Tanzania’s current growth and poverty reduction strategies are contained in its
second PRSP. This document, and the processes leading to its formulation, has
helped to mobilize donor funds. However, the content of the PRSP is largely
irrelevant for implementation, and has contributed little to better inter-sectoral
linkages and synergies both of which were its main purposes. The immediate
reasons for this irrelevancy include a participatory planning process not aligned
with the domestic political process and with no budget constraints which led
to a shopping list of un-prioritized initiatives; an implementation machinery
around the budget process which in practice does not ensure that resources are
allocated in line with the document’s priorities; and limited understanding and/
or acceptance across the spectrum of government institutions and political
leadership that the PRSP is the overall strategic guiding document.