FINAL assessment of the second phase of the Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) programme for 2024/2025 managed by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) will evaluate the effectiveness of the government’s poverty reduction techniques.

Shedrack Mziray, the TASAF executive director, made this affirmation here yesterday, at the launch of training for supervisors and enumerators from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), noting that the scheduled assessment is being conducted in association with the NBS, the Office of the Chief Government Statistician Zanzibar (OCGS), and the World Bank.

The structured survey is intended to gauge how resources used in the programme are improving the lives of beneficiaries, and its effectiveness in lifting them out of poverty, he said.

Assessment exercises will focus on evaluating households benefiting from the second phase of the PSSN, collecting data on various indicators including education, health, women's empowerment, food consumption, food security and disaster response within households, the director explained.

Enumerators will also review housing and household assets, non-farming activities, savings and loans, work and time use, agriculture, livestock, electronic payments, programme implementation, social welfare and gender-based violence.

Such assessments are crucial for guiding the government in refining policies for poverty reduction, he said, elaborating that results from the first phase of the PSSN demonstrated positive impacts.

These included improved access to basic needs like food and school supplies, increased school attendance, enhanced academic performance and higher education opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, he stated.

Parents were increasingly taking their children to clinics for vaccination and nutritional advice, leading to improved nutrition levels particularly for children under five, he specified.

Many households joined the Community Health Fund (CHF), which significantly reduced deaths caused by a lack of access to medical care.

Beneficiaries also began saving, borrowing and securing capital to start or expand entrepreneurial projects through savings and investment groups, contributing to economic activity in villages and communities, he added.