WE MUST USE OUR BEST BRICKS
In April Vera Mugittu went to Copenhagen as MS Tanzania's representative in order to discuss the affiliation process between Action Aid International and MS. In all of MS country programmes mutual visits have been carried out and reports have been made. In Denmark the issue has been discussed with the members of MS during April. MS board members have visited AAI in Nepal, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Brazil, England and the international secretariat in South Africa. The directors of MS' secretariat in Copenhagen have also visited different functions of the international secretariat. The final decision to be made by MS members at the annual general assembly in September is approaching. Read what Vera thinks, here.

CALENDAR

DW-Days and Topic Team Meetings in 2008
Week 23 - June 2-6, 2008
Week 39 - September 22-26, 2008
Week 49 - December 1-5, 2008

CONTACT
MS Tanzania
463 Charambe Street, Upanga
P.O.Box 2519, Dar es Salaam
Tanzania.
Tel: +255-22-2117945/8
Fax: +255-22-2115913
mstan@mstan.or.tz
www.ms.dk/tanzania

MS TANZANIA is part of the Danish Association for International Co-operation (MS). Our vision is a world in peace where co-operation between people promotes global equity and ensures improved conditions for poor and marginalized people.

MS Tanzania has been present in Tanzania since 1963, and since 1993 we have partnered with local civil society organisations (CSOs).

The main theme of MS Tanzania’s programme strategy is Building Local Democracy with two sub-themes on Land Rights and Youth.

MS Tanzania aims at defending and enhancing popular participation under the assumption that strengthening democracy at local level will help fight poverty.

CONTRIBUTIONS/
COMMENTS
For contributions to the newsletter or further information, please contact Pernille Baerendtsen at info@mstan.or.tz

You can subscribe to the newsletter here: www.ms.dk/tanzania. If you receive this newsletter by mistake or if you no longer want to receive it, you can unsubscribe here, too.

MS TOPIC TEAM AND DW WEEK
June 2, 9 AM: Joint Topic Team meeting.
The agenda will be:
1) Latest news on programme planning - the new formats and requirements.
2) Reporting back from the district mapping.
3) Conclusions and the way forward with planning for action for each district.
4) How do the findings of the district mapping support the Immediate Objectives in our CPS? Need for adjusting some of these?
5) The role of the new programme officer on project formulation and financing.
6) Coordination of TT activities and staffing of TT.
7) The up-coming BLD review - preparation, purpose and expected outcome AOB.
June 3: Separate Topic Team Meetings (each TT are to have received an agenda).
June 4: DW Day.

GLOBAL CONTACT:
I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING FOR OTHERS

You might already have spotted them, and maybe you have wondered who they are and why they have come to Tanzania to work for free? MS Tanzania receives more than 50 Danish volunteers every year. One of them is Jonas Tofte who worked for three months as a volunteer in a nursery school in Kwa Mattias. Read the article here.

MANAGING VOLUNTEERS – INTERVIEW WITH ADAM KAOMBWE
‘Working with the Danish volunteers is a lot of fun because, they have a different cultural background. We learn a lot from each other,’ says Adam Kaombwe who has been MS Tanzania’s Volunteer Co-ordinator since October 2006. In average eight volunteers arrive every second month, and it is Adam who is responsible for their placement and stay. Read what Adam has to say here.

MS PARTNERS:
YOUTH PARLIAMENT IN TANGA
MS Tanzania is supporting Tanga Youth Development Association (TAYODEA) in their efforts to involve youth in decision-making and local democracy. Read what two of the active members say here.

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND INDIGENEOUS PEOPLE’S WELFARE
Indigenous people are most affected by global climate change not only because they make their living directly from nature but also due to the fact that climate change adaptation requires economic and technical ability. Technology transfer, capacity building and monetary benefits
promised by the current climate change regime continue to be a day dream. Read the whole article here.

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. MS Tanzania’s Danish Communication Intern, Katja Rasmussen reports from a tour to Simanjiro and Kibaha Districts with Topic Team 1. Read more here.

THE TRC COALITION REPORTS ON PRESENT ACTIVITIES
Nalogwa Shani, Director of TRC, and Vagn Hansen, development worker with TRC, are reporting from a positiv flow of being in the middle of a process of lobbying seven districts in Tanzania on utilizing and supporting their teachers' resource centres. Read the whole article here.

THE MS TANZANIA PARTNER DATABASE
Thanks to our intern, Katja Rasmussen, the partner database has been up-dated. It does now include all of our newest partners and updated information about the older partners. Find the list here.

OTHER NEWS:
DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS SUPPORT TO CIVIL SOCIETY IN TANZANIA
A website has been created by a number of development partners (DPs) in Tanzania to share information on the flow of activities - and on their support to civil society. It contains a database on development partners’ support to civil society (both to service delivery as well as advocacy work), background information on this joint initiative, and details of the development partners contributing to the website. Find it here.

PEOPLE:

Lea Wermelin
In August MS Tanzania will welcome a new intern for six months, Lea Wermelin, who is about to finish her bachelors degree in Social Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She is already familiar with MS as she is cooperating with MS Denmark on her bachelor thesis, and is interested how MS Tanzania works with democracy building and land rights in practice.

Jesper Guhle Mogensen
Jesper has been working for MS since 2004, first as an IT adviser for DACAAR in Afghanistan, then as adviser for MS TCDC in Arusha, and for the last couple of years as roaming IT adviser for MS Tanzania. He ends his contract on the 30th of June. Jesper has bought a four wheel drive and by the beginning of July Jesper and his wife, Lidet, will begin their overland journey to Denmark.

Rune Elmgren Jakobsen
Rune has already left Tanzania and his job at the MS partner Naramatisho – for Denmark together with his wife Aimbora and their child Shana. Back in Denmark Rune is going to teach Political Science and Geography at Alleroed Gymnasium (high school) from August. Aimbora has got her residence permit and Shana her Danish passport - meaning Mambo ni POA KABISA!

Anders Peter Pedersen
Anders came to Tanzania in October 2006 as a Public Private Partnership Adviser for MVIWATA until August 2007. Subsequently, he has worked for three other MS partners. Anders will be leaving Tanzania by July 3, 2008, to take up a position as a specialist employed by the World Bank in the Forest Sector Development Project in central Vietnam. Anders' wife, Kusum, stays in Tanzania where she will be working for UNESCO in Dodoma.

Tina Hansen
Tina leaves Tanzania in the beginning of July for Denmark. Tina would like to thank her colleagues in Hakikazi Catalyst for creating a very nice and dynamic working environment. The team spirit in the organisation has made it a very pleasant and educative place to work, which she will miss back in Denmark.

Neema Kijazi
Neema will have her last day in the Country Office on Friday, May 30. We want to say farewell and thanks to her and you are therefore all invited to a small function in our meeting room at 3 PM on Friday.

CONTACTS ON MS TANZANIA STAFF
Contacts (e-mail and mobile) on all MS CO Staff and DWs are available here.