People have been left homeless after their houses were demolished by ongoing torrential rains in Njinjo ward, Kilwa district of Lindi region, in Tanzania, on Jan. 29, 2020. (Xinhua)

 
The Tanzania Action Fund (TASAF), a state-run program that helps poor people to fight poverty, said on Monday the World Bank has agreed to release a 1.03 trillion Tanzanian shilling (about 445.92 million US dollars) loan to support the country's anti-poverty drive.

TASAF Director General Ladislaus Mwamanga said a total of 2 trillion shillings (about 865.87 million dollars) will be spent during the five-year second phase implementation of TASAF, which was officially launched by President John Magufuli in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

The remaining funding will be sourced from various other development partners, including the OPEC Fund for International Development, which has pledged to release 50 million dollars, Mwamanga said at an event televised live by state-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation.

The official said the program is aimed at empowering poor households to run income-generating activities.

Launching the program, Magufuli directed authorities in all regions and districts to supervise closely the implementation of the second phase of the TASAF program to achieve the intended goals of fighting extreme poverty among identified Tanzanians.

Magufuli said a verification conducted from November 2015 to 2017 found a total of 73,561 ghost and illegible households enrolled in the program.

"The involved people who are not poor and leaders being enrolled in the program should be addressed in the next phase to ensure that all these challenges do not recur," he said.

Magufuli commended donors and development partners for their continued support toward the implementation of the program.