Administrator Samantha Power’s Statement to Press After Meeting with Tanzanian Vice President Philip Mpango

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, Mr. Vice President. I’m so grateful for yet another very productive discussion with you and your team about the full spectrum of issues that we tackle together here in Tanzania. Whether that is transitioning to clean energy, developing more resilience to climate change – which we know is wreaking havoc on so many farmers and others in the agricultural sector. The health progress that Tanzania has made over the years, combating HIV/AIDS, where there has been a 75 percent reduction in prevalence. Malaria, where you see, especially children, dramatic drops in the number of children getting infected, indeed dying, of malaria dropped 45 percent since 2015. Education, just this year, USAID has helped distribute 1.2 million books to children here in Tanzania, trained 25,000 teachers. And we have really taken notes of the investments that the government is making in agriculture, and recognizing that with such fertile land, and with such incredible commitment and talent among Tanzanian farmers and among young people who are increasingly being recruited to become farmers, there is huge potential.

So earlier today, I announced an additional $5 million in USAID investment in the agriculture sector here in Tanzania – that’s on top of $14 million that we have invested just over the last nine months. When a government shows the kind of commitment that President Samia and the Vice President and their team have shown, that makes impact through a partnership much much more likely. And so we have great hope that the government’s objectives around agricultural productivity, employment, GDP growth are going to be met.

I also spent some time earlier today with Tanzanians who work in the conservation sector, where the Vice President has a particular leadership role. And we talked about the important investments that are being made in biodiversity, in combating plastic pollution – which is a growing issue here, in combating blast fishing – which is so devastating for coral reefs and for livelihoods here in Tanzania. So this just gives, really, a sense of the depths and range of what we do together. 

We’re very excited to head from here to a hospital where we will see mothers and community drivers who have been part of President Samia’s flagship m-mama initiative – something that she and the Vice President are now scaling across Tanzania with USAID and Vodafone’s support. This is an incredible example of what happens when we marry compassion and care for – in this case, Tanzania’s mothers and their children – with tech-savvy, and sophistication, and the spirit of community. Because what m-mama shows is that anyone in the community can play a role in contributing to combating maternal and child death. And m-mama so far, in the provinces where it has been scaled, has brought about a 38 percent reduction in maternal mortality and more than a 40 percent reduction in the deaths of newborns. So again, it is so tangible in every mother whose life is saved, and every child will get to live a full and productive life here in Tanzania. This is the kind of partnership that we feel very privileged to be a part of.  

The last thing I would just say is there is a lot of democratic backsliding all around the world where civic space is closing for non-governmental organizations, for opposition parties, for the media. We have taken note and believe as if a critical part of our partnership as well the steps that Tanzania is taking in the opposite direction. In a direction to make it easier for opposition parties to say what they want and to gather. The media laws that have been introduced recently in Parliament that are meant, as well, to make circumstances in which journalists work more productive and freer. 

And we see a direct link between Tanzania’s economic ambitions and the desire to provide jobs for young people and these governance reforms. When you have more accountable governance – when citizens feel free to say what’s on their minds, and to hold their local leaders accountable, when journalists can print critical commentary that alerts government officials to what might be working or not working, when opposition parties can raise their voices – you see government being more and more accountable to the people. And as that happens, our companies in the United States take note of that, they believe that their investments are likely to be made in more transparent and accountable circumstances. And we believe that we are going to see a democratic dividend in terms of Tanzania's economy to these governance reforms that President Samia and her administration are pushing forward on. 

So we are eager to support those efforts as well, and again, we believe that democracy, and governance, and economic growth, and development go hand and hand. And I think our history here in Tanzania, working with the Tanzanian people show that we believe in both yields — the greatest results for the Tanzanian people.

Thank you so much.