Determinants of multidimensional poverty vulnerability in Tanzania: Does the Tanzania Social Action Fund matter?

Résumé

The study aims to analyse the multifaceted factors that contribute to poverty while accounting for the disparities that exist between Tanzania's Social Action Fund recipients and the general population. The study is entirely quantitative, utilising data from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (2022). It involves surveying 73,774 households from the general population and 7,787 households participating in the Tanzania Social Action Fund. By using the Alkire and Foster approach to compose the deprivation levels, multidimensional poverty vulnerability was created as a binary measure with a cut-off point of 0.3333. The multidimensional poverty index of 0.3333 mapped non-vulnerable households, while vulnerable households have a multidimensional poverty index of above 0.3333. Both descriptive analysis indicating frequencies and percentages and inferential analysis, specifically the binary logistic regression, were applied to determine the multidimensional poverty determinants. The study revealed that Tanzania Social Action Fund beneficiaries were more deprived than the general population. However, it was found that both samples were more deprived of sanitation, electricity and cooking fuel. The place of residence, specifically rural residence, significantly increased multidimensional poverty vulnerability. On the other hand, households with heads older than 65 years were more prone to multidimensional poverty. It was also revealed that savings, specifically having bank accounts, reduces households’ vulnerability to multidimensional poverty. The study also found interesting results that Tanzania Social Action Fund benefits reduce households’ multidimensional poverty vulnerability across age of the head of household, household size and bank savings. Thus, justifying the relevance of the Tanzania Social Action Fund programme in mediating the effects of multidimensional poverty determinants. The government should increase the budget to support a variety of multidimensional poverty-vulnerable households, such as those headed by the elderly and other vulnerable groups who have few opportunities to earn income through employment. Similarly, TASAF beneficiaries should receive more training in financial management and entrepreneurial skills to improve their sources of income and enable them to save for the future, thereby reducing financial shocks.