Dar Es Salaam, Tanznia - It is 5 am, and 23-year-old Annet Skoyo is proudly checking into work. Unlike many at this hour, she already has a stream of customers queuing outside her office. Annet is a bus booking agent at the Kibaha bus terminal. The station caters to 14,000 passengers a day and Annet tends to the various needs of travelers.

This was not the case just a few years ago as the terminal was ill-equipped and without supportive infrastructure, such as shaded seating areas and adequate toilet facilities.

Annet informed: “At the old stand, I was not able to move around, I had to stay inside the office because I was an employee. Being self-employed I can move around and connect with my customers.”

In Kibaha, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, UNCDF worked with Kibaha Town Council by providing seed capital and technical assistance for the development and construction of a new bus terminal. During construction, labor was sourced from the local community providing a number of job opportunities to residents.

The new facility gives Kibaha the opportunity to fully capitalize on the town’s strategic location as a transit point for all vehicles travelling to and from 29 regions of Tanzania and the neighboring countries of Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. Since its opening, the local authority has seen its revenues double.

The Kibaha Municipality officer Innocent Byarugaba said: “Along with the fact that we have seen increased revenue to the local and national government, more jobs have also been created. There are young people that are able to sell products, like fruits and biscuits. These youth have employed themselves instead of turning to petty theft, now they have a place to earn money and take care of their families.”

Baraka, a petty trader at the terminal was previously relied on casual day work, the presence of the station has provided him with a steady job and income.

“There is a lot of activity at the station with people travelling to different regions across the country. I make a decent income from the goods I see to them and I’m able to provide for my wife and child. Previously, I would go up to one week without earning any money."

The increasing activity led to additional investment of complementary infrastructure by the central government into Kibaha town. Brand new roads leading to the terminal have been built, there is connection to electricity and sewage lines, and new businesses have grown. Considering the town’s strategic location, a new market for agricultural goods is now under construction across the road from the bus terminal.

Through strategic investments in sustainable local projects, UNCDF lays the pipeline for larger public and private investments for communities like Kibaha town. Additionally, the presence of the terminal addresses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely, SDG 1, SDG 5, SDG 8 and SDG 11.

About LFI

The Local Finance Initiative (LFI) is a UNCDF investment mechanism that enables developing countries to unlock domestic capital flow to invest in sustainable development. LFI mechanism of catalytic capital, technical assistance, and risk mitigation strategies has proved that transformative local development investments can tap into additional capital from both public sector and domestic capital markets. Finance is emphasized in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development to implement under each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Significantly, SDG 17 sets the targets of “strengthening domestic resource mobilization, mobilizing additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources, adopting and implementing investment promotion regimes for least developed countries.”