The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) gathered key stakeholders of the Kalemawe agricultural dam in a one day participatory planning workshop. The UNCDF's Local Finance Initiative (LFI) programme based in Tanzania is supporting the rehabilitation of the Kalemawe dam to be owned and operated through a private public partnership framework. This approach is one of the ways for localities to seek new sources of financing for their local economic development projects instead of limited public funds or government transfers. According to Mr. Peter Malika, the Head of UNCDF in Tanzania, said that UNCDF mandate is to support investments in public and private institutions by providing seed capital and technical expertise. UNCDF promotes the movement of investment capital to rural projects such as the Kalemawe Dam to build national productive capacities and sustainable consumption for local development. The rehabilitation and operation of the Kalemawe dam will result in the achievement of transformational development impact and leveraging of both public, development and private capital. Emphasizing on the impact, Mr. Malika said that the workshop will focus on issues of ownership, institutional and legal framework, governance, rehabilitation technical issues, commercial fishing, water use farming, livestock, climate change and environment, women economic empowerment and financing modalities and many other sustainable programs. Since its construction in 1950s, the dam has shrunk to less than half of its original size because of siltation over years, poor usage and lack of maintenance. Later, the dam became a 'life saving lake' by virtue of supporting livelihoods of thousands of households (about 10,000 people) including farmers, livestock keepers and fishermen. (TBC, ITV on Thursday, et al)