Exit strategies and sustainability of local institutions in Tanzania: Experiences from World Vision Tanzania in Bahi District

Abstract

In recent years, the use of exit strategies in development interventions has been welcomed as a mechanism for creating strong and sustainable local institutions upon ending of donor support. This paper discusses the sustainability of exit strategies in donor funded rural development projects using a case of Chipanga Area Development Programme, which was sponsored by World Vision Tanzania. The study involved 110 respondents. Data were collected through questionnaire, interviews, documentary analysis and focus group discussions. Analysis of qualitative data was done through content analysis whereas quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study results show that most of the project activities were not continued by the local institutions to which World Vision Tanzania „phased over‟ its interventions to as anticipated. Thus, the exit strategy adopted by the donor agency was generally not sustainable because of managerial, technical, financial and human capacity weaknesses in the local institutions set in place. A number of contextual factors including late formulation and implementation of the exit strategies, inadequate capacity building, failure of local leaders to assume office, and absence of feasible plans for resource generation affected sustainability of the local institutions.