The role of flood disaster management projects in enhancing community capacities in Mbigili ward, Kilosa district, Tanzania

Flood disasters have been a problem in Tanzania for many years. Various flood disaster projects have tried intervening the flood disasters in Tanzania but the problem still continues to affect the Tanzanian communities. This study assessed the role of disaster projects in enhancing community capacities in managing flood disasters at Mbigili ward in Kilosa District, Morogoro. The main objective of the study was to assess the local communities’ capacity to manage flood disasters through project management approach. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection and analysis. The data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, participatory observation and the documentary review. Various data such as demographic characteristics, the level of community vulnerability to flood disasters and the effectiveness of flood disaster projects in managing flood disasters were collected. Quantitative data were analyzed by the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences IBM (SPSS version 23). The Qualitative data were coded, described, summarized and presented in the form of and texts. The findings revealed that 44%the vulnerability was mainly caused by the agricultural activities in the flood prone areas. The results revealed that 85% of the flood disaster projects dealt with relief supply to the affected victims. This implies that flood disaster management projects did nothing on rehabilitation, reconstruction, mitigation and preparedness activities related to flood disaster management in Mbigili Ward. These activities were left to the government which also did nothing during the implementation phase. It was recommended that the flood disaster projects should not only focus on relief supply but also should focus on rehabilitation, reconstruction, mitigation and preparedness activities and there should also be a collaboration between the communities living in flood prone areas, the government and the flood disaster projects in managing flood disasters in Tanzania.