This paper will explore the relationships between HIV/AIDS and education in Tanzania, looking
particularly at issues of governance. It has been produced as part of the African Civil Society Governance
and AIDS Initiative (GAIN), the purpose of which is to investigate the threat that HIV/AIDS poses to the
maintenance of stable and democratic governance across Africa.
Governance and AIDS are intricately related and intersect in many important ways. There is an urgent
need for strong and effective governance to help curb the spread and impact of the pandemic, yet at the
same time the disease is itself undermining the capacity of governments to operate effectively. This is
particularly true in the case of education, which plays a key role in preventative programmes, whilst also
being vital for the development of a generally educated and able population, and for governance, a robust
public sector. The capacity of state government to deliver essential social services, and to effectively plan
and manage its economy heavily depends on the skills of its workforce. This is particularly true in the kind
of global economy within which we now operate, where skills are of increased importance, and in which
Tanzania itself aspires to become a “knowledge economy”.

Because all sectors require the skilled workforce that the education sector ultimately supplies, mitigating
the impact of AIDS across governance structures generally will depend heavily on the success in
education. While government targets state that by 2007 all public servants should have attained Form VI
or higher (age 19 or older, depending on age at first enrollment), only 6% currently have this level of
education. This clearly demonstrates the massive problems faced in maintaining and developing a robust
civil service, and in doing so against the additional programming and policy requirements of AIDS, and
the losses sustained in staffing. Investments in all sector capacities therefore presuppose the necessary
investment is made into education.