This study seeks to understand key aspects of vulnerability of the urban poor in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, how climate impacts upon this vulnerability, and to determine how forward-looking policies and programs can be developed that reduce the vulnerability of the poor, taking both current and expected future climate into account.

Over 70 percent of the city’s four million residents live in informal, unplanned settlements that lack adequate infrastructure and services, and over half of them survive on roughly a dollar per day. With a population growth rate of about 8 percent per year, Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest-growing cities in sub-Saharan Africa. City and municipal authorities face significant challenges with respect to providing new or even maintaining existing infrastructure and services.