UN Tanzania Chief visits projects in Zanzibar

UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Alvaro Rodriguez (front right) and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and founder of Tanzania Youth Icon, Hon. Hamad Masauni join local community members in listening to a presentation on the first phase of the UNDP water project

 The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Alvaro Rodriguez visited Zanzibar in a continuation and expansion of UNDP-supported projects in Unguja and Pemba, made his tenth visit to Zanzibar, the UN Chief made several stops in Unguja, to see water-access projects as well as an environmental conservation project. Mr. Rodriguez is also expected to visit schools in both Pemba and Unguja to assess their facilities ahead of an upcoming water and sanitation project which will involve ten schools. The three-day field visit in Zanzibar is part of UN efforts to monitor projects and meet beneficiaries in communities. In Unguja, Mr. Rodriguez visited a USD 90,000 water project in Kijwajuni Constituency, Zanzibar Town, where the lives of over 25,000 people have improved through the project which facilitates access to clean water. He later visited a USD 50,000 UNDP-supported Community Based Conservation Project in Kajengwa, Makunduchi. The conservation project has helped over 15,000 people, mostly women, who previously depended on firewood for cooking. They now have access to more efficient cooking stoves. The project supported the community in planting over 100,000 trees in the area and established 200 beehives which have helped improve nutrition and provide additional income.  The water and the conservation projects have been running for several years and now that the first phase has been successfully implemented, both projects will be scaled-up. Each project is set to receive USD 50,000 this year through the UNDP Small Grants Programme to begin implementation of phase two. On Friday and Saturday, the UN Chief will also visit a number of schools where UN agencies, namely UNICEF and UNDP, are set to begin Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects later this year. These WASH projects will cover ten schools. Of these ten schools,the ones that will be visited include Mkwajuni Secondary School in Kaskazini, Unguja and Wingwi Primary School in Micheweni District, Pemba. Chairperson of Tanzania Youth Icon (TAYI), Abdallah Othman Miraji (left); UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Alvaro Rodriguez (far left); and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and founder of Tanzania Youth Icon, Hon. Hamad Masauni (middle left) visit a new building that TAYI built with support from the European Union through UNICEF.

During the visit Mr Rodriguez said “The United Nations  is keen to see the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar reach its social and development goals through MKUZA III. Education and Climate Change are two of the priorities of the revolutionary government. In terms of education,the authorities wish to achieve a higher quality education and supporting Goal 6: ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ at the school level will help achieve this objective. We all believe that a healthy student has a better chance of performing well in school and reaching his or her full potential,”. Two of the districts where WASH will be implemented, Micheweni and Kaskazini districts offer an example of the current needs that exist when it comes to need to improve the ratio of toilets to students in Zanzibar. .For example, the number of students per toilet in KaskaziniA is 1 to 143 for girls and 1 to 278 for boys. Sustained intervention is needed to reach the international standard which is 1 to 20 for girls and 1 to 25 for boys. UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Alvaro Rodriguez (left) being shown some art done by kids who are of programmes being implemented by Tanzania Youth Icon (TAYI).
UN staff are shown some of the 200 beehives that were created as a result of UNDP's environmental conservation project in Kajengwa, Makunduchi ZanzibarSome of the Beehives established by the UNDP energy conservation project in Kajengwa, Makunduchi, Zanzibar UN, Tanzania Youth Icon and government officials visit the borehole that was drilled during the first phase of the clean water access project. UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Alvaro Rodriguez (right) draws water that is accessible because of the project and places it on the head of one of the local women. UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Alvaro Rodriguez announces that UNDP will give an additional sh110m to scale up the clean water access project. Representative of Kikwajuni constituency, Nassor Salim Ali (Jazira); Ministry of Lands, Water, Energy and Environment-Hon. Salama Aboud Talib; UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Alvaro Rodriguez; Sheha of Shehia at Kikwajuni, Juma Sadati Haji; Deputy Home Affairs Minister and founder of Tanzania Youth Icon (TAYI), Hon Hamad Masauni take a group photo after announcing phase two of the UNDP water project. UN officials and members of NGO 'Kamati ya Uhifadhi Misitu ya eneo la Kajengwa' pose by some of the over 200,000 trees that were planted by the NGO through the UNDP energy conservation project. Women from Kikwajuni, Zanzibar who will benefit from the second phase of the project listen as the UN, the government and Tanzania Youth Icon (TAYI) explain how they will try and ensure clean water access for them.