Tanzania Fund

A letter from The Country Head of Oxfam Tanzania

21 December 2008

Dear Tanzania Fund Supporters,

My name is Kanchan Sinha and I am the new Country Director for Oxfam's programme in Tanzania. I was in Oxford a couple of weeks ago for my induction. I met Tom Childs in Oxfam House and heard about the fantastic support that you have been providing for our programmes in Tanzania for a number of years. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Your support helps achieve real changes for those who need it most.

Since the visit of many of you in July (2008), the local chicken project in Shinyanga has been progressing well, thanks to your generous support. The chicken sub sector and value chain analysis was conducted which confirms the growing market opportunities and benefits of developing local chicken will have on small holder farmers in Shinyanga. There is also a great scope for large improvements in productivity. After careful selection, we have signed up the Tanzania Society of Agriculture Education and Extension - Lake Zone (TSAEE) as our lead partner to implement the project. They have successfully implemented similar projects and we are confident that they will be able to deliver.

We have laid the groundwork for baseline survey so that we can track the progress we are making. We have also kicked off our work on the ground in 30 villages that have been selected in Bariadi and Maswa districts of Shinyanga. We have encouraged farmers to form groups, emphasising that women at least make up to 50% of the membership to allow them to earn more and raise their status in communities. Already 100 groups have been formed. As part of a collective, these farmers will learn and share from one another and be able to negotiate better access to markets and services.

In January, we will be training these groups to build further their knowledge, skills, confidence and teamwork so that they increase chicken productivity, hygiene, nutrition and collective marketing. Your continued support is invaluable for us and hopes to demonstrate that if smallholder farmers are empowered (particularly women) they can move out of poverty and enjoy a better quality of life.

Thanks,

Kanchan Sinha

Country Director
Oxfam GB,
Tanzania
P. O. Box 10962



February 2009 Latest Report : Encouraging progress

We have just had a report back from an Oxfam visitor. She said that she visited a community that is participating in the project and that they really understood what the project was all about and were really committed to the project. The partner (TSAE) has helped the community to organise into a group, has provided training on poultry hygiene, disease control and management, and organised them into a savings and credit organisation. She attended meetings and saw chickens being vaccinated.