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Projects & Activities

PROJECTS

SERA BORA PROJECT

SERA BORA, meaning Better Policies in Swahili is a 5-year (Jan 1, 2020 to Dec 31, 2024) USAID-Tanzania funded project awarded to Michigan State University (MSU) and implemented under the auspices of the Agricultural Sector Policy and Institutional Reform Strengthening (ASPIRES), an NGO based in Tanzania. The SERA BORA Project’s goal is to accelerate adoption of effective policies and programs that would promote broad-based economic growth, improve food security and nutrition, and contribute to poverty reduction. Key project partners include the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA); the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MLF); Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA); the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG); the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO); the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) and the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center (TFNC).

Other key stakeholders include the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT); the Ministry of Water; the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements; the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and members of the Policy Analysis Group (PAG).

Research Themes

Research under ASPIRES is carried in conjunction with MSU, NBS and SUA and it focuses on two broad types:

The dynamics of agricultural transformation
Shorter-term, demand-driven research responding to specific requests from the Government on improving the quality of research in the country.

Research activities will also include generating and improving policy relevant datasets by MIT and MoA. Some of the research work under SERA BORA includes a study on agricultural transformation in the horticultural subsector, an analysis of micronutrients and consumption trends of fruits and vegetables; emerging evidence on the double burden of malnutrition in Tanzania; and emerging policy issues.

Capacity Building

Legislative Capacity Strengthened:
ASPIRES strengthens the policy formulation capacity and improves the resource center of the Parliament including the Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture, Livestock and Water.

Nutrition Policy Capacity Strengthened:
We provide support in strengthening the Government capacity under the following activities:

Design, develop and share with relevant stakeholder’s guidelines on integrating nutrition in agriculture.
Build analytical capacity of nutritionists in policy analysis and research.

Policy Reforms

ASPIRES engages in active policy advisory activities focusing on targeted policy reform areas including legal, regulatory and institutional reforms. We work to increase executive and legislative branches’ capacity to interpret and use evidence-based generated data for better-informed decisions in the agricultural and nutrition sectors.

Policy Co-ordination

PAG Secretariat

ASPIRES serves as the Secretariat for the Policy Analysis Group (PAG). Activities under the PAG include conducting quarterly meetings to discuss progress in the agricultural sector; presenting fiscal policy recommendations in the agricultural sector to appropriate fora; leading PAG members in the Annual Agricultural Policy Conference (AAPC) in collaboration with the MoA and MLF.

NMNAP Coordination

The Nutrition Team coordinates implementation of the National Multi-sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (NMNAP)’s planning, implementation, review and reporting progress in the agricultural sector.