1.2 Policy Analysis and Strategic Studies
1.2.1Background Information
Having good policies and implementing the same in such a way that they lead to desired socio-economic development are two different things. After the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (TDV 2025) was promulgated in 1999 with an ambitious goal to make abject poverty a thing of the past by 2025, there have been medium term strategies to realize TDV 2025, particularly the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) whose heyday was 2000/01 to 2003/04, the First Phase of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP I, 2005/06 – 2009/10) and the Second Phase of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP II, 2010/11 – 2014/15). There are also a number of sectoral policies and strategies. Knowledge of the policies and strategies, their implementation, and reasons for success and/or failure of some of them has potential to inform plans to improve them for national development.
1.2.2 Goal
The goal of this research agenda item is to analyse public, social and sectoral policies and strategies with their linkage to governance and socio-economic development so as to obtain empirical information on which to base suggestions for improvement of policies and strategies, suggesting others for repeal, and formulation of some others in view of national, regional, and international events, to speed up Tanzania’s development beyond TDV 2025.
1.3 Natural Resources Assessment and Management
1.3.1 Background
Access, management and control over natural resources are central issues to the livelihoods of people all over the world. DSI’s research agenda focuses on diverse issues such as livelihoods and land use change, agriculture, natural resources governance, energy, environment, cultural and social impacts of community activities on natural resources for sustainable development. Sustainable development will depend on conservation-oriented natural resource management. These resources include land and soil, water, plants, and animals. Although the details of natural resource management and their application to agricultural challenges may depend on science, it is also the case that economic and social policies have a large role in providing incentives as well as disincentives for managing natural resources in ways that are both sustainable and profitable. Successful management also needs to be considered at multiple levels: from the human scale of the household and small farm to larger arenas such as watersheds. Thus, most aspects of natural resource management need to be considered from both local and global perspectives.