UNDP signs $2m in grants for 49 Tanzania environmental projects

BiodiversityEnvironment

Sunday 8th November 2026

Grassy plain and scattered trees in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, photographed in May 2024 — File photograph of Serengeti National Park on 26 May 2024. The wider Serengeti ecosystem is one of the programme’s priority areas. Photo: Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized.

By inAfrika Newsroom

The United Nations Development Programme signed grant agreements with Tanzanian civil society groups on 6 November for 49 community-led environmental projects. Tanzania and UNDP put the total at US$2 million, or about TZS5.2 billion, for projects on the mainland and in Zanzibar.

The grants are part of the eighth funding phase of the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, which UNDP implements. The work is planned over 20 months and is expected to benefit about 6,000 people directly, according to the UNDP announcement and the Vice-President’s Office.

The programme names the Serengeti ecosystem, the Dodoma area and Zanzibar’s Unguja and Pemba islands as priorities. UNDP says 30% of programme resources will support work outside those areas.

Supported activities include planting trees, restoring forests and wetlands, and protecting water sources. The grants also cover beekeeping, sustainable livestock practices, waste management and access to cleaner energy.

UNDP said the funding would help local organisations carry out projects they had identified and seek additional backing for those that prove effective. The programme has committed more than US$13 million to over 440 projects in Tanzania since it began work in the country in the 1990s, according to the agency.

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