REPORTS
Find our reports, newsletters and policy briefs below.
Policy Engagement Brief 1: Elite Giving in Everyday Humanitarianism
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In Tanzania, elite citizens play an essential role in responding to both acute and ongoing crises, supplementing government and international humanitarian efforts with significant personal contributions. These elites frequently provide housing, employment support, and essential goods, though they often prioritize helping those they know. Our findings suggest that, despite a lack of incentives or formal support, elites step up in times of need, balancing social pressures with resource limitations. Their involvement highlights the potential of elite giving as a substantial, yet underutilized, asset in addressing Tanzania’s humanitarian needs, underscoring the importance of engaging elites in future policy and relief initiatives.
Policy Engagement Brief 2: Everyday Humanitarianism in Disaster Response
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Tanzania faces significant challenges in disaster preparedness and response, with communities often left vulnerable due to limited government resources and the complex role of local authorities. Despite recent legislative updates aimed at improving disaster management, awareness of these changes is low among the general public and some officials, leaving gaps in effective implementation. Local communities often remain uncertain about available support, especially due to prohibitions on direct giving, and policymakers lack sufficient understanding of the socioeconomic factors that influence communities’ disaster vulnerabilities. Addressing these gaps requires a collaborative, culturally aware approach that incorporates local knowledge and acknowledges the realities of Tanzanians’ daily lives in disaster-prone areas.
Policy Engagement Brief 3: Everyday Humanitarianism in Refugee-Affected Areas
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Tanzania’s longstanding commitment to hosting refugees has faced recent policy shifts, especially in the Kigoma region, where stricter encampment rules now limit refugees’ movement and opportunities for self-sustenance. Refugees’ livelihoods within camps, such as vegetable cultivation and small trade, are increasingly restricted, pushing some to leave camps in search of work. Many Tanzanians in the region show compassion by offering various forms of support to refugees, though this is often done at personal risk and under the threat of criminalization. Meanwhile, refugees outside camps navigate precarious conditions, relying on each other for survival through shared skills and mutual support networks, emphasizing the need for legally recognized avenues to foster safe, collaborative assistance.
Policy Engagement Brief 4: Deservingness and Support in Everyday Humanitarianism
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Humanitarian responses in Tanzania are shaped by public perceptions of deservingness, with citizens often inclined to help those recognized as legitimate recipients of aid by government or community leaders. A survey conducted across disaster-prone regions—Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, and Kigoma—revealed that Tanzanians’ willingness to offer support aligns closely with perceived legitimacy and vulnerability of those in need. Local context, poverty, and regional factors also influence this dynamic, impacting how Tanzanians engage in everyday humanitarianism. The findings suggest that government endorsement of those in need can motivate greater public support, emphasizing the role of local and national signals in shaping humanitarian practices.
Case report: EHTZ as one of the 20 Nordic Cases within AU-EU Higher Education Cooperation
June, 2023
Everyday Humanitarianism in Tanzania has been chosen as one of 20 Nordic cases to be included in the case report on AU-EU Cooperation!
The report will accompany the event, Knocking on the Door of Higher Education Institutions: The AU-EU Innovation Agenda and the Involvement of Nordic actors, held in Brussels on September 28th, 2023.
It will serve as a catalogue to document the cooperation between Nordic and African Institutions and inspire future cooperation.
Policy Brief: Humanitarianism in Tanzania’s Disaster Management Policy & Legislative Framework: A Bird’s-Eye View
Majamba, H. I. & The EHTZ Disaster Management Cluster
June, 2023
The EHTZ Disaster Management Cluster has explored Tanzania’s Disaster Management Policy & Legislative Framework and its implications on disaster responses of local communities in a new policy Brief. Kindly find the policy Brief titled “Humanitarianism in Tanzania’s Disaster Management Policy & Legislative Framework: A Bird’s- Eye View” by Hamudi Majamba (Associate Professor of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam) & the Disaster Management Cluster in the Everyday Humanitarianism in Tanzania (EHTZ) Project below.
Placing a focus on the Disaster Management Act No. 6 of 2022 and the National Disaster Management Strategy of 2022 – 2027 the Brief reveals that the provisions of the 2015 Act (which has now been replaced with the 2022 Act), which captured humanitarian responders who provide informal assistance, often before formal government intervention, have been removed.
In view of this analysis, EHTZ, recommends that:
1) Stakeholders should continue to engage the government of Tanzania to ensure that local humanitarian actors are not left at the periphery in disaster management preparation and response systems.
2) Together, the stakeholders must ensure that the envisaged revision of the New Disaster Management Policy addresses, among others, the shortfalls identified in the Brief to ensure effective, meaningful, joint and collective approaches by both government and humanitarian responders in addressing disasters in the country.
3) The government should, in complying with international and regional legal instruments that it has signed, consider amending the legal framework to acknowledge and take on board humanitarianism actors in disaster management and response systems.
A Briefing note for policy-makers and practicioners