Tanzania is one of the poor countries that developed Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) towards the end of the 1990s under the aegis of the international financial institutions and support of development partners. One of the requirements was that the PRSP address the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and how to reduce it. This paper amplifies on this aspect and specifically the fact that comprehensive analyses of poverty for policy-making demand not only high quality data but also high capacity to make such analyses. The paper examines the level of poverty assessments available at the time of the preparation of Tanzania’s PRSP and implications for subsequent work. I