The Comic Relief celebrities get ready to climb Kilimanjaro - (back row, left to right) Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, Fearne Cotton, Chris Moyles, Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh (front row, left to right) Alesha Dixon, Ben Shephard and Denise Van Outen. Credit: Getty Images

Nine celebrities arrived in Tanzania this weekend to climb Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief and I was lucky enough to be part of the welcome party! As well as being extremely excited to meet the idols of my teenage years (Gary Barlow!!!! Ronan Keating!!!!) it was fascinating to learn more about Comic Relief and the work that they do, and join teams BBC TV and Radio One while they were preparing for the fundraising night ahead.

Although the nerves were showing as they contemplated the eight days slog ahead of them, the celebrities are driven on by their first hand experiences of the fantastic Comic Relief projects which they have visited in order to make short films for the night. I spoke to Ben Shephard, for example, who had been to visit a street children centre close to Kilimanjaro a couple of days ago and he said how proud he was to be helping the boys he met.

For many of them it was their first visit to Tanzania, and they were asking me lots of questions about the country, the people and development progress in general. We talked about how the work of DFID and the work of projects sponsored by Comic Relief complement each other. For example through the help of DFID and other partners, the government of Tanzania has been able to make primary schooling free, but hurdles still remain for many poor children in accessing this free schooling. Projects like the street children centre, which helps some of the most excluded children access education, depend hugely on external funding from organisations like Comic Relief.

Kilimanjaro from afar - you can just see the top above the clouds

I was happy to tell them that in 2009, DFID have partnered with Comic Relief to match their UK fundraising for education - up to £5 million.

We think it's a great cause, and I encourage you to give generously, and to watch the programme about the climb on the 12th March, and you can watch their progress over the next few days online.

In Tanzania, the National Bureau of Statistics are due to launch the final report of the latest Tanzania HIV AIDS and Malaria Survey (THIS) this week.

The preliminary figures show that the level of HIV has been stabilised, with 6% of adults living with the virus in 2007, compared to 7% in 2003. The data released this week will allow the government and development partners to plan for treatment and care for sufferers and to target prevention measures by looking at which groups of people have higher infection rates, and what types of behaviour are spreading the disease in Tanzania.

In order to get these figures, several thousand people have been sampled at random across Tanzania and then they answered a questionnaire and provided samples of blood for testing.

Amazingly almost everyone chosen agreed to give their blood sample. People are a lot more helpful in answering surveys in this part of the world than in the UK, maybe because they don’t get as many requests for information as we do. This is great news for the statistics as it makes the sample a lot more representative of the country.

It is really important in all surveys to make sure that the results are completely anonymous and that the information is only used for statistical purposes and this is even more important in a survey like this - where such sensitive and personal information is being obtained.

However while in most surveys when the interview ends that is the end of the contact with the respondent, in this case one of the side benefits is that the government offers assistance to the respondents in the case that they want to know the results of the tests.

This is not the real rainy season, known as the 'long rains', which comes in March / April. The short rain season lasts for a month or two and is made up of short but very heavy showers and sunny spells in between. Obviously the rains are essential for bringing life to crops, wildlife and people alike, but they also pose several hazards.

They are so heavy they damage property, and many peoples homes leak. Even us in our protected, modern home experienced it as the rain came through our bedroom ceiling the other day, and a giant piece of plasterboard fell on our bed (luckily we were protected by the mosquito net!) followed by a steady stream of water.

Dar in the wet season

The roads quickly become impassable by all but the 4x4s, and people have to try to struggle on with their daily lives wading through the puddles and getting soaked to the skin.

The water brings more mosquitos, which brings Malaria. And the rains seem to make even more rubbish than usual wash up onto the beach.

Since the tap water supply is erratic and coverage is poor, there should be a lot of potential for people to harvest this bountiful supply of fresh water, but it seems that most people don’t collect their rainwater. Perhaps it is the high cost of plastics, or a lack of know-how. My husband is a plumber and is interested to see what potential there is to help people do this more.

He is off this week to work in an NGO called 'food water shelter', who are building a children’s centre using eco friendly building techniques and aiming to minimise waste and maximise re-use and conservation – he is going to help out with the pipe work for the rain water collection systems, and hopefully it will give him more of an insight on whether he can help people in Dar to take this further. Any ideas welcomed!

Agriculture is the main activity, and source of income for most Tanzanians

Focussing on these issues for African Statistics Day 2008 could not be more important at this time when the food crisis facing the poorest people in the world risks being overshadowed by the developed world’s focus on recession and the global financial crisis.

As in many African countries, farming is the dominant way of life in Tanzania, with three quarters of people working in agriculture. Understanding how to improve growth in this area is an essential part of development, which will help to reduce poverty and help ensure people can deal with shocks such as rising food prices. Even knowing how many farmers there are, what they produce, what difficulties they face, and how to help them increase their production, is not possible without good agricultural data. Up to date information is needed on what people farm, and how much they produce.

Up to date information is needed on what farmers produce, and how much

Under the statistics project I talked about in my previous blog, the first area our funds will be directed to is the 2008-09 ‘Agriculture Census’ which will collect detailed information on production, productivity and practices in farming across the country. This is a massive exercise which only happens every 10 years or so, and all large farms will be surveyed (such as the ones growing palm oil that we saw as we drove to the north of the country a few weeks ago) as well as a large sample of smaller, more typical farm plots that you will see in villages like the one in the pictures above. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have been planning for this census for many months and the field work will happen in the new year, and I hope to go to see some of the fieldwork in action.

To celebrate ‘African Statistics Day’ the NBS here are planning an event in a village to discuss the data that they have recently produced, and what it means to the villagers, and to demonstrate the importance of giving full assistance to people conducting surveys and censuses if they are to knock on your door.

Data collection in action!

At the moment I am working with the Government, the World Bank and other Development Partners (DPs) to develop our plan to support the implementation of the Tanzania Statistical Master Plan (TSMP).

This plan has been developed with wide consultation with those who produce and use data in Tanzania, and the DPs have agreed to support its implementation with a 'basket' or 'pooled fund'. At the moment we are working to set out some more detail on how the goals of the plan will be reached and how the support will be provided. I have also been under scrutiny from my colleagues in the DFID office to ensure the project is well designed and managed before DFID can agree to contribute funds.
 
Aims include giving the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) more independence from government (similar to the process that Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK has just been through) as well as making improvements to the data they collect and the ways they analyse it, and making it more accessible to the public. Core surveys will be implemented in a sensible sequence, and underlying methodologies and the capabilities of their staff will be strengthened.

NBS will also develop a role in working with other parts of government who collect data. This is one of the most challenging areas and the TSMP focuses on some key ministries first (health, education, agriculture and local government). A lot of work is required to improve the complicated and large data systems and the ministry statisticians need to be clear about how they can draw on the NBS as a source of expertise. I can relate well to this as I am a statistician working in a ministry (in DFID), but the ONS is my ‘professional home’.

This type of all round progress is made possible by NBS having developed a strategic plan and donor support and advice coming in line behind their own goals. It requires a lot of planning, and paper work at this stage, but by the end of this (five year) project, we hope it will make a real impact on the amount and quality of data that is available on Tanzania.

Having good data helps decision makers make the right decisions, and in turn making better decisions means more impact on the lives of people (including the poor) in Tanzania.

As a new 'partner', it is important that I and the others who have arrived over the last year get our heads around the structures in place to make sure we support them effectively.

Today we have learned 117 different acronyms, including the all important MKUKUTA (the national development strategy).  We have learned about working groups, sectors and clusters; lead partners, active partners and delegated partners; and monitoring systems, targets and indicators. These are the basics that a newby like me needs to know before engaging with the system itself to be able to make a difference.

On a theoretical level, to the uninitiated this can all look a bit like bureaucracy gone mad, but there is a clear purpose to it. At the recent High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, the government and donors of Tanzania won an accolade for this system and its impact on the effectiveness of the aid. And there is a lot of this aid - around 2 billion dollars a year, around a third of the national budget. The idea of this prize winning system is that the aid is used to deliver the government's own plans for development, and transaction costs are reduced.

The example we were given was the water sector, where once some 15 donors all had their own water projects, all offering advice and finances to the government separately, each having their own monitoring systems to keep a check on where their pound, dollar or euro goes to, with different piles of paper work for the government to complete.

A representation of the projects in the water sector before the DPG placed a focus on coordination

Now, instead there is one agreed plan for the water sector, and donors support this plan. This is similar to the way forwards for my work with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS - one of the afore-mentioned acronyms!). Previously donors funded censuses and surveys in areas they were interested in, leaving other areas underfunded - now the NBS has led the production of a plan for the government statistics services in Tanzania and Zanzibar, and we will pool funds with other donors to implement this plan, to improve the data available in a more systematic way.

...and a representation of it now.

The day was of course also a great opportunity to meet lots of other new people who have recently arrived in Dar and who will be useful contacts both in work and out.

Me cycling to work, and that's the Indian Ocean in the background

One of the things I miss about living in London is cycling to work. So once I realised that it would only take around 20 minutes to cycle to my new office in Dar Es Salaam, I was keen to get back in the saddle.

There are a lot of similarities between cycling in London and cycling in Dar. The traffic is equally crazy in both, making cycling a faster way of getting to work. In Dar, the drivers are slightly more…er… unpredictable shall I say, but much of the way I can ride on a path which is parallel to the road and functions as a pavement and cycle lane (although no official red tarmac here of course).

All your eggs in one basket?

There are many differences though; other cyclists in London don’t tend to carry their daily wares on the back of their bikes for example. People here carry fruit, fish, and most impressively great stacks of (full) egg boxes. Although I have always enjoyed the views of the Thames, it is a pleasant change to swap them for the Indian Ocean. Plus - as I am a bit of a fair weather cyclist- the constant sunshine (at this time of year) is wonderful.

And no that is not me, but yes that is a 3 piece suite on the back of a bike!

When I first started cycling in London I found it was a great way to see the city in a new way, as you take short cuts through previously unknown areas, and you get closer to people, out in the fresh (ish) air. From this first go at cycling here I have found the same to be true. Tanzanians are incredibly friendly people, everywhere you go people greet you and ask you how you are, and this seems to happen even more when you are on your bike. Children shouting ‘good morning’, and people smiling and greeting you in Swahili as you pass makes the journey more interesting and fun, although to start with it is slightly off putting for someone who is used to total anonymity in London, where the only reason anyone would talk to you would be to tell you to ‘get out of the way’!

With colleagues Oliver Knight and Simon Gill at rubbish tip

In Tanzania, as in many African countries, there is evidence of the informal economy wherever you look. As you walk through the streets of Dar Es Salaam, there are small stalls everywhere, selling fruit and veg, plants, mobile phone sim cards and all sorts of other goods. There are men selling second hand shoes out of plastic bags and unofficial ‘taxis’ everywhere. When you are in areas populated by ‘wazungu’ (Europeans) there are sellers of paintings, bags, masks and Maasai jewellery, not to mention the various touts wanting to show you around, take you on tours, carry your bags and teach you Swahili. When you are driving, an extraordinary range of items will be waved at you through the car window – so far this week I have noted hat stands, laminated maps of Tanzania, ironing boards, nuts and fruits, ice creams, men’s shirts, and second hand copies of Hello! magazine.

There are many downsides to so many people being reliant on the informal economy – poor pay and no job security, and a lack of tax revenue for the government being just some. However this week I have seen an example of one of the possible up-sides. This weekend, while on a trip to the beach with two environment advisers, I had the ‘privilege’ of visiting a rubbish tip (perils of hanging out with environment advisers!).

Plastic bottles sorted from the rubbish

One of the interesting things about it was the fact that people were sorting the rubbish for recycling. Not in the systematic way that recycling is sorted in the UK, where council’s provide us with boxes to sort out our own paper and cans. This is an informal money making scheme, but it means that a large proportion of the rubbish is sorted and removed from the tip – plastics, metals and anything useful.

The sprawling rubbish tip

However the lack of a formal rubbish collection system means that rubbish just spills down the road. We saw men playing football on a pitch half covered in plastic bags, and cows eating from the decomposing waste. The health implications for the people sorting through the rubbish are also obvious to all. What interested my companions was the potential to 'formalise' the sector by investigating recycling options and possibly energy-from-waste plants...which would help to meet rising electricity demand.

However, in my first week I feel like a fresher starting university. How come I wish my parents were a bit nearer and that my friends from home could all come with me? Will I fit in? Will anyone like me?

Me at the National Bureau of Statistics, Dar Es Salaam

It’s a bit like starting any new job I guess. There is a lot to learn and you desperately hope to make a good impression. In this case I also have to learn a new culture, a new language (Kiswahili), and a lot of very unusual (to me) names. It’s truly a whole new life, with a new flat in a new city in a new climate. At the moment it’s a pleasant sunny 28 degrees, but this is the coolest time of year. Apparently it gets very hot and wet, and the mosquitoes are already biting. I need to make new friends and learn what there is to do in my spare time. I must adapt to a new style of working where meetings start at 7.30am and so on, with all the challenges that brings.

Currently, I am a little bit overwhelmed and exhausted, but I still think I have got the top job and I can’t wait to settle in.