Democracy in practice

Partnerships between civil society organisations (CSOs) and local authorities are the way forward for rural development. The policies – and partly the money – are in place. But Tanzanians, not least people in rural areas, are poorly equipped to utilise their opportunities when it comes to decisions on the development of their local communities.

A woman collecting wood in Kilindi District.

By Merete Holm, Development Worker

MS Tanzania’s Country Programme Strategy (CPS) is designed specifically to pave the way for civil society organisations’ increased involvement in local planning and management, where the Local Government Reform Programme (LGRP) has opened for far more popular participation than before. The block grant system, where money is not earmarked as before, puts pressure on local government authorities to deliver the services demanded.

MS Tanzania can assist CSOs in playing an important role in facilitating citizens’ awareness of their rights to have a say. Empowering people politically enhances their opportunities of gaining economic strength.

In other words, the strategy is to equip MS partners to capacitate local CSOs to collaborate with local governments on development projects; support citizens’ participation in decision-making bodies (such as village assemblies); and develop and implement poverty reduction services and projects.

Special target groups for the strategy are disadvantaged women and youth – MS will, together with partner organisations and local government authorities, develop projects specifically targeting these groups.

On the same track
This approach is not a u-turn. On the contrary, MS Tanzania has been on this track since 2005 where it refocused its policies and strategies to facilitate rural development through popular participation – especially within the local government set-up.

The LGRP provides a lot of space for civil society to influence decisions and work together with local authorities. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach – where civil society is equipped with tools and knowledge to collaborate with local government authorities in policy, planning, implementation and monitoring – has been well received, also by the local authorities since their capacity to do the work alone is poor.

Land Rights and Youth
Apart from the overall Building Local Democracy theme, MS Tanzania has chosen to work on securing Land Rights for poor and marginalised small-scale farmers and pastoralists in a number of districts – with a special focus on women’s access to land. Insecure land rights and insecure access to forest resources both lead to poverty and a lack of investment in development.

Finally, MS Tanzania has chosen Youth For Development as a third theme in the programme strategy. The youth in Tanzania make up an increasing proportion of the population with poor prospects for the future. The strategy is partly to support youth organisations in gaining political empowerment and to influence the local policies on development through youth forums, partly to support the groups in their creation of income-generating opportunities.

Global focus on democracy
MS Tanzania’s CPS is a result of MS’ choice to focus globally in all its country programmes on the theme Democracy as a strategic means to fight poverty. Building Local Democracy is thus a key element in all country programmes. Previously, the MS country programmes used to decide their focus more independently, but a set of changes in the conditions which MS previously worked under has made it necessary for MS to reorganise and sharpen its profile.

Focus on seven districts
MS Tanzania’s CPS will target its work in seven districts: Njombe, Mbeya Rural, Kibaha, Kisarawa, Kiteto, Simanjaro and Kilindi. MS Tanzania is already cooperating with partners in some of these districts, but will seek additional partners. The districts are all rural districts and represent a variation of social and geographical conditions. The change of districts means that some of the current MS partners will be phased out. This will, however, happen in a negotiated and well-planned way and with fulfillment of the on-going partnership agreements, Director Flemming Olsen has emphasised. Cooperation with organisations which work on a national level or which have partnered with MS for strategic reasons will not be limited by the district approach.

Building Local Democracy according to MS Tanzania’s CPS
Under the Building Local Democracy theme the focus will be on strengthening citizens’ participation in Village Assemblies – the lowest level of Local Government under the on-going Local Government Reform Programme initiated in 1998. The programme will further focus on strengthening the Ward Development Committees, another very important institution in the Local Government set-up. Through strengthening citizens’ participation and monitoring of local government activities, both output and efficiency of Local Government is expected to increase – and thereby the capacity to fight poverty.