Focus on Foreign Aid: The Case of Select Norwegian Aided Projects in Tanzania

Abstract

Under the United Nations categorization, Tanzania is one of the 25 poorest countries in the World. The world community of nations has positively come to the aid of these nations. Tanzania is one of the poor countries with an effective alternative development strategy. For, aid is most effective where the recipient country has a defined area of need in order that foreign aid may become a proper supplement to national resources for the identified endeavours. Tanzania has committed herself to socialist construction with ingenious specificity. Her main goal is to reach self-reliance with foreign aid being accepted as a catalyst. Norway is among the many countries which have generously come to the aid of Tanzania. More exemplarily, Norway has even given a grant to Tanzania for Tanzanians to evaluate Norwegian aided projects in Tanzania. Most donor countries shy away from such a venture fearing exposures which could prove embarrassing! I had just returned home from being an Assistant Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, U.S.A., in September 1976, when I was called upon to be field supervisor of the evaluation effort. Thus, this paper contains first hand experiences of the man on the scene.