By Business Insider Reporter
TheNational Social Security Fund (NSSF) is positioning itself for the implementation of its 8th Strategic Plan, an ambitious five-year programme aligned with Tanzania Development Vision 2050 that seeks to more than double the Fund’s value to TSh24.75 trillion and bring millions more Tanzanians into the social security system.
The new Strategic Plan, covering 2026 to 2031, will run alongside the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP IV) and marks a new phase for the pension fund following strong growth recorded during implementation of its Seventh Strategic Plan.
NSSF Director-General Masha Mshomba (pictured above) said the implementation of the Plan started in earnest in June this year. He said through the Plan the Fund aims to register 5.8 million new members by June 2031 as it expands social security coverage, strengthens investments and builds a larger pool of long-term domestic capital.
The targets come after NSSF more than doubled its value over the past five years, while annual contribution collections and membership also recorded substantial growth.
Presenting the Fund’s performance and achievements to media editors in Dar es Salaam, Mshomba said NSSF’s value increased by 125 percent, from TSh5.06 trillion in the 2020/21 financial year to TSh11.41 trillion by June 2026.
Its investment portfolio, meanwhile, expanded by 108 per cent, rising from TSh4.62 trillion in 2020/21 to TSh9.60 trillion in 2025/26.
“This strong growth confirms that NSSF is financially sound and sustainable,” Mshomba said. “The increase has largely been driven by growth in the value of investments, members’ contributions and income generated from various strategic investment projects.”
He attributed the wider improvement in performance partly to investment growth, improvements in information and communications technology systems and a more supportive business and investment environment.
Membership more than doubles
NSSF registered 1,486,930 new members during implementation of its Seventh Strategic Plan.
As a result, the number of contributing members increased by 130 percent, from 932,112 in June 2021 to 2,144,906 by June 2026.
Growth in membership, coupled with strengthened compliance and inspection systems, helped lift annual contribution collections by 147 per cent.
Contributions increased from TSh1.17 trillion in 2020/21 to TSh2.90 trillion in the financial year ending June 2026, significantly strengthening the Fund’s capacity to meet pension obligations and finance long-term investments.
Expanding the contribution base will remain central to the Eighth Strategic Plan, particularly as NSSF looks beyond conventional formal-sector employment to Tanzania’s vast informal economy.
Informal sector becomes new frontier
One of the Fund’s major initiatives has been the introduction of the HIFADHI social security scheme for self-employed Tanzanians.
Launched in February 2026, the scheme targets people traditionally outside formal pension arrangements, including farmers, fishermen, motorcycle taxi operators, street vendors, food vendors and other self-employed entrepreneurs.
By June 30, 2026 – just four months after its launch – HIFADHI had registered 592,791 members.
“We expect to register more than 279,000 additional members during the 2026/27 financial year,” Mshomba said.
The expansion into the informal economy could become particularly important to NSSF’s long-term growth because a substantial share of Tanzania’s workforce operates outside conventional employer-based social security arrangements.
It also provides a pathway towards the Fund’s much larger 2031 membership target.
Benefits rise as processing time falls
NSSF has also increased benefits while reducing the time taken to process claims.
The lump-sum component of retirement benefits has increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent, while the minimum monthly pension has risen from TSh100,000 to TSh150,000.
Other pensioners have received increases ranging between two and 20 per cent.
Overall benefit payments nearly doubled from TSh594.33 billion in 2020/21 to TSh1.16 trillion in 2025/26.
At the same time, the average time required to process and pay complete claims dropped sharply from 63 days in 2021 to 19 days by June 2026.
According to Mshomba, 99 per cent of benefit claims were paid within the statutory 60-day period.
Digitalisation has played an important role in those efficiency gains. The use of ICT systems in NSSF operations increased from 48 per cent in 2021 to 99 per cent, allowing employers and members to access a growing range of services without physically visiting NSSF offices.
The Fund has also continued to receive unqualified audit opinions from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG).
Its funding level – an important measure of a pension fund’s ability to meet its long-term obligations – improved from 87.7 per cent in June 2020 to 90.7 per cent in June 2023.
Stalled projects return to life
NSSF is also seeking to extract greater value from its substantial property and industrial investment portfolio.
Mshomba said several projects that had stalled, including the Dungu, Toangoma and Mtoni Kijichi housing developments and the Mzizima building, resumed implementation in 2023 following special audits.
The projects are expected to be completed between December 2026 and March 2027.
Progress has also been recorded at the Mkulazi sugar project, one of NSSF’s major industrial investments.
According to Mshomba, the factory has produced 45,594 tonnes of sugar for the domestic market and generated TSh107.90 billion in revenue. It recorded a profit of TSh4.56 billion during the 2025/26 financial year.
A bigger role under Dira 2050
The Eighth Strategic Plan places NSSF within Tanzania’s broader Vision 2050 development agenda, under which the country is seeking to accelerate economic transformation, strengthen human development and mobilise domestic resources for long-term investment.
For NSSF, the immediate numbers are substantial.
The Fund intends to grow from TSh11.41 trillion in June 2026 to TSh24.75 trillion by June 2031 – an increase of TSh13.34 trillion in five years – while registering another 5.8 million members.
Achieving those targets will require continued growth in contributions, stronger returns on investments, wider coverage of informal-sector workers and careful management of the Fund’s expanding portfolio. The results of the Seventh Strategic Plan give NSSF a considerably larger financial base from which to pursue those ambitions. The next five years will test whether that growth can be translated into a broader social security system and a larger pool of long-term capital capable of supporting Tanzania’s Dira 2050 ambitions.
