Newsletter for MS-Tanzania June 2007

For MS Partners and development workers in Tanzania

Deputy-Editor: Jesper Guhle Mogensen, ICT Adviser
Deputy-Editor-in-Chief: Mikkel Hauschildt, Administrator

Dear Reader
Since we sent out our last newsletter in June, MS Tanzania has worked further on developing a more user friendly and interesting newsletter concept. The new system is an html-formatted email sent out to subscribers. It is possible to subscribe from the frontpage of our website, www.ms.dk/tanzania. If you receive this newsletter by mistake or if you want to cancel your subscription, you can do it on the unsubscription page of the MS Tanzania website.

We hope that you will enjoy the new newsletter format - as well as the content - and we will welcome any kind of feedback about the newsletter. Please address it to info@mstan.or.tz.

Letter From the Director
The formulation of a new Country Program Strategy for MS Tanzania is about to be concluded. An appraisal took place in mid August and I want to share in particular two findings of the appraisal mission with you.

The Appraisal Mission noted that almost all partner organizations visited are relatively small and rather weak – both institutionally and financially. That is nothing new to those of us working in the CSO environment in Tanzania, but it never the less always seems to surprise most visiting teams. We know that most CSOs a relatively young and have not yet established strong foundations and presence. The team further noted that few CSO seem to have long term strategies – they are merely striving to survive from one year to the next!

The weakness of CSOs was found to be a major factor in the poor demand side reception of the Local Government Reform Program (LGRP).  This program has been heavily pushed from the supply side – from government side from own and with donor resources. But there clearly is a great need for CSOs to become much more engaged in utilizing the opportunities and the democratic space in this reform program. Only few CSOs seem to have developed programs in response to the LGRP and only few seem even to have good knowledge of the opportunities in the program.

This finding is closely linked to the second one: that the level of cooperation between CSOs is extremely low.  One way of overcoming institutional and financial weaknesses is to work together but that was found to be almost non-existing. Not only among local CSOs but also among International NGOs in Tanzania!  In many other countries the response to a major reform packages like the LGRP would have been the creation of CSO consortiums at district level in particular to tap into the opportunities. But not in Tanzania! Here it seems to be a ‘ dogs fight’ about resources and favors with local authorities.  And where networks have been created for the purpose of harmonizing and capacitating local CSOs – the same networks tend to quickly turn into new NGOs now competing for resources with the founding members! At national level TANGO is a good point in case!

Yet there are numerous win-win situations in working together. It can help CSOs to stay focused and hence develop real competence within a specific area of competence. Too many are the examples of CSOs in Tanzania with a very wide portfolio of activities – activities that are poorly founded in the core competence of the organizations and hence will disappear together with the end of funding for any particular activity!

MS Tanzania has for the last two years been focusing on the importance of networking and we will renew our effort to facilitate closer collaboration between CSOs in Tanzania. In particular in relation to the LGRP we will seek closer collaboration with other International NGOs in preparation for a much stronger CSO participation in the next phase of the LGRP support projects – which no doubt will follow the present project. The LGRP is by MS Tanzania considered to be key to the continued democratic and economic development of Tanzania and CSOs have a very strong obligation to ensure success of this reform program. The program cannot be carried out only from the supply side and CSOs have a unique opportunity to play a key role in strengthening the demand side.

Topic Team update
Topic Team 1:
A QMC/ Code of Conduct Training were offered to UVIMTA board members in July. It was followed by the Teams participation in and support to the Strategic planning exercise for TMWDO. The workshop was carried out in Arusha, in July.

In August the Team held training on financial management and QMC for MVIWATA and Morogoro Paralegal. Unfortunately the MVIWATA participants did not show up. The Team, after a discussion with the partner, promised to hold another session.

A similar session was held in Kibaha. This brought together participants from TYC, VVT, TAWLAE, ACT, Mapambano Center for Children rights.

The team has successfully organized training on Results Based Management for participants from ten partner organizations. The organizations represented were TAPHGO, Kinnapa, ACT, VVT, UVUKI, JEBA, Naramatisho, MPL, YPC, and TYC.

Topic Team 2:
In June and July, Topic Team 2 conducted a mapping out exercise with the intention of identifying opportunities for MS partners to engage in public private partnership set-ups. Members of the team visited Jeba, Naramatisho, Vijana Vision Tanzania, TAPGHO, Hakikazi, Cords, Mviwata branch in Makambako and Mbeya, UVIMTA and the ICP project in Mbeya.

The team paid much attention on collaborations that involve local government authorities. The team received great cooperation from the partners and expects to produce the report of the mapping out soon.

MTV Programme
1st of September, 2007, MS Tanzania will receive 12 Danish volunteers. Six of the volunteers have participated in the Global Platform on Zanzibar for one month just before arrival, and six are coming straight from Denmark. The volunteers will be working in schools and youth organization for three months.

The volunteers will participate in a one week orientation course where they will be introduced to Tanzanian culture, behavior, dress code, security and gender relations. During that first week they'll also meet the organizations/schools and the families that will host them.

Partner websites
The ACT website, www.actanzania.org, is now finished and ACT has taken over the management of the site. TAPHGOs new website, www.taphgo.kabissa.org, is in the final stage, but needs some adjustment before it can replace TAPHGOs current website, www.taphgo.org. TMWDO, CORDS and TRC Coalition are all in the process of getting a website, and Hakikazi and Envirocare are in the very initial stage of creating and structuring content and making arrangement with their webhost. All websites use the Joomla CMS, and the involved organisations - along with UVUKI - are invited for a web management course in October.

The course will take place from the 10th to the 12th of October at MS TCDC outside Arusha, and the trainer will be IT Adviser Jesper Guhle Mogensen.

New faces

New information DW
MS Tanzania has been without an information officer for a while now, but from the 1st of September Pernille Baerendtsen will fill out the position. Pernille has worked for MS for many years - first as a volunteer engaged in peace building and intercultural exchange in ex-Yugoslavia, then as an organisational consultant responsible for mobilising of volunteers, campaigning and organisational issues for MS Denmark, and since June 2005 she has been working as an Information Advisor & Organisational Capacity Building Facilitator in northern Uganda and Southern Sudan for MS Uganda.

New IT Trainee
Since 1st of August Sebastian Marondo has worked in MS Tanzania as a trainee in the IT department. Sebastian is newly graduated from Institute of Finance Management with an advanced diploma in Computer Science. Sebastian has shown great skills and dedication right from the first day, and we are very happy to have him here. The MS Tanzania trainee programme lasts for six months, and then a new trainee will take over.

New Intern
From 1st of September Maria Wiese will be the new intern at MS Tanzania Country Office. Maria will work with Andrew Mhina from Topic Team 2 on Public-Private-Partnerships. In particular with the partner organization UVUKI. Furthermore, she will work with documentation of the different partner organizations in the topic team. The internship is part of Maria's Master degree at Copenhagen Business School - cand.merc. int in Business & Development Studies focusing on developing countries and emerging markets.

We would like to welcome all three of you here in MS Tanzania. We are looking forward to working with you. Karibuni sana.

Vacancies
There are currently two vacancies at the MS Tanzania Country Office:

Program Accountant

Administrator

Please visit the MS Tanzania website for more information.

Contributions/comments
For contributions to the newsletter or further information, please contact info@mstan.or.tz

MS Tanzania
463 Charambe Street, Upanga
P.O.Box 2519, Dar es Salaam
Arusha, Tanzania.

Tel:+255-22-2117945/8
Fax: +255-22-2115913

mstan@mstan.or.tz
www.ms.dk/tanzania