Mapping Poverty, Vulnerability and resource rights in Kilindi district, Tanzania

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to map poverty at sub-village and village levels in Kilindi District
in Tanga region, Tanzania. Disaggregated poverty maps like these are very useful in showing the
spatial distribution of poverty at micro level which can lead to effective poverty reduction intervention
measures. A sample of 391 households was collected from five villages located along the road and
off-road of Handeni-Songe road. The poverty mapping results indicated that the study villages had
better food security because of adopting new varieties of crops especially beans followed by asset
and income poverty indicators. Medium poverty was observed in energy and transport. However, the
villages had very high poverty in health and sanitation and so require more intervention measures from
the Government and Civil Society Organizations. The overall poverty mapping indicators showed that
Mafisa Village was better off when compared to other villages in terms of poverty. The level of poverty
was very high in Kibirashi and Balang’a villages which had a high proportion of Maasai pastoralists.