For Pendo Ndovie, a grant to hire a car was the means to exposing a scandal involving fake baby food in Tanzania. The young reporter's interest began when she heard stories that babies were becoming sick after eating certain baby foods. There were rumours that the national food safety authority was staying quiet despite knowing that young children fed the fake formula vomited and developed life-threatening stomach disorders.

Ndovie received a tip-off that government officials had access to test results showing that some of the baby formula on sale across Tanzania was "unfit for human consumption". But the recently qualified journalist, who was working as a freelance newspaper reporter, did not have the means to pursue the scandal.

"This story was to do with the lives of innocent children. But on my salary I couldn't have hired a car to go to the families affected or to travel to supermarkets to buy the fake baby formula to prove it was still on sale."

A small grant from the newly established Tanzania Media Fund, however, provided Ndovie with the means to develop the story and, while the authorities ignored her questions for over three months, she eventually accumulated sufficient evidence to publish a series of damning articles that ultimately led to the substandard product being banned from sale.

Ndovie is one of 60 journalists who have been funded by the Tanzania Media Fund in its first year of operation. The scheme was established with funding from six countries including Ireland to promote media independence and to improve the quality of journalism in Tanzania.

The east African country is one of the poorest in the world – ranked 159th out of the 177 countries on the UN human development league table. Irish Aid has been funding development programmes in Tanzania since 1975, and last year the overseas development agency decided to support the media initiative.

Despite having almost 600 registered newspapers and 60 broadcast companies, Ernest Sungura – the media fund's deputy director – says there are "concerns about the quality of journalist" in Tanzania. Sungura worked for five years as a full-time journalist before moving into education and training. He ran his own media school in Dar es Salaam before joining the media fund.

"Many people are employed in the media in Tanzania without any skills, so standards are low with problems about accuracy and balance. And even when reputable journalists want to cover stories, they often don't have the money to chase up leads," he says.

With a budget of $2 million each year until 2012, the fund is aimed at addressing some of these problems. Grants are available to journalists and media outlets to research and publish stories with an investigative or public interest theme. The most popular topics funded so far relate to health, agriculture and the environment.

"The issues we've funded have raised debate. There is plenty of evidence of impact," Sungura claims.

Veteran journalist Ndimara Tegambwage was asked to be a mentor to a TMF-funded reporter who worked on an exposé of intimidation of teachers whose students had not done well in their final exams.

"I didn't help in writing the story but I suggested improvements and helped sharpen the skills of being a good journalist," he says.

Tegambwage knows the dangers of investigative journalism in Tanzania. Two years ago, while working in the newsroom of the weekly MwanaHalisi where he is a consulting editor, he was attacked by a group of men with machetes. The attackers had taken exception to reports published by the newspaper. Tegambwage fought off one of the men but needed 15 stitches to his head; a colleague sustained eye injuries when another attacker threw acid into his face.

"In Tanzania, to be a journalist you need the spirit of a lion," Tegambwage says. "You have to be daring because if you are not you will publish nothing of note."

This type of intimidation is not unique. Mbaraka Islam, who works the political beat for several independent publications in Dar es Salaam, has been the victim of a car-jacking and the recipient of anonymous letters and text messages. "The threat is there most of the time," he says.

Intimidation is not the only problem facing reporters: bribery is another. "Journalists are badly paid so problems arise when someone comes along with a huge amount of money and says, 'take this and don't publish'," Tegambwage says.

Having qualified from journalism school in 2005, Pendo Ndovie is from a younger generation than Tegambwage but she too has seen evidence of a culture of bribery even within the media. "There are situations where very good journalists are told by their boss: 'I want to have sex with you and, if not, then you're fired'."

Ndovie also sees the danger of politicians paying reporters to keep stories out of the public domain. "The issue of bribery is very real but if journalists are paid well and have resources I think they will not take those offers," she says optimistically.

Islam is less hopeful. "Politicians are very smart. They work all the newspapers and some are prepared to offer journalists money."

One of the objectives of the Tanzania Media Fund is to encourage independent journalism to root out corruption in all areas of public life, including the media itself.

"Access to quality information empowers people to exercise their civic rights and duties. It serves local communities, helps combat corruption, and acts as a catalyst for debate and protest – all elements that are vital for development in a democratic society," said Adrian Schlaepfer, the Swiss ambassador, when the fund was launched last year.

In the offices of the TMF, staff are sifting through the second round of applications for grants. "We can change a mindset with the money in this fund," Sungura says.

Kevin Rafter received support from the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund for this article

Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the largest countries in east Africa and is over ten times the size of Ireland. Its population is over 38 million but life expectancy is just 51 years. Over half the population live below the international 'dollar a day' poverty line. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1961, Tanzania has experienced stability and peace. Irish Aid spent approximately €40 million there last year.