The Unit is located in Mwanza, the capital city of Mwanza region, on the southern shores of Lake Victoria in North Western (NW) Tanzania. With a population of over 900,000, Mwanza is the second largest urban settlement in Tanzania after the city of Dar es Salaam, and a major business centre for regions around Lake Victoria and neighbouring countries of Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. The city is surrounded by rocky hills dotted with massive granite boulders.
The primary traditional economic activity in Mwanza region is agriculture, with farmers growing a range of food crops and cotton for export markets. Other activities which have created new opportunities for social economic development in the region include fishing and industrial processing of fish for export markets, and large-scale gold and diamond mining activities in neighbouring regions. Mwanza is also experiencing major infrastructural development, with new highways opening to connect NW Tanzania to the city of Dar es Salaam and other parts of Tanzania, as well as other major cities in neighbouring East African countries.
