This year, the commemoration of the World Environment Day (WED) which is the United Nation's principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment was fun and colorful in Tanzania. The event, which is observed globally on the 5th of June, brought together environment stakeholders and provided space to connect, educate and to inspire action for change. People from all walks of life and all age ranges participated, including the youth, university students, the public and key government leaders led by the Vice-President’s Office (VPO).

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment (CCSI) and the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), recently conducted a one-week workshop on “Negotiating A Good Deal in The Oil and Gas Industry”. With the recent major discoveries and extraction of natural gas, adding to the vast natural resources that the country is blessed with, including wide varieties of minerals, Tanzania is well positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a middle-income semi-industrialized country by 2025, as set out in the national plans notably the Five Years Development Plan (FYDPII). However, the extent to which the positive effects are realized through these resources depends on the capacity within the Government to negotiate contracts that benefits the country at the same time attract foreign direct investments (FDI).

In 2015-16, the UNDP in collaboration with the Dodoma regional administration and the Tanzania Development Light Organization (TADELO) established a project for improving water accessibility in the village. In this endeavour two solar boreholes were constructed with the capacity of 7,000 litres and 10,000 L/hr. Two storage tanks (10,000litres) were installed as part of the project at the project sites at Mleba and Dodoma sub-villages. One of the project aims was to address the problem of the severe scarcity of water in the rural communities.

In the northwest of Tanzania, on the western shore of Lake Victoria, is where you will find Bukoba district. It is the capital of the Kagera region, and the administrative seat for Bukoba urban district, with a population estimate of about 100,000 people. Like other districts in northwest Tanzania, there are areas that are locally referred to as ‘mini cities’. Here people have access to water, electricity, health facilities and adequate transport system; living here will make you feel like you’re in an urban centre.

This year, International Women’s Day is devoted to Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030. Globalization and technology change are driving that change. It’s important that women are able to succeed in this new world of work.

Our goal as a development partner to the government of Tanzania is to support institutional capacity building to better withstand external climate change related forces. In these process we are currently empowering the Tanzania Meteorological Agency -TMA with 36 automatic weather stations across the country at a total cost of 27,165,000 USD part of which the government of Tanzania has committed $22,565,000, Global Environment Facility committed $4M and UNDP Tanzania committed $600,000

In Chamwino District, as in many rural areas of Tanzania, food security and livelihood depend heavily on agriculture, which in turn requires steady availability of water. Due to climate change, rainfall patterns have changed to become more inconsistent and unpredictable, and when it comes, it is short-lived and sometimes devastating causing flooding and soil erosion.