The Uongozi Institute on Thursday held a forum to discuss a book titled “Sustaining Tanzania’s economic development: A firm and household perspective” edited by Prof. Joseph Semboja, Prof. Oliver Morrissey, and Maureen Were.
Prof Semboja said the book talks about why ‘ things are not happening’,whilst exploring issues like access to technology,capital and skilled labour at various levels.
“If you can not access these, then you cant be competitive.So (in the book), we explore why things aren’t happening both the household and firm level.”he noted, adding, “small and large firms have to be partners and policies have to be formulated to facilitate linkages between the two.”
The discussion highlighted issues like the importance of income diversification and financial inclusion for the sustainable development of households, the importance of building resilience through export diversification, which can be explained through a portfolio effect (absorbing shocks and reducing volatility) and how a dynamic effect of learning from the introduction of new products and leveraging the opportunities accorded by the AfCFTA .
Besides providing access to a wider market of over 1.3 billion people, AfCFTA is projected to be instrumental in strengthening existing regional value chains and developing new ones.
The meeting which was held at the Uongozi Resource centre in Dar es salaam, brought together various participants with interest in ‘sustainable development’, also addressed performance and strategies adopted by firms and households in Tanzania to navigate shocks and achieve sustainability, how successful have firms and households been in building resilience to sustain their growth and development and whether the ability to navigate successfully through shocks and a changing economic environment has improved. It touched on the lessons for managing and recovering from shocks.
Several issues also addressed in the book include: Export competitiveness, innovation, and developing linkages contribute to the resilience and sustainability of firms, whereas income diversification and financial inclusion promote the resilience and sustainability of households. Gender and regional, especially urban–rural, differences are incorporated.
Others are that cross-cutting themes emerge on the need for modern technology and infrastructure to increase the productivity and employment of firms, investment in human capital to reduce gender inequalities and upgrade or equip workers as well as entrepreneurs with relevant skills, and access to resources for innovation.
The book suggests that performance of Tanzanian firms has gradually improved, although many challenges remain, and this has benefitted households through employment opportunities. It highlights that the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant shock to the economy and progress stalled or reversed. Tanzania, like most countries, faces a challenging future but is better positioned to do so than it has been, it notes
The book’s table of contents includes topics like ‘Firms and households in Tanzania’s development, Linkages with large firms and growth of SMEs in Tanzania, Upgrading and multi-scalar industrial policy in the Tanzanian textile and apparel sector value chain, Trade, technology and local linkages in the Tanzanian textiles and garments sector and Drivers of manufacturing export performance and competitiveness in Tanzania.
Others are addressing gender and innovation gaps, Labour diversification by households 2008–2013, Long-run rural livelihood diversification in Kagera, Gender disparities in financial inclusion in Tanzania and Implications for making the achievements sustainable.