Privatization is a process, set of policies, project, or ideology where ownership, management, and/or provisioning of resources, goods, or services are transferred from the state (the public sphere) or communities to domestic or foreign individuals or companies (the private sphere).

In Tanzania, along with many countries in the Developing World, privatization occurred in the late 1980s, in exchange for development loans. The terms for this exchange, or conditional loan, were set by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and are widely known as "structural adjustment."  

Two examples of the negative impact this had on Tanzania can be seen in terms of health care and labor relations. In terms of health care, the policy to shift public control over health facilities, led to fewer clinics in the areas where the need was the greatest. This, in turn, affected access to health by creating more unequal and inequitable coverage. In the case of agriculture and sugar plantations, parastatal investments where sold off to private and mostly foreign owners who eliminated costs by cutting back on labor, creating a surge in unemployment and new informal economies (including sex markets).