Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania — A comprehensive software application launched Friday with an ambitious mission to provide reliable information on Tanzania's socio-economic situation and human development is offering high-tech solutions to the country's data point woes.

The aim of the Tanzania Socio-Economic Database (TSED) is to provide correct and reliable information on education, health and the economy from a centralised pool.

The database has a module focusing on poverty indicators - from productive and social service sectors - and is desired to be a planning and policy-making tool aimed at enabling planners make informed decisions.

"In order to monitor (the) poverty situation in the country, an effective poverty monitoring system has to ensure that data is collected, analysed and disseminated.

"This will allow all levels of stakeholders to revise their strategies for poverty reduction. The TSED is expected to fulfil these expectations," said a senior official in the president's office (poverty eradication division).

The database was welcome, coming hot on the heels of the country's poverty eradication focus of the past five years, he said.

Many initiatives had been taken at various levels of stakeholders, including the Development Vision 2025, the National Poverty Eradication Strategy and most recently, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PSRP), he added.

Sally Fegan-Wyles, the UN Resident Co-ordinator, said: "The establishment of TSED is particularly timely as it will allow government to monitor progress on its Poverty Reduction Strategy."

The UNDP and UNICEF, together with other development partners, have supported the database initiative through technical and financial support.

Having the database in itself was meaningless, she added, unless the data was used as a tool to understand what is happening to poor people in the country.

"The real benefit will come from giving government and civil society, the capacity to assess the impact of policies, budget allocations and development assistance on poverty so that policies and resource allocation decisions can be reviewed and revised," she said.

A standardised software application that allows users to organise and document statistical data on human development, the database can also present the information through a variety of presentation tools, including tables, graphs and maps.

The National Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with 17 government institutions, is responsible for maintaining the TSED.

This includes quality control, updating the database and release of updated versions on a regular basis.

"We and the government consider TSED to be a crucial element in the government's poverty monitoring system currently being developed," said director general Cleatus Mkai.

TSED was developed after the realisation that although a wealth of socio-economic data existed in Tanzania, obtaining data was often difficult because information is scattered in different ministries.

Future development will include further expansion of data to include more indicators, a web-version to improve access to other users, a government network system version and the development of a training programme about the database for users, to promote the use of data for analysis and planning.