Newsletter for MS-Tanzania

May 2005

Editor: Information worker Tina Loevbom Petersen and Michael Bech
Editor-in-chief: Director Finn Petersen

Comes a time

When is the time for change? And who will be responsible for the change? You already know… YOU are responsible yourself! And the time for change is NOW.

But change is easier in some societies and nations than in others. In a well-structured old democracy with a free debate and an upbringing and education that dedicates to values of transparency and openness, change is always an opportunity.

In developing countries struggling with corruption, lack of democracy and with very little participation in debate from the general population, change is hard to lead through.

Today (3^rd May) is ‘world day for freedom of the press’. Since the introduction of multi-party democracy in Tanzania 10 years ago, the media has improved. Still there’s a long way to go and some papers are only voicing the ‘official’ opinion of the establishment, but Tanzanians are now aware that ‘the truth’ is not only a matter for the state to decide upon.

How do you react, when you experience really bad behaviour from an official or when the service in the shop is very sloppy? For people coming from a European culture it is common to raise your voice and complain on the spot. But for most Tanzanians showing emotions like that is an embarrassment. Tanzanians are polite people and they have been used to obeying to whatever the authorities are telling them. They are not used to stating their opinion.

Don’t wait for your neighbour to react against the injustice you experience, don’t wait for your government to change the law, don’t wait for your family to support you and don’t even wait for the wind to carry away the leaves in your backyard. Take action! Maybe even ‘Action with Attitude’ as the new MS-motto sounds.

You might not change the behaviour or the approach of the state, but you might get your voice heard so that a few politicians sense that change is needed. But start changing your own life, the structure in your family and be a part of changes for the better in your organisation. Introduce democracy, free speech and openness in a lower level - and make it happen. Small changes spread like rings in water and eventually your society is ready for a bigger change.

News from the director

MS General Assembly (AGM) in April agreed on a new more focused political ‘rolling’ Plan of Action for MS. Søren Hougaard was re-elected as Chairman and Pernille Neergaard was re-elected as vice-chair. Seeyn, a Balkan youth network got the MS award 2005, for there work towards re-conciliation between the different youth interest groups in the Balkan countries. You can read more about the AGM on www.ms.dk

In the end of May we will welcome the new administrator Ms. Birgitte Mygind in the Country Office. Birgitte has a master degree in political science and has worked in Asia , the Balkans and Uganda with project planning, monitoring and administration. Birgitte’s last position was as project manager in Montenegro in the former Yugoslavia for the Danish Refugee Council.

A fundraising training workshop for MS staff globally is this week taking place at TCDC. The country programmes has mainly send some of their programme staff to be trained in fundraising techniques seen from an MS in the south perspective. Program Officer Joan Lohay is participating from our office.

New logo and motto

Development is like rings in water. At least according to the new MS-logo that has finally been launched yesterday. ‘The drop that creates rings in the water’, the logo is called. The drop is MS and the impact of the good work done by MS is spreading like rings thus creating sustainability through the process.

You will already find the logo on the intranet, www.ms.dk and on envelopes, mails etc. originating from MS-DK.

On August 1^st the MS-programmes in the South will change the logo on their materials, too.

A new motto has also been introduced. ‘Action with Attitude’ will be the new MS-motto accompanying the logo.

See also story on the logo (in Danish) at http://www.ms.dk/

Habari za Tanzania on water

The next issue of Habari za Tanzania is right now being printed. The issue is looking into one of the problematic development goals set up by UN for 2015 - water. Tanzania has plenty of water, but the distribution is poor, so most women still have to walk long distances to fetch water. And in the dry season a lot of people and animals suffer because of lack of water. 14 million Tanzanians don’t have access to safe drinking water and every 15^th second a child dies somewhere in the world because of the lack of safe drinking water.

In some areas of Tanzania and East Africa tribes are fighting over the right to use the water and experts predict that the next big war in the world will be over water.

The issue will be on the way to you in mid May.

Pambazuka News

Pambazuka News was founded as a platform for social justice in Africa . 

Since its establishment in December 2000, the newsletter has sought to be a vehicle for commentary, debate and information for those committed to the cause of social justice in Africa . The newsletter is now 200 editions old.

Fahamu, the organisation that publishes Pambazuka News explains the background in an article:

Today, more than half of sub-Saharan Africa ’s 600 million people still live on less than 1 USD a day. Two hundred million go hungry every day. 

This year at least a million Africans, most of them young children, will die of malaria. More than 28 million Africans, many of them young children, are living with HIV/AIDS. Forty per cent of children never go to school in Africa – the only region in the world where the number of children out of school is rising. Malaria, HIV/AIDS and preventable maternal mortality are estimated to kill one million people per year (or 2,800 per day) in Africa . Add to these the numerous ongoing conflicts, each claiming hundreds of thousands of lives every year and there may be justification in characterising Africa as a wasteland of conflict, disease and poverty.

Africa continues to be portrayed as the object of pity, a ‘basket case’, a 'scar on the conscience of the world'. Charity, not justice, governance, not self-determination, appear to be the watchwords of the West. Although the Blair Commission on Africa report calls for 100% debt cancellation instead of debt relief, the fine print makes clear that such cancellation of debt remains, as ever, conditional. Africa  faces once again an externally driven agenda for social development that combines a narrowly defined programme of privatisation with a broadly defined program of globalisation – the recipe of structural adjustment programmes and poverty reduction strategy papers that have become so tediously familiar over the last two decades and which, many would claim, have exacerbated the destitution of the region.

But as Nelson Mandela so aptly put it at a public rally in Trafalgar Square , London , in February 2005: ‘Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural, it is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.’

And that encapsulates the basic premise upon which Pambazuka News was founded - to be a platform for social justice in Africa . Since its establishment in December 2000, Pambazuka News has sought to be a vehicle for commentary, debate and information for those committed to the cause of social justice in Africa .

Anyone can subscribe for free and receive updates, articles and commentary. Over the last four years, we have provided a regular stream of information for social justice organisations. The email newsletter now has a subscriber base that exceeds 15,000. Pambazuka News is widely forwarded and reposted, and it is estimated that the newsletter therefore reaches between 60-70,000 people on a weekly basis.

You can use the information from the newsletter to advocate, lobby, inform, educate, debate and change.

http://www.pambazuka.org/

 Old DW at new partner

DDW Henrik Zilstorff, who is ending his contract as capacity building advisor in WAMATA head office by the end of April 2005, will be placed with a MS pre-partner in Mkuranga District from 1^st of May. The pre-partner, Mapambano Centre for Child Rights Trust, is a new partner dealing with children’s rights advocacy and civic education issues. Henrik Zilstorff will be working on a six months contract advising the partner on various organisational development issues to build the capacity of the organisation.

Leaving Tanzania

The two information workers at MS-Tanzania are leaving Tanzania 13^th May. Tina Loevbom Petersen was the information worker with the Legal Human Rights Centre until 31^st December 2004 and has been attached to the country office since then.

Michael Bech has been the information worker at the country office since December 2002. The couple is bringing home to Denmark their two children Katharina and Nicholas for a new start on life. All four enriched with a different cultural approach to life and work.

A new information worker has unfortunately not been found in MS-DK yet. Sadly this might result in a few missing Newsletter, as the new person can not be in place before 1^st September. It might also harm the production of Habari za Tanzania , where the coming issues on Para-legalism and Elections are at risk.

Contact for the Newsletter: michael_bech@net.dialog.dk – mobile 0744 - 87 40 80