Lessons from the Implementation of Livelihood Restoration Programmes in Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway Project – Lot 1 and 2

Livelihood Restoration Programmes, refers to documented measures aimed at addressing loss of livelihoods arising from land acquisition for projects. Tanzania land laws do not support the implementation of the livelihood restoration programmes however, these programmes have been implemented to meet lenders conditions for accessing the loans for project developments. The construction of the SGR Lot 1 and 2 requires land acquisition and compensation to comply with IFC Performance Standard No 5 on Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement. In Tanzania, this demand is implemented even in cases land acquisition is not a component of the loans. In this paper, desk top review of the secondary information together with the analysis, interpretation of data and drawing from professional knowledge and experience working on the SGR projects were used to assess the success and challenges of implementing livelihood restoration programmes in Tanzania. The review revealed that Tanzania’s experience in implementing these programmes is characterized with a mixture of successes and challenges, which include limited changes in project affected persons livelihoods post land acquisition stage and existing challenges such as legal, limited human capacity, inadequate financial resources and inadequate strategic choices of the programmes. Recommendations to address the challenges are provided in this paper. Keywords: Land acquisition, compensation, livelihoods restoration, project affected persons, legal. Title: Lessons from the Implementation of Livelihood Restoration Programmes in Tanzania’s Standard Gauge Railway Project – Lot 1 and 2 Author: Hussein Sosovele International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online) Vol. 14, Issue 1, January 2026 - March 2026 Page No: 88-97 Research Publish Journals Website: www.researchpublish.com Published Date: 31-January-2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18442342 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.researchpublish.com/papers/lessons-from-the-implementation-of-livelihood-restoration-programmes-in-tanzanias-standard-gauge-railway-project--lot-1-and-2