Social and Livelihoods

Client: Voluntary Service Oversea (VSO) / CUSO International
Project:Tanzania Local Enterprises Development (T LED) Project
Assignment: Assessment of Health, Safety and Environmental Gaps/Challenges for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Lake, Southern and Southern Highland Zones.
Project Coverage: Regions of Mwanza, Shinyanga, Iringa, Njombe, Mtwara and Lindi.

Description of Project/Assignment
Voluntary Service Oversea (VSO) Tanzania commissioned Adlana Co. Ltd to provide a consultancy service on assessment of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) impacts to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) under the Tanzania Local Enterprises Development (T LED) project.
Voluntary Service Oversea (VSO) is an international development organization that works to reduce world poverty through volunteering. In Tanzania, VSO runs several projects in the areas of Education, Health and Secure Livelihoods with the mission of bringing people together to fight poverty. Among the approaches used by VSO to fight poverty is to support Tanzanian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to help them develop and promote their products and services to access opportunities in various sectors of the economy.
The project covered three zones that is, Southern Zone (Mtwara and Lindi Regions), Southern Highlands Zone (Iringa and Njombe regions) and Lake Zone (Mwanza and Shinyanga regions). The main objectives of the consultancy work was to assess the existing gaps and challenges on management of health, safety and environment and business setting per Value Chain/Sector and to design management plans and sustainable approaches for managing the identified gaps of enhancing positive impacts.
It was known that one of the key challenges facing the local SMEs is lack of incorporation of Environmental, Health and Safety and business setting Systems in their businesses, thus affect SMEs potential to access growth markets, acquire contracts with larger corporation/companies and consequently prohibits their business growth.

Tanzania Business Chambers

During the assessment processes, other partners like Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce (TWCC), Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) and National Environment Management Council (NEMC) were visited so as obtain high level of their roles and interactions with SMEs. Data collected through questionnaire survey, key informants’ interviews and field observations were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
The study showed that more than 95% of SMEs activities are not incorporating the aspects of health safety and environmental management and any business settings in their daily operations due to lack of awareness on the existing laws and compliance requirements. Lack of policies, plans, procedures and expertise made SMEs conduct their activities based on general local practices. However, the operations of these SMEs had brought transformations in social settings by attracting women’s participation in the activity and empowering them through participation in productive activities, decision making processes and contribute to household’s and local economy.

Business Management Systems

Together with the lack of Management System, the SMEs growth is also being impeded by lack of enough capital for business expansion, low prices at market, competition & lack of reliable market, too many taxes, availability of raw material and poor technology. Health, Safety and Environmental issues remain important parameters to be included into SME business so as to mitigate unforeseen business risks. Health of the employees is very important to be monitored so as to alleviate the health associated risks which in turn might affect the efficiency of SMEs productivity. Safety of the people, equipment/assets and the products also has to be actively monitored and all identified hazards are addressed and continuously improved. Environmental aspect is also key factor to be integrated into business so as to sustainably improve the business and ensure protection of environment and natural resources. When HSE is integrated into SME business, then productivity increases by proactively addressing the HSE barriers which are associated with costs such loss of life, permanent disability to employees, retraining of new employees, damages to properties, damage to the reputation of the organization, diseases and pollution/degradation of environment and natural resources. For effective contribution towards poverty alleviation and sustainable development, there is a need to integrate technical and technological capabilities, establish effective marketing mechanisms and consolidate collaboration among major stakeholders including regulatory agencies, LGAs, Financial institutions and SMEs. Further, the incorporation of HSE is important not only for legislative requirements, but also in management of risks associated with businesses that may spill over the workplaces. As custodian of SMEs, SIDO need to tie up with VSO to review and incorporate HSE management aspects especially basic training in HSE to impart HSE-Business sustainability concepts to SMEs operators.