made will last forever. Walking down the mountain together on the final day gave us one last time to take in what it meant to be a part of such a great group of women. Each one of us now has 9 new friends, 9 new sisters, and 9 new bridesmaids. The relationships we have made over the past 3 weeks, and even more, over the past 2 years are incredible. We have successfully completed the 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge and are leaving Africa with a feeling that we truly made a difference and that many lives will be bettered by the work we supported. We sincerely hope that we have inspired you to challenge yourself.

These amazing women plan to make this climb an annual event and keep the momentum alive. You can check out their website to keep in touch or join up!

Where do we look for inspiration in our lives? We don’t have to look too far when we see energetic and committed people taking on challenges and then figuring out all the details they need to learn in order to succeed.

You can join inspiring women like Gemma Sisia, step into your own set of challenges that will develop your talents to the benefit of others. What else is a life for?

Foreign Aid

Economies are complex open systems which have so many intersecting elements that they are hard to predict, never mind control. One result is that things that work on the small scale may fail dismally on the large scale. Aid that works on the small scale, with one family, one school, or one village may fail on a larger scale.

An example can illustrate this principle. Agricultural aid can help a village to grow a surplus for sale and allow subsistence farmers climb out of exteme poverty. But if local roads are not car-worthy, then the surplus food can reach only the most local markets where the combined surplus of all the local farmers pushes prices down and leaves farmers in the situation of getting no additional income for their extra output, despite the additional input costs of fertiliser and seed required to get the extra productivity.

If agricultural aid is scaled up beyond the village to a district, it only worsens the market conditions.

So, what is the solution when aid fails like this? Do we blame the recipient country? This is exactly what happens when poor countries are labeled 'basket cases'. The better response is to try to see more clearly the range of factors that are operating in the complex open system of world economies and to see what other interventions may be needed.

Mostly, I feel that the complexity of economic systems is beyond my understanding and there are so many conflicting points of view. So it is easy for me to help a good project at the individual level because the benefits are clear. The children who get an excellent education at the School of St Jude are likely to benefit no matter what else is going on in the economy. If I buy a chicken or a goat for a poor family, there will be a direct benefit for the family.

Australians are the second-highest private donors in the world, giving 0.8% of national income to help other countries (and that is before the boosting effect of the tsunami where Australians showed outstanding generosity). Helping others is one of Australia's core values. Internationally, Australians are recognised for their national volunteer organisations and private philanthropy.

But individual philanthropy can go only so far. Poor countries need systemic support to help them work towards good governance and better infrastructure. This kind of help needs to be given on the scale of country to country. This is where the commitments made by developed countries to contribute 0.7% GDP to foreign aid targeted at ending extreme poverty are critical.

The target of 0.7% is not onerous, it is very doable – in fact the Scandinavian countries already give more than this. The Australian government has signed treaties committing to 0.7% but falls way short. In fact, Australia is fourth-last in the ranking of 22 OECD countries and gives only 0.25% GDP as foreign aid. Recent announcements to increase foreign aid by 50% will lift it to 0.36% -- about half the agreed amount. What a pity that our Government does not reflect the Australian ethos of helping others in its actions!

What can I do to encourage my country to honour its promises in this important area? One thing I plan to do is start writing to politicians. I encourage you to do the same. Many voices can make a difference.

Here are some sites with more information about the Australian Government's record on foreign aid.

The Age, April 2006.
Aid Watch
Global Issues

To end extreme poverty, we need to work at both the personal level where individuals help individuals and the systemic level where nations help nations. Do your bit to encourage your government to help in ways that count!

Australia Day

I am spending the Australia Day weekend with my sister in Brisbane. We have all the pleasure of staying in her four-generation household. In her household she has her daughter, Lizzie + husband Cameron, grand-daughter Isabella, as well as our mother who has become quite frail in the past few months.

My sister, a high school science teacher, plans to work only part-time this year so she can be available to care for our mother. It is very warming to see her nurturing care of our mother. She cares for her with the same watchfulness that graced her mothering of her own daughters when they were small.

Thinking about very poor countries, like Tanzania, where life expectancy is in the mid-40s and dropping due to HIV/AIDS, I see that four generation households would be almost unheard of. Even three generation households would be rare. Family life in Tanzania is fractured by the struggle for existence, especially when disease takes children or parents, leaving grandparents, aunts and uncles to care for remaining family members.

See Mary-Elaine's blog in the sidebar for her account of the way the School of St Jude WILL NOT LET GO of the children that come into its care. She tells what happened to Joseph, whose mother was hacked to death in the bed beside him, and whose father committed suicide a few months later when he discovered he was HIV positive. Joseph seems to have moved between relatives and was accepted into St Jude's. Then he stopped coming to school. When school started this year he did not appear. The School has found him and is looking for a new home for him, so he can continue with his education and not fall through the cracks.

Vulnerable people, especially children, fall through the cracks so easily, especially when the community as a whole is living a subsistence life of extreme poverty. My mother, whose own life has been one of struggle, is lucky to live in a society where she was able to raise and educate two daughters who can give her the best of care in her frail old age.

We need to take care of those who are close to us, while also reaching out and helping those in need who are far away. In the wealthy West, we have the resources to do both.

On the buses!

The School of St Jude is situated down a dirt road in the village of Moshono which is 5km along another dirt road from Arusha. Children come to school each day along the rough dirt roads from Arusha and the surrounding villages of this beautiful but very poor district. Most people are subsistence farmers who make barely enough to feed their families. Malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases take a heavy toll on these families and many children are orphaned.

A year or two after the School opened, it became evident that many children were walking for several hours to get to school. So, the School bought two battered old buses and rejuvenated them.


As the school has grown, the two buses have grown to a fleet of 18. Like everything else at the school, the funding for buses is provided by sponsors and donors. For $500 pa you can sponsor a bus and contribute to the costs of running them.

An important donation came from Rotary District 9640 (in Queensland) in April 2006. Using a multi-district Matching Grant, they were able to provide the School with two new buses, an assortment of spare springs and tyres, and a motor vehicle maintenance course to be run at the School.

Here is Gemma receiving the grant money - surprised but delighted.

Gemma Sisia, Heather + Ian Yarker, Ailsa Hay

The buses at the school provide vital transport that makes school attendance possible for many children. Even with the over-crowded buses, many children have a long walk home after the bus drops them. These buses don’t offer Western-standard transport, but they do give bright children from the poorest households an opportunity to get their foot on the first rung of the ladder of opportunity. Guaranteed!

A development project in an impoverished African country that is well-run, economical and successful in reaching the poor - something you will want to support!