Budget support, aid instruments and the environment: the country context Tanzania country case study

A recent evaluation of budget support highlighted that there are challenges in integrating cross cutting issues such as environment into Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This paper reviews experience of the transferring of environmental priorities from national plans to budgets and into government implementation plans in Tanzania. The author further explains issues such as:

• National policy and budgeting issues: Tanzania has an impressive policy and legislative framework for environmental management which could allow effective budgeting around priorities.
• The role of development partners: increased moves on the part of the DPs to sector-wide coordination does assist the MDAs with consistency of planning.
• Public sector involvement in the environment: The legislative and institutional framework for environmental management is impressive.
• Budget analysis: there are clear difficulties in tracking the flow of funds in a policy area, such as the environment, which does not have a conventional sectoral organisational or governance structure.
• Detailed analysis of key environmental policy initiatives : selection of three priority themes of acknowledged national importance.
• Synthesis of key conclusions: these are discussed around four main themes.  Implications for the role of development partners: Incorporating the ‘environment’ into the Performance Assessment Framework.
  

Conclusions and recommendations

• Tanzania has an impressive policy and legislative framework for environmental management which could allow effective budgeting around priorities.
• The integration of environmental priorities into the MKUKUTA has been one step in securing government commitment for environmental management.
• In addition there is no clear relationship between the sector-based Medium-Term Expenditure Framework process and the priorities of the MKUKUTA.
• Given the strong policy framework and political interest in environmental issues in Tanzania, budget support can offer ministries, departments and agencies prospects for increased funding and an associated freedom to direct resources to their stated priorities.
• A key challenge remains as to how to address the gap between the national level policies and the local government authorities.
• The contrasting approaches in environmental policy as to whether ‘environmental management’ refers to the activities of natural resource sectors or is a cross-cutting theme associated with all sectors alike, has resulted in poor integration of the issue and resulted in low levels of explicit budgeting.
• In recent years there has been growing political interest in environmental issues in Tanzania and an associated increase in the allocation of recurrent budget to the Division of Environment.
• The study reveals the importance of higher political recognition for the role of ‘environment’ in the economy and poverty reduction.