Mapping - MS Tanzania on the road

During March and April the three Topic Teams from MS Tanzania went on the road. The mission was to find potential new partners.

On the road - during the rain season.

In the beginning of 2008 MS Tanzania launched a new Country Programme Strategy (CPS), which introduced the three topics Building Local Democracy, Lands Rights and Youth for Development.

Maselle Maziku, programme officer for Topic Team I clarifies, ‘The CPS dictates several objectives which we are expected to work with over the next four years. But our current partner portfolio is not equipped sufficiently to live up to the CPS. In order to reach our objectives, we need more partners’.

The seven districts, Njombe, Mbeya, Kibaha, Kisarawa, Kiteto, Simanjiro and Kilindi, were chosen as focus areas. ‘The mapping exercise will help us to increase the number of partners working on our three chosen themes in those seven districts so that we will be able to reach our objectives’, Maselle continues.

The seven districts were divided among the three topic teams, which then were responsible for mapping potential partners in their respective districts. This task was handled in different ways. In some of the districts the topic teams contacted the district headquarters to enquire for lists of NGOs in their area; some contacted network organisations in the districts; while in other districts they relied on current partners for information.

In Kibaha, Mr. Israel Ilunde, member of Topic Team I, was already familiar with the district’s many NGOs and CSOs through his work in Youth Partnership Countrywide (YPC) which is based in Kibaha, and a partner with MS. Here, he had arranged for the Topic Team to meet 27 organisations at once.

Maselle Maziku explains; ‘In Kibaha we had the chance to meet a lot of organisations, and after they had introduced themselves and their work, I and the other Topic Team members sat down and tried to screen them. We ended up selecting seven organisations which we then visited for further discussions to get a more thorough understanding of what they do.’

'Come on, how long are we gonna wait for you to take that photo?!!'

But what is it they are looking for in a potential partner? ‘The first thing I look for is the organisation’s purpose’, says Maselle Maziku. ‘I try to find out what they are working towards, what their mission and vision is. That way, I will be able to see whether or not it fits with what MS Tanzania is working towards’.

But other than its basic compatibility, MS Tanzania also looks at how the organisation functions. Maselle Maziku explains; ‘When I talk to an organisation, I try to learn as much as I can about the organisational structures. Who are the members, how is the organisation run, how much influence do the members have?’  Furthermore, he looks for integral systems for managing staff, finances and guiding conduct. 

This approach to finding new partners is different from usual. Maselle Maziku explains that normally when MS Tanzania enters a new partnership it because the organisation has heard about MS and put up a proposal. ‘But this time, we are the ones who actively pursue them’.

The mapping results will be collected in a report where the links between the organisations and the CPS, the potential of the organisations and their personal reflections will be presented. Hereafter, the MS Tanzania Programme Section will assess which organisations to approach and decide where to go from there.