for Civil Society for Civil Society - The Foundation for Civil Society

ISSN 1821-5335 1821- 5335 Issue No. 8 A Newsletter of of The The Foundation for for Civil Civil Society Society January - March 2008 

The th Anniversary 

Issue No. 5 April - June 2007 

The Foundation 

for Civil Civil Society 

Society 

becomes of age 

| www.thefoundation-tz.org |

Cover creative 

“The Foundation News” is a newsletter 

issued by The Foundation for Civil Society 

to inform the public about its activities 

and the civil society sector in Tanzania. 

Publisher 

The Foundation for Civil Society 

Editor 

Joseph Mzinga 

Editorial Committee 

Neema Yobu 

Fridah Mwakasyuka 

Deogratius Mlay 

Peter Sitta 

Jwani Tranquilino Jube 

Editorial Consultants 

Holidah Muthoni 

Abdul Njaidi 

th 

Anniversary 

The Foundation celebrates fith birthday 2003 - 2008 

Proof Reading 

Raphael Haule 

Pamela Kweka 

Design & Layout 

Aanu O. Stephen 

aanupixel@yahoo.com 

Photographer 

Leah wa Samike 

samikeleah25@yahoo.com 

Contacts 

The Foundation for Civil Society 

Haidery Plaza, Fifth Floor, 

Upanga/Kisutu Street 

P. O. Box 7192, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

Tel: +255 22 2138530/1/2 

Fax: +255 22 2138533 

Email: information@thefoundation-tz.org 

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by indivudual contributors 

do not necessarilly represent those of the Foundation 

for Civil Society or her Development Partners. The 

Publisher scrutinises the contributions for accuracy, and 

accepts no liability for errors made in good faith. 

| www.thefoundation.tz.org | 

From the Director’s Desk 

As we begin the year 2008 at The Foundation 

for Civil Society, we are happy 

to celebrate our fifth anniversary. This 

is an appropriate moment to reflect about our 

journey that officially started in January 2003. 

It is also a good opportunity for us to analyse, 

plan, make decisions and act in order to move 

to the next level of growth. 

We feel gratified that in the last five years 

The Foundation has utilised every moment 

to learn and position itself as a trendsetter in 

maintaining good image and provision of high 

quality services. The culture of learning which 

is entrenched in the life of our organisation has 

remained our biggest asset. 

Apart from learning, good image and offering 

best services, our other secret weapons for 

success have been trust and high integrity. I 

am sure and confident that we will carry on 

those traits forward. 

Since January 2003 to December 2007, we 

have supported more than 900 CSO allover 

Tanzania through grants provision and various 

capacity development initiatives. 

Over 1000 projects supported in grants over 

the last five year which has translated to about 

Tsh 20 billion worth of commitments we have 

made, out of which over Tsh 14 billion has already 

been paid out. Projects that we have supported 

have empowered the marginalized and 

vulnerable members of the society by making 

them understand their rights, participate and 

monitor various development processes and 

hold the government and private sector to account 

on matters regarding development. 

Many lives of the poor and marginalized 

Tanzanians; children, women, widows, poor 

men, as well as the youth in both rural and 

urban areas have been transformed through 

our support to civil society organizations. As 

one woman, Zubeda Juma ofTuriani Morogoro 

puts “I was helped by an NGO -Morogoro 

Paralegal - to reclaim my matrimonial properties 

in which the court served me with summons 

that were in English language which I 

did not understand”. Morogoro Paralegal is 

one of the grantees of the Foundation working 

in Mvomero District in Morogoro. Their focus 

is on the marriage act and rights provided 

under that act with regard to matrimonial 

property and ownership as well as Village 

Land Act 1999. 

With the efforts of the Foundation and many 

other actors, today, civil society sector is 

emerging as an important force in developmental 

processes in our country. 

The Foundation and, of course, the Civil 

Society Sector in Tanzania would not have 

been where we are today if it was without the 

support of all development partners who put 

The Foundation Newsletter 

their hearts, minds, funds into the creation of 

the Foundation and the development of the 

sector in general. And it is for that reason, 

I would like to convey my sincere gratitude 

to all development partners that have supported 

the Foundation throughout the five year 

period. These include the UK Department 

for International Development (DFID), the 

Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, the 

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation 

(SDC), the Irish Aid, the Royal Norwegian 

Embassy, the Embassy of Denmark, the Canadian 

International Development Agency 

(CIDA) and the Embassy of Sweden. To all of 

you I say, Asante Sana! 

Looking ahead, we see a lot more potentials 

and opportunities lying ahead for the Foundation 

and the Civil Society Sector in general. 

The Foundation is stronger now than ever 

before. This means we will be able to serve 

the civil society sector better so as to ensure 

that the sector plays its role in sensitizing the 

citizenry of their rights and obligations. We 

expect the sector to act more on issues of 

resource allocation at all levels so as to enhance 

equitable, transparent and responsible 

utilisation of resources while also providing 

communal services and advocating for policy 

and practices change. 

As we move on to the next 12 month, 52 

weeks and 365 days and beyond, we would 

like to assure the civil society sector that our 

resolve is firm, our vision for the future is clear 

and we are moving in the right direction. We 

promise to work harder and smarter to ensure 

our own sustainability and the stability that 

most CSOs want to be assured of in their long 

journey to become vibrant, creative, dynamic 

and effective organisations. 

With the support of all civil society stakeholders 

and development partners, we are sure of 

translating this vision into reality. 

John Ulanga 

Executive Director 

The Foundation for Civil Society

Editorial 

Once upon a time, three friends Mr Lion, 

Mr. Fox and Mr Hyena went hunting for 

rabbits. By the end of the day, they had 

a large pile of rabbits to split up. The lion 

said to Mr. Hyena, “Divide the spoils using 

a formula that you think is fair.” 

Mr. Hyena divided the rabbits into three 

equal piles. He said to his two friends, 

“Here we are. One pile for each one of us. 

How is that?” 

Mr. Lion immediately sprang at the hyena 

and killed him. Then he threw all the rabbits 

into one big pile, and then turned to 

Mr. Fox. 

“Mr. Fox, why don’t you divide the spoils 

between the two of us in a fair manner?” 

Mr. Fox walked over a pile of rabbits, took 

Contents 

3 

2 Letters to the Editor 

3 The Foundation becomes of age 

6 Reflecting the past looking into the future 

8 Glance at FCS in 2007 

12 1210 

NGOs code of conduct finally ready 

12 Tanzania CSO Excellence Award 2008 in the pipeline 

14 

20 

13 Call for formation of CSO Parliament: is NACONGO failing? 

14 Zanzibar Minister promises NGO Policy 

15 Civil Society Exhibition at the House of Representatives to be held in April 2008 

16 ‘CSOs have a role to play in local governance’ - Ulanga 

17 Tanzanian CSOs discusses SADC poverty initiatives 

18 Revisiting Public Dialogue in Pwani Region in 2006 

20 Why too many projects but handful results? 

22 CSOs still have limited creativity in project write-up 

23 Want to buy a computer, some important tips... 

24 Why capacity self assessment for grant seekers? 

26 Lack of qualified human resources dogs civil society sector 

27 Tanzania CSO Directory 2008/9 

29 EAC CSOs’ Forum: an idea whose time is now 

30 John Ulanga at FCS: His life and work, 

CSOs should avoid “business as 

usual” and embrace learning 

the smallest one for himself, and left the 

rest in a big pile. 

“This one rabbit is for me, Mr Lion, and that 

big pile is for you,” said the fox. At that 

point the lion said, “Where did you learn 

to divide so evenly, Mr. Fox?” 

Do you know what Mr. Fox said? “The 

hyena taught me.” 

The analogue of narrative from the 

management Bible, Southern African 

Edition (Neil Flanagan & Jarvis Finger) is 

learning. Smart people and organisations 

learn not only from their own mistakes but 

from those of others. By so doing they gain 

valuable knowledge. What about the CSOs 

spread all over Tanzania? Are our projects 

changing lives of people? Are we learning 

from each other along the way?” 

mzinga@thefoundation-tz.org 

| Contents/Editorial | 

Joseph Mzinga - Editor 

The Foundation Newsletter | www.thefoundation.tz.org | 

| 1 |

| Letters to the Editor | 

Birthday wishes to FCS; is five years of 

wonderful service to CSOs 

I would like to offer my congratulations to the 

Executive Director and the employees of the 

Foundation for civil society, for hitting five good 

years, serving the Tanzanian civil society. 

For sure, your esteemed institution has done 

great things in as far as developing CSOs 

is concerned in Tanzania Mainland and 

Zanzibar. Members of the civil society have 

greatly benefited from the capacity building 

initiatives. 

Application forms for grants are simple to 

understand, and for successful applicants before 

they get the grants, they are capacitated with 

appropriate training. 

Also the meetings where CSOs stakeholders 

have dialogue with members of parliament, is 

also another issue, we are happyThe Foundation 

has introduced. 

As the institution celebrates fifth anniversary, 

it’s good for it to continue enabling CSOs 

stakeholders with the ability to interpret 

different national policies and be able to discuss 

issues on community development for poverty 

alleviation. 

On behalf of members and leaders of COWPZ, 

we sincerely offer our congratulations to all 

those who have made The Foundation for Civil 

Society to fulfil its responsibilities so effectively 

for the last five years. 

Happy birthday, The Foundation 

Asha Aboud Secretary –COWPZ, Zanzibar 

E-Mail: catalyst_91@hotmail.com 

Congratulations you have demonstrated 

that anything is possible under the sun 

A mani the Foundation of Life congratulates 

FCS for excellent publications, which we have 

received. We are very delighted!! 

Also AFL takes this opportunity to congratulate 

you for enabling us to participate in the CSO 

Annual Forum and Exhibitions in Dodoma and 

Arusha in 2007. 

We are very pleased with your excellent 

performance, which is very nationalistic and 

recognizes the needs of Tanzanians, and also 

your support in poverty reduction initiatives 

through civil society organizations (CSOs). 

| 2 | 


FCS has shown us how organizations can work 

together and has encouraged us and opened our 

minds to see new possibilities and to understand 

that anything is possible under the sun. 

Our sincere congratulations are for facilitating 

CSOs meeting with Members of Parliament, 

which allowed us to get the rare chance to sit 

and exchange views and ideas with the MPs. 

But also in Arusha we were able to meet with 

other CSO representatives from other East Africa 

Community member countries who participated 

in the Forum; this gave us a chance to see what 

others are doing in bringing about economical 

development changes. 

You deserve congratulations and support in your 

excellent objectives. 

Philemon Mwanansasu 

Secretary, Amani Foundation of Life 

Telephone +255755 812103 

Address ‘weaknesses’ for brighter future 

Let me take this opportunity to give The 

Foundation a pat on the back for reaching 

five years of empowering the civil society 

organisations and helping in the growth of the 

non-governmental sector in the country. 

Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) has 

participated in various events organised or 

coordinated by The Foundation. To a great 

extent, the organisation (FCS) has done 

commendably well. However, I think there are 

some disappointments that I would like to share, 

as learning to both FCS and other stakeholders, 

for better civil society sector future. 

LHRC has at 4 different occasions applied for 

grants without any success. It is a bit difficult 

to belief we did not fill the application forms 

accordingly during the four times. 

We took part in CSOs Forum and Exhibition in 

Dodoma, Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. At one 

time, in an exhibition held at parliamentary 

grounds in Dodoma (in 2006), LHRC 

Asha 

was 

recognised to be among the best stall. We were 

promised an award. Two years down the line, no 

prize has been forthcoming. 

The Foundation has been doing a good job 

– publishing various important publications. 

The biggest challenge is ensuring the published 

materials reach the targeted members of 

community on time. 

I would like to encourage, The Foundation, 

to continue working with greater expertise in 

the future. I believe, the organisation will live 

for many years, more than the five years that 

are over. 

Rodrick Maro, Legal and Human Rights 

Centre - LHRC, Dare s salaam 

Dear Maro, 

We appreciate very much for your comments. 

They are invaluable. On the promise made on 

the best stall back in 2006, we will liaise with 

our partner, SUNY, whom we jointly organised 

the exhibition in 2006, to see what went wrong. 

Editor 


The Found Foun Found Foun 

becomes 

High Integrity, quality service ser 

Abdul Njaidi 

After putting up 

strong initial brass 

tacks within The 

Foundation for Civil 

Society (FCS) in 

the last five years, 

the institution will 

now focus on en- 

anjaidi@yahoo.com suring CSOs are 

able to realize their 

goals and the larger members of the community 

become aware of the significance 

of the civil society sector in development 

processes. Writes Abdul Njaidi 

The disclosure was made by FCS Executive 

Director, Mr. John Ulanga at his Dar es Salaam 

office recently in an interview to commemorate 

his institution’s fifth anniversary. The 

Foundation for Civil Society commenced its 

operations in January 1st, 2003. 

“After five years of building strong foundations,

undation 

es of age 

ity service provision main benchmarks 

we will now focus our attention more on 

strengthening Civil Society Sector to enable 

organisations reach their goals. We will also 

put a lot of efforts to ensure the recognition 

of the sector by the public, we want more 

citizenry to know the significance of the civil 

society sector,” he said. 

In the last five years,The Foundation has been 

concentrating on building its capacity, he said 

alluding that the institution had grown up and 

is ready to face challenges facing the civil 

society sector. 

“We have now grown up...we are ready to 

move to a higher ladder the cooperation with 

other stakeholders... concerned Ministry (Ministry 

of Community Development, Gender 

and Children), Tanzania NGO Council (NA- 

CONGO), NGO-RC of Zanzibar and CSOs 

networks this will ensure the continuation of 

dialogues on how to enhance civil society 

sector and other different discourses in developed,” 

said Mr. Ulanga. 

Speaking about the accountability and good 

governance in CS sector, he said NGO Council 

was in the final stages of providing a code 

of ethics for NGOs, which would be legally 

“The Foundation has 

been in the frontline 

to ensure a code of 

conduct is introduced 

for CSOs. It would go 

a long way to enhance 

the status of the civil 

society sector. That is 

why, The Foundation 

has been providing 

financial support to 

NGO Council, to help 

it in the processes of 

coming up with the 

document,” Mr. Ulanga 

| Cover Story| 

Marching towards the opening opening of the firth CSO Annual 

Forum in Arusha in 2007, from left: AICC Boss Elishilia 

Kaaya, The Minister for East East African Cooperation, Hon. 

Dr. Deodorus Kamala, FCS President Alais Morindat, 

FCS Board Chair Dr. Stigmata Tenga, FCS Board, 

Member Gertrude Mugizi and FCS Executive Director, 

John Ulanga 

bidding and thus will have to be respected 

by all organisations working as NGOs in the 

country. 

To make the adoption of a code of conduct 

possible, FCS has been working with various 

stakeholders including NACONGO. 

“The Foundation has been in the frontline to 

ensure a code of conduct is introduced for 

CSOs. It would go a long way to enhance the 

status of the civil society sector. That is why, 

The Foundation has been providing financial 

support to NGO Council, to help it in the 

processes of coming up with the document,” 

Mr. Ulanga said. 

The first meeting to discuss the code of ethics 

and the Tanzania CSO Excellence Award 

scheme was called on 28th September 2007 

in which some umbrella organisations and 

governmental institutions were represented. 

These organisations and institutions were; 

NGOs Coordination Department in the Ministry 

of Community Development, Gender 


| 3 | 

th Anniversary

and Children - MCDGC, National Council of 

NGOs (NACONGO), TANGO, TACOSODE, 

ANGOZA, Policy Forum, Pact Tanzania, and 

NGO RC. 

How has The Foundation made it this far? Mr. 

Ulanga attributed the successes registered not 

only to the handwork by the staff at the institution, 

their sense of direction and ownership, 

but also the commitment of various stakeholders 

ranging from development partners to 

NGO Council. 

He said the future of FCS was bright as key 

Development Partners (DP) have assured the 

institution of continued support in the next 

five years. This will enable FCS to continue 

the good work of developing CSOs in the 

country, he said. 

“I really thank our development partners for 

trusting us and continuing to give us funds. At 

the beginning we had only three development 

partners but now they are nine... all of them 

have indicated they will continue offering us 

support for the next five years,” Mr. Ulanga 

said. 

DP of the Foundation are;The UK Department 

for International Development – DFID, Swiss 

Development Corporation - SDC, Embassy 

of Denmark, Irish Aid, Embassy of Norway, 

Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of the Netherlands; 

Danish International Development 

Agency - DANIDA, Canadian International 

Development Agency – CIDA. 

To beef up the institution financial base, he 

said plans are underway to ensure The Foundation’s 

has various source of funding. 

In capacity building initiatives, Mr. Ulanga said 

FCS is now linking up local CSOs with external 

donors who can provide direct sponsorship. 

“This is so good for us... Our main goal is to 

| 4 | 

th Anniversary 

| Cover Story | “We have now grown up...we 


FCS staff; Lola Lema (left) 

and Sunday Mtega (right) 

reach a point where certain CSOs come to us 

and say we don’t need your financial support 

anymore... where you directed us and through 

other means we are getting enough money for 

our activities,” he said. 

Mr. Ulanga promised that grants provided by 

the FCS would reach all Tanzanians. “This 

will be possible as we will concentrate on 

strengthening regional networks. We want to 

ensure that every Tanzanian understand FCS 

and also how to get a grant from us”. 

To reach more stakeholders, FCS has been 

providing grants to various CSOs outside Dar 

es Salaam. “Our aim is to get new grantees 

more from upcountry” he said. 

When asked why the media houses are not 

provided with grants from the FCS, while some 

people believe the mass media is very important 

for development, Mr. Ulanga said: “The 

mass media acts as civil society especially 

when it helps to put things in the society in order.” 

He explained how FCS values the fourth 

estate saying in the last two years his institution 

has been working closely with the press. 

“We are ready to help the media organisations, 

surely, I have to sit down with my 

colleagues and see what to do... we have not 

been receiving applications for grants from 

journalists’ organizations...it seems such organizations 

as well as trade unions are very 

few coming with proposals for funding,” Mr. 

Ulanga said. 

How does FCS ensure the grants it offers 

are well utilized? Mr. Ulanga said, said at 

the moment they only provided money to 

CSOs after thorough organisational capacity 

assessment and due diligence exercise, which 

helps to determine if the organization has the 

necessary requirement to be able to utilize the 

grant accordingly. 


are ready to move to a higher 

ladder the cooperation with 

other stakeholders... concerned 

Ministry (Ministry of Community 

Development, Gender and 

Children), Tanzania NGO Council 

(NACONGO), NGO-RC of Zanzibar 

and CSOs networks this will ensure 

the continuation of dialogues on 

how to enhance civil society sector 

and other different discourses in 

developed,” Mr. Ulanga. 

After the provision of the grant, the concerned 

CSO is assessed later on to ensure the funding 

is used as planned, he said adding: “Previously 

we were depending solely on the information 

from the CSOs that we were providing with 

grants. Nowadays, we visit the organization 

on the ground and see the actual situation.” 

To ensure the grants are used accordingly, 

also the government in the concerned area 

is informed so as to follow up and make the 

process easier for all stakeholders. Mr. Ulanga 

assured that FCS has joined efforts to ensure 

regional networks are closely making follow 

up of the works done by the CSOs. 

“We also expect to motivate journalists to 

enable them make follow up on development

projects on the ground... they can report development 

and challenges ... I hope this will 

greatly help,” Mr. Ulanga underscored. 

While insisting on the issue of the CSOs self 

capacity assessment, Mr. Ulanga said, agreed 

that was a difficult field but insisted it was necessary 

for CSOs to introduce systems of self 

evaluation. “As I said earlier, we are assessing 

CSOs before giving them grants but this is not 

enough,” he said. 

About training and other capacity building 

initiatives, Mr. Ulanga said, currently, the FCS’s 

executives will be providing direct training to 

new grantees. 

“Our staff are now very capable...they have 

the capacity to offer necessary training. So 

don’t be surprised when one day you meet me 

somewhere providing training at a workshop... 

we have decide this year we shall work with 

external trainers at workshops. I reiterate that 

I believe FCS’s executives are able,” said Mr. 

Ulanga. 

Mr. Ulanga said, FCS has greatly succeed in its 

efforts of bringing together CSOs stakeholders 

andTanzania’s law makers (MPs) and members 

of the Zanzibar House of Representative. “This 

has increased the understanding between the 

lawmakers and CSOs,” he said. 

“I am grateful that in last year’s exhibition 

the speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. 

Samuel Sitta promised he would organize 

a meeting for parliamentarians and CSOs’ 

stakeholders at the Bunge cost, surely, we are 

longing for that day,” Mr. Ulanga said. 

However, he said that, in the case of Zanzibar 

great steps have been reached as the citizenry 

there are now taking their views to their law 

makers and not waiting till the exhibition of the 

CSOs at Zanzibar House of Representatives at 

the end of March 2008. 

What of the capacity difference between 

the rural CSOs regional networks? “It is true 

there is great capacity difference among the 

regional networks. However, there is a study 

report we are waiting for, that will show us 

what to be done and where. We are also in 

the process of publishing a Directory of CSOs 

that will have all the necessary information 

about CSOs in the country. The book will be 

of great assistance to anyone who needs basic 

information about CSOs,” he said. 

FCS was registered in September 2002 but 

started to work on January 2003 under the 

stewardship of the late Arnold Buluba (Executive 

Director). Ms Henny de Vries was the 

Chairperson of the Board of Directors. 

Currently, the FCS provides four types of 

grants: Rolling Small Grants, Medium Grants, 

Strategic Grants and Registration Development 

Grants. The sponsored thematic areas 

includes: Policy, Good Governance, Safety 

Networks and Advocacy Strengthening. 

The supported organization includes NGOs, 

CBOs, professional associations, trade Unions, 

primary cooperative unions, community 

based groups, media organizations and faith 

based organizations. 

After the changes of the system of governance, 

currently The Foundation is under the leadership 

of President Mr. Alais Ole Morindat 

who is in charge of a panel of six embers, the 

highest organ in the FCS echelons. 

Other members of the panel are: Ms. Mary 

Rusimbi, Prof. Samwel Wangwe, Mr. Amritlal 

Shah, Mr. Salum Shamte and Mr. Rakeshi 

Rajan. 

The second organ in the administration 

level, is the FCS Board of Directors led by 

Dr. Stigmata Tenga, other members includes 

Mr. Heri Bomani, Ms. Gertrude Mugizi, Ms. 

Thea Mushi, Mr. Herbert Kashililah and Mr. 

Prudence Kaijage. 

On the side of internal administration within 

“I am grateful that in 

last year’s exhibition 

the speaker of the 

National Assembly, 

Hon. Samuel Sitta 

promised he would 

organize a meeting 

for parliamentarians 

and CSOs’ 

stakeholders at the 

Bunge cost, surely, 

we are longing for 

that day,” Mr. Ulanga. 

the FCS, Mr. Ulanga is the Executive Director. 

Four people assist him. They are Mr. Onali Salem 

(Administration and Finance Department), 

Ms. Noreen Natthero Toroka (Grants Department), 

Mr. Joseph Mzinga (Policy and Development 

Department) and Ms. Marilyn Elinewinga 

who heads the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, 

also acting as Grants Manager 


| 5 |

| Cover Story| 

Reflecting the the past 

looking into the future 

Deogratius Mlay 

The staff at The 

Foundation had a 

wonderful threeday 

retreat last 

November at MS 

TCDC, USA River 

in Arusha. The retreat 

was no time 

deogratius@thefoundation-tz.org 

for refreshment 

from the daily hassles of office life but 

a crucial instance, where the staff took 

time to internalize action plan for year 

2008 and review strength and weakness 

of The Foundation, report Deo Mlay 

The staff also took time to reflect on the progress 

made in year 2007 as well as reviewing 

the grant making procedure and capacity 

building programmes. 

| 6 | 

th Anniversary 


The retreat was a good time forThe Foundation 

family to revisit the scheme of service and 

in particular staff welfare issues. Improving 

communication among staff and embedding 

participatory approaches in daily undertaking, 

were also discussed. 

The workshop was facilitated by participatory 

techniques such as meta plan, group and plenary 

discussions which were used to capture 

participant’s contributions. 

The discussions on the first day focused on 

assessing the achievement made and areas 

which needed further improvement. 

The achievements noted by the staff were: 

Promotion of CSO image, including CSOs’ 

quality of work and best practices, improved 

linkage between Grants making and capacity 

building; Reaching out to CSOs in remote 

areas; well facilitated CSOs exhibitions; impro- 


ved/increased MP and CSOs interaction. 

Other achievements mentioned were: uniting 

CSOs; amount of grants disbursed increased; 

revival of the board of the Foundation; team 

building; capacity building to CSOs; moving 

the development from the governance structure; 

and improved donor confidence. 

In the same breathe the members of staff 

identified areas that needed to be improved. 

Some members of staff suggested that to 

improve grant making services application 

forms should be done away with it and that 

applicants asked to submit concept notes.The 

consensus reached was to slice the size of the 

current 18 pages form to at least 4 pages. 

Use of grants rounds (currently 7 rounds a 

year) elicited a heated discussion, where the 

majority felt the concept should be eliminated. 

It was proposed there should be open calls 

Some of the Foundation staff at the 

retreat meeting in Arusha

twice a year, special calls, unsolicited calls and 

discretion call for grants applications. 

To improve Monitoring and Evaluation System, 

it was suggested zonal offices should be 

established and coverage increased through 

establishing associate programmes. 

It was also suggested that CSOs proved to be 

the best performers for rolling small grants 

should qualify for next grant without necessarily 

passing through the screening process. 

On improving capacity building, it was suggested 

The Foundation’s staff should be used 

in training. This calls for training of all staff 

on basic training, example using of breakfast 

learning session. 

The practicability of the suggestion was looked 

into and it was agreed some ides were workable 

while others were not. 

On positive note, it was agreed application 

forms should be reviewed to make them 

more user friendly; they would not be struck 

out all together. 

Regarding staff capacity and incentives a team 

was set up to device training for staff without 

impairing work schedule. Another team was 

set up to look into the area of staff policy and 

package which seems not to cope with actual 

rising living costs and workload. 

The proposals made by the team would be 

submitted to the management for approval 

and there after advance them to other decision 

making body ofThe Foundation. Of course so 

many issues were discussed and according to 

FCS Executive Director, Mr. John Ulanga the 

retreat was very useful. 

“We need to do it (retreat) on quarterly or mid 

yearly basis. It has provided a venue for staff 

to think and reflect as team, sharing of information, 

identify areas for growth, brainstorm 

new ideas and new products,” he said. 

And the retreat was not all Jack and no play. It 

was a wonderful time to freely interact, celebrate 

and affirm the unity of The Foundation 

family, which used the occasion to celebrate 

the birthday for two staff members. It was 

indeed a wonderful working adventure 

Some of the Foundation staff, from left: Eva Minja, 

Marilyn Elinewinga, Onali Salem and Georgina Lund 


| 7 |

| From Inside| 

A Glance at 

FCS in 2007 

| 8 | 


No pain no gain: the yea 

Foundation staff in a joint photo after the CSO 

annual forum in Arusha November 2007 

The diary of events in 2007 was a full-house 

for the civil society sector, with gains, 

pains and challenges. The Foundation 

for Civil Society and its grantees were 

involved in a beehive of activities and 

faced numerous daunting challenges. 

Actually, for The Foundation, the year 

was what can only be described as make 

breakthrough, writes our correspondent 


The year was significant for the civil society sector as whole in many 

ways. We saw the CSO actors coming and working together more 

than ever before. 

We also saw the rejuvenation of the National NGO Council, in which 

the need for self regulation of the sector came into the spotlight and 

close collaboration between the Ministry of Community Development, 

Gender and Children (MCDGC) NGO Coordination Unit and 

CSOs was given an upper hand. 

There was a breakthrough in collaboration between the civil society 

sector and Members of Parliament, where there was a call led by The 

national Assembly Speaker Hon. Samuel Sitta, and some Hon. MPs 

like Hon. Estherina Kilasi, Mbarali MP during the historical meeting 

between MPs and CSOs, that in future the government should foot the 

bill for gatherings of CSOs and Bunge committees. 

Major Highlights in 2007 

January 2007 

• The civil society sector seeks to meet the 

President of the United Republic of Tanzania 

to share about the sector and its role in development. 

March 2007 

• The Foundation Board of Directors resigns 

• A draft code of conduct for The Foundation 

and grantee organisations is produced and 

circulated to stakeholders for more input. 

February 2007 

• Preparations for a study 

on the state of civil 

society networks in 

Tanzania in high gear 

as a reference group 

meets in Dar es Salaam 

for the first time 

to review bids from research 

institutions. The 

reference team is made 

of representatives from 

Government, International 

NGOs and CSO 

umbrella organisations

ar that was 

stuivil 

in 

ear 

oup 

Same 

re- 

The 

ade 

om 

na- 

SO 

ons 

April 2007 

• The first publication with success stories from 

grantees is published.The booklet is titled “The 

Image of Success 2006/7”. 

• The first exhibition of CSOs in Zanzibar takes 

place at the House of Representatives Grounds 

• Danish MPs visitTanzania, met some representatives 

from CSOs. 

• The Best Grantees Award (BGA) for the year 

2007 is announced. This solely is for grantees 

of the Foundation. 

• The Foundation’s anti-corruption policy is made 

public. 

June 2007 

• Preparations on the Bunge Exhibition underway 

and informal consultations with Bunge officials 

take place. 

• Historical meeting between CSOs representatives 

and parliamentary committee leaders take 

place in Dodoma. 

• CSO Bunge exhibition held in Dodoma in which 

the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. 

Samuel Sitta promises to convene a meeting 

between CSOs and parliamentarians. 

• The Foundation introduces organisational 

capacity self assessment tool (OCSAT) to assist 

potential grantees evaluate their capacity and 

potential and set benchmark for improvement. 

• The Foundation for the first time makes mandatory 

a due diligence exercise for new grantees 

who won 35 million grants and above. This is 

a reality check exercise before grants is released. 

May 2007 

• Retreat meeting of the Council and Management of 

The Foundation held in Dar es Salaam to review the 

institution’s governance structure and chart a way 

forward. A new structure of the Foundation put in 

place. It was agreed the Council of members be 

replaced by a 6 member body and a new board of 

directors with a maximum of 7 members. 

July 2007 

• The FCS Management decides to film and document 

all 100 grantees who filed their form to compete for 

the Best Grantees Award (BGA) 2007. 

• Management agrees that external judges will preside 

on the BGA 2007 process. 

• The idea of organising a Tanzania CSO Excellence 

Award (TACEA) 2007 is conceived. 

August 2007 

• A study on the state of human resources in CSOs 

starts. The study undertaken to examine the level 

and capacity of staff within CSOs and come up with 

recommendations on how to improve the situation 

and encourage graduates to join the sector. 

• Historical meeting between some CSOs representatives, 

Bunge Committee for Community Development 

and the Ministry of Community Development 

take place in Dodoma in which the Minister suggest 

the event to take place annually. 

• Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Authority and 

Local Government meet some CSOs representatives. 

• The Foundation Complaint Handling Policy is put 

in place and shared. 

September 2007 

• Grants Department staff steps aside 

to allow restructuring of grant making 

processes and mechanisms. 

• A new board is appointed to be led by 

Dr. Stigmata Tenga. 

• Meeting between staff of The Foundation 

take place, The President of The 

Foundation; Mr.Alais Morindat assures 

staff of the organisation’s future. 

• The Third sector book about the civil 

society sector is launched in Dar es 

Salaam. 

• Some CSO stakeholders (PACT Tanzania, 

NGORC, Policy Forum, TANGO, 

TACOSODE, ANGOZA), The Foundation 

and MCDGC meet in Dar over 

the NGO code of ethics,Tanzania CSO 

Excellence Award and Standards of 

Excellence discussions. 

• The Foundation holds its regular meeting 

with Development Partners. 

• The Foundation commits itself to support 

the National Council of NGOs 

(NACONGO) to push for the code of 

ethics among NGOs. 

October 2007 

• New Board of Directors of the Foundation, 

first meeting held in Dar es 

Salaam. 

• The Foundation meets a representative 

from the Southern Africa grant making 

body (SAT) in Dar es Salaam. 

• National Council of NGO meets in 

Morogoro to discuss Code of Ethics 

for NGOs in Tanzania. 

• A delegation from DANIDA Uganda 

visits the Foundation to learn how to 

run a grant making organisation. 

November 2007 

• Deputy Minister, Ministry of Community 

Development Hon. Salome 

Mbatia killed in the car accident. (The 

Ministry handles NGO affairs). 

• Assessment of 100 grantees applicants 

for the Best Grantees Award (BGA) 

2007 is done by external judges 

drawn from CSO sector, government 

and media. 

• Annual Forum 2007 and exhibition 

held in AICC Arusha with the theme 

“The role of citizens in enhancing East 

Africa Integration.” 

• Best Grantees 2007 awarded: CHA- 

VITA Headquarters, RUWODEF 

– Ruvuma, RADA –Iringa, COTWU 

– Zanzibar and MECCA- Zanzibar. 

• The Tanzania CSO Excellence Award 

(TACEA) 2008 is officially launched. 

• The Foundation secretariat holds a 

retreat in Arusha. 

December 2007 

• Preparations for a national consultative 

dialogue on SADC’s poverty 

reduction strategy are underway. 


| 9 |

| Standards & Ethics | 

| 10 | 



NGOs code 

of conduct 

finally ready 

Mr. Djax Biria, Chairperson of 

The National Council of NGOs

y 

Zaa Twalangeti 

The National 

Council of Nongovernmental 

Organizations 

(NACONGO) in 

Tanzania after a 

wide raging con- 

zaajohn@yahoo.com sultationsrecently concluded the 

final draft of National NGO Code of 

conduct, which now is awaiting to be 

gazetted to become legally binding. 

Djax Biria, the Chairman of the NGO 

Council in this article says the days of 

unregulated NGO sector are numbered, 

writes Zaa Twalangeti, of Tanzania 

Association of NGOs - TANGO. 

“As soon as the Code of Conduct is gazetted 

the days of running the NGO Sector without 

any self-regulation mechanism will be over,” 

so said the Chairman of the NGO Council 

shortly after a two-day workshop in which 

council members harmonized the three 

versions of the code which were prepared 

by Ubunifu Associates, Legal Human Rights 

Centre (LHRC) and the Policy Forum, which 

had been commissioned by the NGO Act 

core Group. 

“Further the Code of Conduct will provide 

guidance to NGOs toward meeting the 

challenges of sustaining democratic and participatory 

institutions and strengthening an 

enabling environment in which people can 

determine collectively or individually their 

destiny,” he said. 

One of the objectives of Tanzania NGO 

Code of Ethic is to promote an open, transparent 

and enabling environment for all NGOs 

working in Tanzania. 

It also seeks to promote transparency and accountability 

within the operations of NGOs 

and the partnerships that Tanzanian NGOs 

shall enter with other development stakeholders, 

says Biria. 

“The reason for adding this clause to the code 

of ethics is that as a council we very much 

value mutual partnerships,” hints Biria. 

Further the code seeks to promote the values 

of diversity of opinions, freedom of expression 

and open debate for NGOs operating 

within Tanzania. Regarding governance Biria 

Further the Code of 

Conduct will provide 

guidance to NGOs toward 

meeting the challenges of 

sustaining democratic and 

participatory institutions 

and strengthening an 

enabling environment in 

which people can determine 

collectively or individually 

their destiny 

said: “The code urges the NGOs to be answerable 

to the constituencies and work in 

accordance with the National laws.” 

The code of ethics is so structured that it will 

curb direct or indirect conflict of interest by 

members of the governance structure as well 

as members, employees and volunteers of 

the organisation. 

“This is because in recent times conflicts 

have been very rife in Tanzanian NGOs,” Biria 

said adding that using the Code of Ethics 

the council will have zero tolerance stand 

on corruption and other misconduct in the 

NGO sector. 

The code also reinforces the demand by the 

NGO Act that NGOs should be transparent 

about their financial and operational matters: 

The code of conduct document states: 

“NGO will develop and adhere to clear, well 

defined and written financial regulations that 

reflect high ethical standards and are consistent 

with sound financial management principles 

and practice.” 

According to Biria, the NGO Council will not 

mince words regarding the issues of financial 

accountability and transparency by NGOs. 

He said for the purpose of sustainability, an 

NGO may undertake works to make profit. 

“However; the interest and profits accrued 

shall not be shared but will be ploughed back 

in the work of achieving the organizational 

purpose,” noted Biria. 

He said this might not be in the interest of 

the donor community but the council sees 

this as one way in which the now fully donor 

dependentTanzanian NGO sector can gain a 

level of financial sustainability. 

“The code of ethic will strive to make sure 

that each NGO operating in the country sticks 

to both its constitutional role and the role 

apportioned to it by the NGO Act,” he said. 

As part of the enforcement mechanism the 

code prescribes the administration and information 

modalities which will be used to 

implement it. “We shall form a committee at 

regional and district levels respectively, and 

use existing NGO Networks to monitor the 

observance of the Code,” said Biria. 

On the same development, the chairperson 

of NACONGO Mr Djax Biria told the Foundation 

News that the once called National 

Council of NGOs (NACONGO) will change 

its name to Tanzania Council of NGOs (NA- 

CONGO). The move was to give the council 

a national touch by adding Tanzania at the 

name. 

Speaking about the code of ethics, Mr. Biria 

says, the document will be ready in operation 

by April 2008. He added that the document 

is divided into nine sections namely core values, 

management, accountability, financial 

transparency, human resources, communication, 

implementation of the code of conduct, 

follow up on ethics and relations. 

NACONGO among other things is given 

teeth by ACT 24 of 2002 to prepare and put 

in place ethics for CSOs while ensuring the 

same is acceptable to stakeholders. After 

the Code of Conduct has been approved by 

stakeholders, it should be gazette so as to become 

legal, says the law. 

The process of preparing the code of conduct 

started way back in 2005, when the NA- 

CONGO Board sought support from Legal 

and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) to prepare 

the first document. The first draft was distributed 

to stakeholders and mostly they called 

for another draft, which would be easily understandable. 

If the final draft prepared will not have any 

opposition from stakeholders it will be a big 

step for civil society sector in the country. Of 

late there have been accusations and counteraccusations 

from members of the community 

about the performance and conduct of some 

NGOs especially as regards financial resources 

and management. 

Still, one big challenge remains for NACON- 

GO: Lack of enough financial resources to 

ran its stated affairs 


| 11 |

| Success Story| 

The Tanzania CSO Excellence 

Award 2008 in the the pipeline 

A Panel of nine (9) independent judges for 

the Tanzania CSO Excellence Award 2008 

will commence physical visit to CSOs which 

entered the competition for the award. The 

panel of independent judges which is made 

of members from Tanzania Mainland and 

Tanzania Zanzibar is led by a renowned CSO 

activist Marie binti Shaba. 

Back in November 2007, the Foundation for 

Civil Society after consultations with some key 

stakeholders officially launched the historical 

Tanzania CSO Excellence Award 2008. The 

launch was officiated at AICC, Arusha by 

Communication and 

Transport Worker Union 

(COTWU) Zanzibar Mr 

Makame Silima displays 

an award after his 

organization was named 

among best grantees 

of the Foundation in 

November 2007 

| 12 | 


Marie Binti Shaba 


the Foundation Board Chair Dr. Stigmata 

Tenga during the CSO Annual Forum and 

Exhibition. 

About 124 CSOs from all over Tanzania have 

entered a competition for the Award. The 

CSO filed their competition forms after the 

official launch of the award towards the end 

of the year 2007. The competition has five 

major areas: impact that the competitor had 

brought about to the target group, the level 

of involvement of target group, networking 

initiatives, good governance of the CSO and 

transparency in their dealings. 

The conception of the CSO award was first 

shared at a stakeholders’ meeting that was held 

in Dar es salaam towards the end of September 

last year. Participants came from the Directorate 

of NGOs in the Ministry of Community 

Development, Gender and Children, Policy 

Forum, TANGO, TACOSODE, NGO RC, 

PACT Tanzania and The Foundation for Civil 

Society. Some other agenda at the meeting 

were the push towards the finalization of NGO 

Code of Ethics, the need for the Standards of 

Excellence and organizational capacity assessment 

tool for CSOs and the CSO week. 

The Excellence Award is an initiative by the 

Foundation that aims to advance the Tanzania 

civil society sector through celebrating, 

recognizing and honouring achievements 

and contributions made by individual organizations 

in influencing development and 

policy inTanzania and advance the need of the 

most vulnerable members of the society. The 

award also is meant to promote CSOs’ positive 

image, credibility and strengthening its role in 

serving humanity and promoting associational 

activities for common good. 

Since 2004, The Foundation for Civil Society 

has been awarding the best performing grantees 

through the annual scheme dubbed “Best 

GranteesAward (BGA). BGA is exclusively for 

grantees of The Foundation 

For more information about the Tanzania CSO Excellence 

Award, contact Jwani Jumbe, 

E-mail tamasha@thefoundation-tz.org or Mobile 

+255713737271

Mathew G. Chungu 

I am a Tanzanian 

activist and I do 

follow up developmental 

issues. I 

have read various 

comments in The 

Foundation Newsletter 

(issue No. 

mathewchungu@yahoo.com 6 of July-October 

2007) about the 

formation of CSO Parliament in the country. 

The idea came from Mr. Philemon 

Mwansasu of Amani Foundation For Life 

– Mbeya. The Executive Director of The 

Foundation Mr. John Ulanga, joined the 

fry and Irenei Kiria of YAV came out strongly 

in support of the idea. Primarily, the 

idea sounds good. But before embarking 

to the idea, we have to think about the 

existing structures, discusses Mathew G. 

Chungu 

We have CSO National Networks, which are 

strong such as TANGO, FEMACT, TACOSO- 

DE, POLICY FORUM,TENMET,TCDD etc as 

well as the National Council of Non Governmental 

Organization (NACONGO). For me, 

I think it is wiser to use these platforms, which 

are already in place. What we have to do is to 

sit together and organize ourselves and review 

the current framework, if need be to change 

and give it a parliamentary image. 

Otherwise, I feel there is no need of establishing 

another organ rather we should be 

committed in looking for better ways/ alternatives 

to bring development.We should not enter 

into present governmental systems which we 

are all witness it has not helped theTanzanian 

to a satisfactory point. 

I support the idea of Mr Buberwa Kaiza of For- 

DIA who has called for deep thinking before 

the establishment of the CSO Parliament. The 

main issue will not only be its representation 

but also the way the organ will perform its 

works. 

What should be done is to strengthen 

NACONGO through the support of CSOs 

National Networks. The aim is to enable the 

body to be able to take the wananchi’s matters 

to relevant decision making bodies on time. 

It should be empowered to be able to follow 

Tanzania’s parliamentary meeting calendar 

and present CSOs views/opinions to MPs so 

that they can give priority to such issues. 

Call for formation of 

CSO Parliament: is 

NACONGO failing? 

To me such is the true purpose of the CSO 

in contributing to the real development of 

Tanzania. Without taking people’s idea to national 

decision making bodies then there is no 

need of having national CSOs networks.That’s 

national networks must talk in one language 

when it comes to advocacy and lobbying for 

issues that are of the benefit of the nation. 

It is better to have a creative method of our 

own rather than copying from other nations 

without looking at our specific environment 

as far as the current governance system is concerned. 

We should think of original methods 

to best solve our problems. 

After all, many of us are witness how the government 

borrowing of ideas from outside organs 

and setting up strategies as per those ideas 

ended up disastrously. It never considered 

home-grown solution to our own problems. I 

would not want the civil society sector to pass 

through the same rough path.We should have 

the giraffe (Twiga) vision, where the animal 

| Debate| 

has 3600 outlook, so as to win success against 

problems afflicting our people. 

I would like my colleague to continue with 

the debate but we should not forget at looking 

at ourselves first- how are our homes, I mean 

our CSOs? Are we good models for others 

to follow? It is true many of us don’t want to 

hear such question in our ears. But no matter 

what, they are challenges to all of us in the 

civil society movement, and everyone must 

seek answers to. 

Are the ideas around the formation of CSO Parliament 

an indicator of NACONGO’s weakness 

and failure? Let us keep on pondering 

about the formulation and the framework of 

National Council of Tanzania (NACONGO). 

How will the institution work to meets the 

CSOs expectations and embrace “CSO parliament” 

as one of its organ.After all NACONGO 

is suppose to be a coordinating body! 

Mathew G. Chungu, is the Executive Secretary, Kibaha 

Network of Civil Society Organizations (KNC) 


| | 13 | |

| Region Round-ups | 

Zanzibar Minister promises NGO Policy 

• says CSOs have a role to play 

Asha Abood - Zanzibar 

The Minister in 

the President’s 

Office responsible 

for Constitution 

and Good 

Governance in 

Zanzibar, Hon. 

Ramadhan Ab- 

ashaaboud@hotmail.com 

dallah Shaaban 

says civil society 

sector has important role to play in development 

discourse in Zanzibar. The call 

was made recently at the opening of the 

policy dialogue between CSOs, Members 

of the House of Representatives and other 

government officials. The dialogue was 

held at EACROTANAL in Zanzibar in which 

90 participants took part, writes Asha 

Abood from Zanzibar 

A cross section of participants at 

the public dialogue in Unguja in 

March 2008 

| 14 | 


on. Ramadhan Abdallah Shaaban said that 

because of the significant contribution from 

CSOs on development initiatives, the Revolutionary 

Government of Zanzibar will ensure 

conducive environment exist to enable CSOs 

continue their contribution on development. 

The call from the Minister was to react following 

the long time cry for the NGO Policy 

in Zanzibar. Minister Shaaban reaffirmed that 

all the process regarding the preparations of 

the policy have been done and that the policy 

will be ready before the end of the year. 

The minister commended the initiative for policy 

dialogue and said “the existence of good 

relationships between CSOs, legislatures and 

government officials is a right step in the right 

direction as all three are working to support 

development for the people” 


the existence of good relationships 

between CSOs, legislatures 

and government officials is a right 

step in the right direction. 

He called CSOs to enhance their understand 

on policy and planning processes so as to create 

awareness of the same to other citizens for 

their (citizens) voices to be heard in planning 

processes and policy making, implementation 

and monitoring. 

The dialogue supported by the Foundation for 

Civil Society, was part of the preparations for 

the CSO exhibition to be held at the House 

of Representatives grounds in April 2008.The 

exhibitions will be preceded by the meeting 

between CSOs and Members of House of 

Representatives

Civil Society Exhibition at the House of 

Representatives to be held in April 2008 

Neema Yobu - Unguja & Pemba 

The Second Civil 

Society Exhibition 

nyobu@thefoundation-tz.org 

at the House of Representatives 

is planned 

to take place in 

Zanzibar April 2008. 

The event will bring 

together actors from 

civil society sector 

in Zanzibar as well 

as member of the House of Representatives 

and some CSOs from Tanzania Mainland, 

This years exhibition will be the second Exhibition 

of Civil Society at the House. The first 

one took place in April 2007, writes Neema 

Yobu from Unguja and Pemba 

As part of the preparations for the event, 

CSOs in Unguja Island under the auspices 

of the umbrella organization, ANGOZA, and 

Zanzibar Youth Forum (ZYF) as well as White 

Star and NGO Resource Centre, on March 

08th this year, organized a policy dialogue 

dubbed “citizens platform” to discuss issues 

around good governance and poverty eradication 

in Zanzibar and the role of CSOs and 

elected officials. 

Another policy dialogue of similar nature was 

held in Pemba. The Pemba citizens’ platform 

was organized by the Pemba Civil Society 

Organization (PACSO) together with other 

CSOs. The two events were supported by 

the Foundation for Civil Society which is the 

leading local grants making organization to 

civil society in Tanzania. 

About 200 civil society representatives, 

members of the House of Representatives, 

Districts and Regional commissioners, trade 

union leaders as well as media representatives 

attended the two events. 

Among the objectives of the platforms were 

to enable CSOs in Zanzibar to closely interact 

and communicate with elected representatives 

(House of Representatives, Councilors 

and MPs) and sharing of their oversight 

roles in serving the people and to enhance 

downward accountability. Another objective 

was to enable CSOs in both Pemba and Unguja 

to present issues /agenda from the grassroots 

that could be addressed by Representatives 

as well as local government officials 

and councilors, prior to the House’s sessions 

at the end of March 2008. 

Issues that came out in both of the platforms 

included the need for NGO Policy in Zanzibar 

that would help to create conducive environment 

for civil society to operate and self 

coordinate. Another issues was that of local 

government reform in which participants expressed 

the need of putting in place a guiding 

policy that will increase citizens awareness 

and roles in local governance, enhance service 

delivery to citizens, and address structural 

shortfalls that hinders accountability of local 

officials to citizens. 

Another issue that came out was that of small 

holder farmers in which calls to promote and 

support agricultural policy in favour of small 


holder farmers were made. Trade Union matters 

also were high on the agenda as the call 

was made to strengthen lobbying efforts that 

would focus on workers’ rights, and ensuring 

employees safety at work places and compensation 

mechanisms in case of accident or 

death. 

The platform in Unguja was officiated at by 

the Minister in the President’s Office responsible 

for Constitution and Good Governance 

in Zanzibar, Hon. Ramadhan Abdallah Shaaban 

while in Unguja was officiated by Minister 

for Special Assignments, Hon. Zainab 

Omar Mohamed 

For more information about the CSO Exhibition in Zanzibar 

contact Asha Aboud of ANGOZA at +255777457413 

or Omar Jecha, E-mail ojecha@thefoundation-tz.org 

Mobile +255777471186 

Ms. Chum Hamad Yussuf from 

Pemba Island speaks at a public 

policy dialogue in Pemba in 

March 2008 


| 15 |


‘CSOs have a role 

to play in local 

governance’ 

governance’ - Ulanga 

Our Reporter 

What is effective democracy? According 

to Mr. John Ulanga, the Executive Director 

of the Foundation for Civil Society, it is the 

democracy that happens at the levels where 

most citizens are. 

Presenting a paper titled “The Role of Civil 

Society Organizations in Building Local Democracy,” 

he asserted that, for a country to 

be democratic, it takes much more than free 

and fair election. 

Mr. Ulanga, presenting the paper in Arusha 

early this year at MS Tanzania Annual Meeting, 

lamented that many people in Tanzania 

equates democracy to the election process. 

“....election is only one component of democracy,” 

he argued adding that the challenge 

in building and promoting democracy lies in 

ensuring democratic governance of the va- 

| 16 | 


FCS Executive Director 

Mr. John Ulanga 

rious Government, Public and Civil Society 

Institutions. 

He noted that in Tanzania the local government 

authorities are vested by the constitution 

“to transfer authority to the people.” 

The Foundation Executive Director said local 

government authorities have been given 

power to participate and to involve the 

people in the planning and implementation 

of development programmes within their respective 

areas and generally throughout the 

country. 

However, he said how the local authorities 

transfer that power remain to be a big question. 

“To what extent is the day to day running 

and decision making in our institutions 

democratic? To what extent are the elected 

leaders’ works with their electorates to arrive 


to their daily decisions?” Mr. Ulanga queried. 

The FCS chief said citizens’ participation was 

a means for equitable distribution and effective 

utilization of public resources. 

“Effective citizen participation will result into 

effective decision making, and effective decision 

making processes will result into effective 

and equitable distribution and utilization 

of the public resources – land, natural, financial, 

etc,” he said. 

Mr. Ulanga said despite the admirable national 

economic growth in the last few years, 

there has been reported more poverty among 

the common citizenry. He said this was a result 

of lack of effective mechanism to engage 

citizens in decision making processes, especially 

at local levels. 

CSOs, he said have the most important role 

in local government reforms and in ensuring 

that the concept of decentralization by devolution 

takes real root, a role they have not 

been playing effectively. 

He said at local authority levels, civil society 

organizations have the role to ensure citizens 

participate in decision making and other development 

processes as stipulated in the local 

government structures. 

The Executive Director said CSOs should use 

civics education, Public ExpenditureTracking 

Surveys (PETS), Corruption Perception Surveys 

and media to enrich the decisions made 

by citizens in the various fora. 

However, he said that CSOs need to lead by 

examples; Mr. Ulanga said adding they must 

be democratic institutions which are accountable 

to their members, their funders and the 

community at large. 

To ensure more participatory decision making 

as entrenched by the constitution, he said the 

CSOs have a great role to play, despite the 

fact that civil society sector in the country is 

still nascent and relatively weak. 

He described a role that CSOs can play is to 

ensure that citizens effectively participate in 

various decision making processes for their 

own and for the country’s benefit. 

Mr. Ulanga called on institutions like MSTanzania 

to assist CSO partners at local levels in 

different areas including assisting them to develop 

mechanisms to ensure accountability, 

network effectively and unite their strengths

Zaa Twalangeti 

zaajohn@yahoo.com 

The Foundation Civil 

Society (FCS) in collaboration 

with Tanzania 

Association of 

Non-governmental 

Organization (TAN- 

GO) and the Tanzania 

National Council 

of NGOs (NACON- 

GO), in contract 

with the Southern African Trust (SAT) organized 

a national consultative conference 

for Tanzanian Civil Society (CS) in which 

the CS gave input to the SADC Poverty and 

Development Strategy (SPDS) formulation 

process. Writes Zaa Twalagenti 

Among other issues the conference discussed 

the poverty situation inTanzania and the kind 

of anti-poverty interventions at the SADC 

level, which can possibly have a positive 

impact on the Tanzanian national poverty 

eradication strategies and plans. 

The Conference which brought together 

more than 90 participants from various 

Non State Actors of Tanzanian Mainland and 

Tanzania Zanzibar was held at the Ubungo 

Plaza, Dar es salaam on 29th January 2008. 

Participants came from NGOs, CBOs, FBOs, 

Trade Unions, CS Networks, Professional 

Associations,Trade Networks, Farmers,Youth 

Networks and the media. The Ministry of 

poverty initiatives 

• CSOs must be watchdog in development 

Planning and Economic Empowerment was 

also represented. 

The participants come up with a number of 

issues such that there was need to prioritize 

the issues, which the Tanzanian CS would 

like the Government of Tanzania (GoT) to 

consider when it makes its submission of 

recommendations to the SADC secretariat 

which is preparing the SADC Poverty and 

Development Strategy (SPDS). 

The issues were clustered into the three broad 

areas as is outlined below; Quality of life and 

social wellbeing, Good Governance, Growth 

and income. 

Under the theme of quality of life and 

social wellbeing, the issues covered were; 

education, empowerment of the citizens 

| Regional/International Perspectives| 

Tanzanian CSOs 

discusses SADC 

A cross section of participants 

from CSOs on the national 

consultative meeting on SADC’s 

poverty eradication strategic 

with skills and knowledge which will make 

Tanzania competitive in the SADC trade, 

business and CS processes. 

The delegates also identified the provision of 

agricultural subsidies, effective employment 

and deployment policies, development of 

infrastructures and joint strategic planning as 

issues that should to part of the SADC Poverty 

and Development Strategy. 

Regarding the governance issue the 

conference suggested the review of the SADC 

protocol arrangements so that the SADC can 

be given binding powers to enforce what is 

agreed upon in its meetings by the member 

states. The consultative meeting also urged 

that SADC should recognize the space of 

CSOs in the formulation, implementation 

and monitoring of its resolutions. 

The consultative workshop urged the SADC 

secretariat to ensure that the SADC fosters 

ownership and control of the region’s 

resources by the citizens of the region. 

Other issues under the governance cluster 

where the assessment of democratic and 

good-governance situation in the region, 

so as to set governance benchmarks for 

all countries in the SADC region, the aim 

is for the SADC to effectively play its role 

of fostering participation of the citizens/ 

constituencies of member states in national 

and regional governance. 

Owing to the fact that many of the delegates 

to the SPDS meeting were not knowledgeable 

about the SADC, the national and international 

development processes the consultative, the 

meeting urged the SADC to put a premium on 

according the people of the region the right 

to information especially that which relates 

to the SADC structures, statutes and other 

development interventions in the region 


plan 

| 17 |

| Flash-back | 

A cross section of participants at 

the public dialogue in Pwani in 

May 2006 

CSOs must be watchdog in development 

Revisiting Public Public 

Dialogue in Pwani 

Region in 2006 

Mathew Chungu - Kibaha 

Tanzania is blessed 

with abundant 

resources; people, 

land, water, forests, 

minerals and so 

on. Our problem 

indeed is not lack 

of resources per see 

mathewchungu@yahoo.com but lack of accountability, 

corruption 

and bad governance. CSOs have not assumed 

their role to correct the path? Examines 

Mathew Chungu from Kibaha. 

| 18 | 


Lack of developmental approaches in the 

fight for poverty alleviation for the benefit 

of Tanzanians, has forced the country to 

remain backward in as far as development 

is concerned. No wonder the country was 

among the 5 most underdeveloped countries 

in the world according to different 

reports including the UNDP Poverty and 

Development Report, Report on analysis 

of 2000/ 01 Household Budgets (HBS) and 

others. Various studies shows about 17 per 

cent of the people live in absolute poverty 

where they don’t have assurance of daily 

food and over 38 per cent population lack 

some basic necessities. 

Poverty is a state of affairs which is cha- 

Samwel chiwangu with an award 

racterized by lack of life basic needs or 


marginalisation of a group or individuals 

on decision making processes regarding resources 

and other developmental issues. 

We have income poverty and non-income 

poverty. Income poverty is a state where 

the income made is so inadequate and 

it’s not able to meet the basic needs. Non 

income poverty is the state of lack of important 

things which can improve the lives 

of a people, for example lack of adequate 

education, lack of health services, are not 

able to meet the basic needs for their lives, 

lack of being involved in economic and 

community development affairs, lack of 

clean and safe water and also lack of proper 

means of transport and transportation.

So what is the role of CSOs in all this? Here 

is a story from Kibaha... During a public 

dialogue in Pwani (Kibaha), which was 

funded by the Foundation for civil society 

in May 2006 and brought together development 

stakeholders including CSOs, Members 

of Parliament, departmental heads in 

regional and municipal authorities, it came 

to light clearly compared with other regions 

in the country, Pwani region was among the 

most underdeveloped. That state is despite 

the region’s huge potentials for investment 

in diverse sectors (rivers, tourist attractions, 

land, etc). 

The debate had given the stakeholders a 

chance to discuss challenges of development 

on line with the implementation 

of National Strategy for Growth and Reduction 

of Poverty (NSGRP). It opened the 

doors for various stakeholders to realize 

the important of laying joint strategies to 

help quick growth and develop the coast 

region’s economy. In ensuring we interpret 

by actions what was said and agreed in 

that very debate, CSOs, Government and 

Private Sector in Kibaha District, we have 

formed a special advisory committee. 

The committee has gone a long way in advising 

on development planning which takes 

on board the concerns of the people. It has 

also helped to build a sense of accountability 

to the Wananchi by officials. Officials 

are informing people about development 

plans in the municipality and on how they 

can take part in the implementation for 

the benefit of the citizenry. As civil society 

organizations, already we have been able 

to sit in meetings for budget preparation 

for Kibaha Municipality, an issue which 

augers well for the championing of better 

use of resources. 

Recently, we were preparing the heath budget 

for the municipality – it seemed there 

were some areas that were not going to be 

reached because of some constraints but 

because of joint planning one of CSOs in 

Kibaha - Kifaru Community Development 

in Tanzania-(KICODET), assured it had a 

budget of 300/- million for use in some 

areas, and that way the local authorities 

decided to take care of other parts of the 

district. 

The advocacy and lobbying special committee 

in Kibaha is a result of training on 

enhancing CSOs networks, a programme 

which was run by TACOSODE under the 

sponsorship of The Foundation. Kibaha, 

we were among the beneficiaries of the 

training which basically has made us 

courageous after building for us strategies 

for successful lobbying for developmental 

changes in our municipalities. This has 

gone a long way in helping us deal with 

challenges facing the communities living 

around us. 

To implement questions of lobbying and 

advocacy requires through knowledge of 

the questions you are addressing. For that 

reason, let me use this opportunity to express 

gratitude to The Foundation, for building 

the capacity of CSOs on knowledge of 

In ensuring we interpret 

by actions what was said 

and agreed in that very 

debate, CSOs, Government 

and Private Sector 

in Kibaha District, we have 

formed a special advisory 

committee. 

Some members of Parliament from Pwani Region following a 

public dialogue. The dialogue was prepared by the local CSOs 

lead by the Youth Partnership Countrywide (YPC) sponsored 

by the Foundation for Civil Society 

how government works at different levels. 

This has helped many CSO to work with 

confidence to bring positive change in 

community development. 

We have benefited from training on policy 

analysis and on system of Public Expenditure 

Tracking System (PETS) sponsored 

by The Foundation through ESRF. This, we 

believe will go a long way to help us to 

reawaken the spirit of proper use of public 

money and other public resources in our 

municipalities. This will ensure at the end 

equitable resource allocation and quality 

services to both urban and rural people. 

We have information that suggests the possibility 

of inappropriate utilisation of funds 

set aside for some development projects in 

our municipalities. Currently we are building 

capacity of CSOs and local leaders on 

the PETS. This will help all stakeholders to 

have clear understanding of PETS so that 

by the end of the day each one of us can be 

able to follow up on utilisation of resources 

set aside for development projects as one 

way of ensuring quality services and value 

for money expenditures. 

We call upon The Foundation to continue 

enhancing capacity of CSOs that are 

closer to the people. CSOs should create 

awareness for people to participate in development 

processes which will enhance 

accountability on resources and bring 

about quality services to the community. 

And above all, if service benefits poor men, 

poor women and children, then it can be 

called development. 

Mathew G. Chungu, Executive Secretary, Kibaha 

Network of Civil Society Organizations (KNC). Box 

30260 Kibaha 


| 19 |

| BIG Question | 

Why too many 

projects but 

handful results? 

Fridah Mwakasyuka 

There are many 

development 

projects being 

implemented in 

various sectors 

throughout the 

country. The aim 

is to contributing 

to the overall 

fmwakasyuka@thefoundation-tz.org goal of poverty 

reduction. The 

government and civil society sector are some 

of the main players involved in designing, 

implementing and managing development 

projects. It is disheartening to note, the pace 

of change as a result of implementation of 

projects is minute in comparison to the inputs. 

The main reason is that we have projects 

implemented without having the end result 

in mind. Writes Fridah Mwakasyuka 

Some of such projects have proved to have 

negative or no impact to the community. 

Instead of reducing poverty they perpetuate 

deprivation. No wonder, more people 

are becoming more and more vulnerable to 

poverty each day. Many projects by CSOs 

begin and end with workshops for awareness 

creation on this policy or that law. 

There is no linkage as to what local or central 

government should do differently. No 

wonder then, a big question remains what 

next after awareness? 

This kind of scenario has promoted me to 

discuss development project planning and 

management as at the end of the day, the 

| 20 | 


two values are among determining factors 

for a project to be able to alleviate poverty 

to the expected degree. 

Many development projects aim at solving 

certain problems in the society. That is why, 

the idea of a project should be well thought 

of- that is, it should address specific problems 

facing specified target. 

The overall aim of any development project 

is to bring positive change to the specified 

target. This calls for projects then to be developed 

taking into consideration the views 

of stakeholders, particularly the beneficiaries. 

Another issue that needs a lot of consideration 

is – factors contributing to the problem. 

This calls for assessment of the needs of a 

people so as to correctly identify a project. 

Then assessment should be done to gain insight 

about the problem that an institution 

(CSO) intends to address. 

It is of uttermost importance to involve expected 

beneficiaries of a project at its formulation 

stage as they are the ones who 

knows better the problems they face. This 

can be done at communal meetings and 

focus groups discussions (FGD). Other techniques 

which can be used to assess community 

needs are community mapping and 

participatory appraisal. 


What does it take to have a project 

become successful? 

It should be noted that if the whole process 

of planning and management is open and 

transparent and is geared to enabling beneficiaries 

own the processes and results of the 

project, it’s more likely to become successful. 

After all, the outcome of the project is 

measured as a noticeable change which can 

be sustained by the project beneficiaries. 

Can the project really be able to make 

use of all the diverse stakeholders? 

This is not feasible. This calls for the need to 

identify stakeholders to involve. This is done 

through undertaking stakeholders’ analysis, 

which will help to identifying primary and 

secondary stakeholders. The first are those 

who directly will be affecting or be affected 

by the project while the latter are those who 

indirectly will be affecting or be affected by 

the project. 

During the project planning stage, the identified 

problems should be carefully and 

critically analyzed by all stakeholders. The 

analysis of the problem to be solved by 

the project should include identifying root 

causes and effects of the snag. If not well 

analyzed, the problem will be only partially 

solved. 

After the analysis of the problem, then objectives 

should be set, describing the desired 

positive outcome, the situation of the problem, 

root causes and effects. 

Other things to consider 

There are many other things that should be 

embraced while planning a project. This 

includes the development of the Theory of 

Change for the project. I am right to say 

that many projects do not start with the end 

in mind. The question is the epitaph. This 

mean what the project will bring and leave 

to the members of the community once the 

project is over. To answer this question you 

will have set you a benchmark that you will 

use to measure and see if the project has 

achieved the intended goal. Remember to 

set only one main objective. And at least 3 

specific objectives (too many objectives and

specific objectives will make you achieve 

absolutely nothing) 

Your main objective should end with empowerment 

of beneficiaries to participate 

in local government decision making processes. 

This will ensure greater accountability 

and transparency of resources allocation on 

the matter that you are addressing in your 

community. Many projects received at The 

Foundation, if not all, ends with awareness 

creation workshop! Let’s move a notch 

higher to empowerment and accountability 

enhancement projects. 

Another thing to consider is how you can 

link your interventions as NGOs, to that of 

the government. This is a difficult but simple 

question. Scan around the matter that you 

want to address and see if there are policies 

or laws regarding the matter. Ask yourself 

what the local government or central government 

was supposed to do or deliver under 

this policy or law. Then tackle the matter 

while reminding the government of its obligations. 

After all, if the problem is taken in to 

local government plan, it will become part 

of their annual plan and budget and hence 

will ensure its sustainability. You as NGO 

| Inside Story | 

cannot be there forever, are the people and 

their local government who will be there 

always. 

After appraisal and understanding the end 

result that is measurable, as well as established 

link to policies, then think of resources- 

the budget. Think which human resource 

and financial resources you need. Make a 

realistic budget and polish your proposal 

ready to share with development partner 

like the Foundation for Civil Society 

This is a Big Question Column 

We are inviting contributors with features on this new 

column – Editor 

Learning and planning together 

is important for any project to 

succeed 


| 21 |

| Opinion | 

Dr. Rose Oluoch of MSTCDC 

Dr. Rose Oluoch. 

MS-TCDC conducted Project Planning and 

Management training with Grantees of The 

Foundation for Civil Society in December 

2007. The four-day course attracted 20 

participants and coverage mainly involved 

planning of projects and very little was covered 

in the area of project management. 

Writes Dr. Rose Oluoch. 

MS-TCDC feel that to enable full coverage 

of the course (Design, plan and management), 

the training days be increased to 

minimum 8, and a maximum of 10 days. 

However, this time the experiences of the 

participants were quite impressive; as most 

of them had either worked on projects before, 

or had attended other trainings. 

While it is understandable that it would 

not be possible to have all participants on 

the same experience level, one recommendation 

put out is that in the future, 

The Foundation to consider conducting the 

trainings in the form of modules.The course 

could be divided into two modules: basics 

of project planning as module one for those 

who have no projects experiences, whilst 

module two; Implementation, management 

and M&E would be for those who have 

attended module one, including those with 

prior project experiences. 

Some of the participants considered the 

training materials to be too ‘heavy loaded.’ 

In light of this, we shall endeavor in future 

to make the materials simpler and basic to 

suit the needs of participants who might not 

have essential project planning skills. 

MS-TCDC is also working on translation of 

the materials into the Kiswahili Language. 

| 22 | 


CSOs still have limited 

creativity in project 

write-up 

One other option would be to develop a 

training manual that all participants could 

very well utilize even after the training 

period. The training manual would be short 

with all the basics of project planning and 

management. The manual would also be 

made simple enough to cater for others 

who might not have the opportunity to 

attend the full course. One area that seems 

to have a few handles was the timings of 

the trainings. The training seems to be happening 

after the participants have written 

and received approval for the project to go 

ahead. It defeats the purpose of providing 

them with skills in planning and designing 

of projects, if they have already designed 

them. 

One recommendation would be to remove 

planning and design as part of the training 

and instead, concentrate on elements of 

project implementation, management, 

monitoring and evaluation. Another recommendation 

would to divide the modules: 

The planning and design module to 

take place before the approval of the final 

proposal... i.e, at the conceptual stage... 

This part of the training could be used to 

help work on the final proposal, while the 

management, Monitoring and Evaluation 

(M&E) to be done at the on-set of project 

implementation. Each of the above Modules 

would take 5 days, hence the 10 days 

recommended above. 

The participants felt that a field trip to one 

of the projects being funded by The Founda- 


tion, or any other NGO’s would be essential 

in helping them understand better how to 

implement projects. A one-day field trip is 

something that could be included as part of 

their learning experiences. The participants 

also recommended a follow-up support system 

to be put in place. The support system 

would be different from M&E as this would 

be used as a guide or support mechanism 

as they implement the projects. 

Due to the number of Foundation Partners, 

it would not be possible to follow-up 

each and every grantee, however, a yearly 

schedule could be put in place to follow 

up start-up, medium term, and long term 

projects as they implement their projects. 

This is an area that The Foundation and 

MS-TCDC could discuss further to see 

how they can draw up an action follow 

up future plan. 

From the side of the Foundation partners 

(Grantees), there seem to be a limitation 

in the creativity of their projects in the 

sense that, capacity building workshops 

seems to take a huge chunk of their time 

and funds. It would be ideal to see them 

move from building the local capacities to 

ensuring that the civic education provided 

moves the beneficiaries towards economic 

empowerment also 

Dr. Rose Oluoch is a Training & Development Advisor at 

MS Training Center for Development Cooperation, 

Some CSO participants at a training 

on project management organized by 

The Foundation for Civil Society

Want to buy a 

computer, 

some important 

tips... 

The use of Information Communication 

Technology (ICT) today has proved to 

be more than necessary in almost every 

sector in Tanzania. The civil societies in 

the country have not been left behind. 

For example, Civil Society Organisations 

(CSOs) working with grant- makers, requires 

to fill in forms and other reports that 

requires the use of a computer. To own a 

computer and related accessories including 

software has become a basic necessity for 

CSOs. Writes IT Specialist, Sunday Mtega 

Computer is one of the most essential tools 

in ICT. For those institutions planning to 

buy a computer for performing daily activities, 

this article contains some helpful 

tips. 

There are a wide range of computers in the 

market today. This means making the right 

choice is essential for each organisation’s 

needs. An organization can either decide 

to buy a desktop computer or a laptop. A 

desktop computer is stationed at a particular 

desk for daily use while a laptop is small 

in size and portable. That means one can 

move around with it from one office to the 

other and so on. 

Whatever computer you decide to buy, 

there are specifications that one must 

decide on. I recommend the following specification: 

Pentium Processor P IV (Pentium 

four), ram 512 or higher and a hard disk 

space of 40GB and higher. 

When buying, insist on getting all the 

resource CDs and keep them safe. Also 

remember to buy a UPS. This come hardy 

Sunday Mtega - FCS 

| ICT Corner | 

when there is electric power breakdown 

or fluctuation. 

After you have your computer in place you 

get an expert to install necessary software. 

It is important to remember to load your 

computer an antivirus programme. There 

are wide spread virus that attack computers, 

some of them are highly destructive 

and without an effective antivirus, they can 

easily, collapse your system. 

After your computer is fully protected, 

now we can come to internet connectivity. 

Today, we have wireless modem technology. 

Telecom companies- TTCL, ZANTEL, 

VODACOM and CELTEL are selling wireless 

devices or data cable, which all you 

need is the device, computer, a sim card 

or CDMA card and recharge voucher, to 

access internet. 

The internet opens the whole world of ICT, 

where one can access the World Wide 

Web. In the web you can have an email 

account and get access to large global 

information hubs. 

The email helps to cut down the cost of 

travelling long distance to submit reports, 

application forms and other kind of communication. 

It saves time and money. 

For any question regarding ICT contact Sunday Mtega 

through E-mail: smtega@thefoundation-tz.org or Mobile 

+255754585853 


| 23 |

| Standards & Performance | 

Why 

capacity self 

self 

assessment 

for grant 

seekers? 

Omar Jecha 


for Civil Society 

since 2007 started 

a process of 

making organisational 

capacity 

self assessment 

(OCSA) for grantees 

after their 

ojecha@thefoundation-tz.org applications for 

grants are approved. 

The objective is to better understand 

the organisation’s capacity (abilities) and 

weakness, where after the evaluation; The 

Foundation is able to offer suggestions on 

improvement of particular CSOs. This is an 

important exercise, not only for The Foundation 

but also for self assessed CSOs. It is a 

chance for the evaluated CSO to understand 

itself on its capacity, challenges and weaknesses. 

Writes Omar Jecha 

The process of evaluation is done using a 

special tool known as Organisation Capacity 

Self Assessment Tool – OCSAT. The tool has 

been developed essentially for measuring the 

capacity of Intermediary NGOs and other 

CSOs that receive grants from various bodies 

including The Foundation. Obviously, such 

| 24 | 


grants are dished out to enable the beneficiary 

organisations run their community based 

projects and programmes and ensure the 

growth of the institution. 

The main objectives for the capacity evaluation 

are: 

• Collect baseline reports/data about the 

CSO on their capacity in various fields of 

project performance and organisational 

management. 

• To identify, evaluate and look at the capacity 

of the CSO and challenges facing it 

in every field that is evaluated, checking 

on every bit of its abilities and challenges 

in line with management and leadership, 

its mission and values, policy/law 

environment, relationship (networking), 

measuring of results of the CSO. 

• To understand the capacity gaps of a CSO 

and come out with clear action plan to 

address gaps 

• To compare areas of performance which 

need urgent capacity through provision 

of training, mentoring and handholding 

to an organisation, and 

• To advice Grantee CSO on how to improve 

its performance on issues that dont 

requires training. 


In the first phase of CSOs CapacityAssessment 

about 43 organisations out of 44 listed as 

potential grantees were visited and supported. 

All were from Tanzania Mainland including 

two from Zanzibar. 

The exercise is a progressive strategy drawn 

by the Foundation for Civil society as an 

important matter for enhancing grant making 

services as well as improving CSOs capacity 

building initiatives. In future, all CSOs whose 

applications to get grants are approved will 

have to undergo the exercise. 

In evaluating the capacity of a CSO, the main 

variables (as follows) are given a priority through 

use of Focused Group Discussion (FGD) on 

the following areas: Governance of the organisation 

which looks at the existence of Board 

and clear division of duty/power between 

board members (or executive committees), 

and secretariat (daily executives) as well as the 

existence of know constitution as well as mission 

and vision of the organisation. Another 

variable is Management Practices which looks 

on how meetings are conducted, existence of 

manuals and code of conduct. Another area 

is Human Resources Management like staff 

recruitment procedures, staff assessment and 

training etc. Financial Resource Management 

and Mobilization is another area for self assessment 

as well as Service Delivery, External 

Relations, Organisational Sustainability and 

Skills on Policy Engagement and Practices. 

The tool is primarily meant to be a self assessment 

tools for the respective organizations. 

Therefore the Foundation representatives were 

mainly available to provide hands on support 

and facilitation in carrying out the exercise. 

The main challenge that came to light was the 

fact that many CSOs had put their capacity 

score far beyond their capabilities. The situation 

can be proved by the use of OCSAT, and 

only then can CSO work at its true capability 

and then move upward. 

The clear cut self assessment has brought 

new outlook that many CSOs have primary 

capacity but face many challenges that needs 

extra effort to deal with so as to improve 

performance. 

In looking at the capacity of a CSO, which 

their capacity were evaluated using the 

above indicators, it emerged their average 

capacity were about 3.0 to 4.2 in many 

areas of operations evaluated in a given CSO. 

The specifically, the average capacity was

in management capability and procedures 

of used in running a CSO as well links with 

external world (stakeholders like government 

and media). 

The evaluation has also shown many CSOs 

are lackadaisical in as far as building financial 

and organisational sustainability due to limited 

capability and failure to access resources. 

Apart from those problems, many CSOs are in 

their nascent stage; do not have strategic plans, 

missions and main goal.What does this mean? 

Such CSOs need to be revamped so as to give 

them a sense of direction and hope. 

The image presented here shows; still there 

is need for enhancing the CSOs’ on organisation 

and structures, systems and strategies. 

This would help our CSOs to be meticulous, 

result oriented and able to bring change while 

ensuring organisational effectiveness, efficient 

and sustainability. 

The Foundation for Civil has married this 

exercise with the whole processes of evaluating 

applications for grants. This eventually 

will help to measure if the capacity building 

initiatives we introduce through the grants 

issued are able to enhance beneficiary CSOs 

as well as the members of the community 

targeted by the CSOs. 

On our side, the Foundation for Civil Society, 

we are trying to fill this hole through a special 

capacity building programme for CSOs whose 

applications for grants have been approved. So 

far ten different training modules have been 

developed and CSOs lined up to receive grants 

are being trained as an ongoing basis 

SUCCESS STORY 

The magic of Organisation Self Capacity Assesment 

(OCSA) - Lubana Corridor Environmental 

Development Strategy (LCEDS) 

This was among the organization that went 

through the Organisational Self Capacity Assessment 

(OCSA) exercise on 30th June 2007. 

Lubana Corridor is a relatively young CSO in 

Mara region, Bunda District. It has received 

2 small rolling grants from The Foundation in 

the past two years. Before the OSCA exercise 

Lubana Corridor had no clear vision of 

the future especially in making itself a strong, 

well organized and professional organization 

in Mara region. Just 3 months after the exercise, 

Lubana Corridor, as per their letter of 

thanks to the Foundation dated 11/10/2007, 

has transformed itself into an organization 

Lubana Corridor Environmental Development Strategy (LCEDS) old office 

LCEDS new office outside LCEDS new office inside 

with a brighter future. 

“We have changed our organizational structure 

which now shows clearly, roles and responsibilities 

for each position; we have crafted a new 

constitution with relevant vision and mission to 

us and our beneficiaries, we have specific objectives 

in our constitution. 

Our new constitution spells out responsibilities 

of leaders, members, employees. The constitution 

also is now translated into Kiswahili language 

and has been widely shared with our 

members and beneficiaries as well as local 

government leadership. We have started process 

to comply with the NGO Act 2002. 

We also have for the first time employed a staff, 

an accountant in which the recruitment process 

was transparent and open. We advertised publicly 

the position, received applications, interviewed 

and recruited an appropriate person. 

We have in place proper financial guidelines and 

thanks to our rapport, good work and visibility 

we have acquired a new office which was once 

used by The Prevention and Combat Corruption 

Bureau (PCCB) in Bunda. Thanks to your support 

we have bought a new computer and printer 

which helps us to process and keep records 

as well as communication through internet. 

We are working effectively with media and we 

have become news makers on environmental 

issues, as you know Bunda is one of the district 

threatened by environmental degradation 

due to its geographical landscape. Surely, the 

combination of grants you have offered and 13 

hrs support on organizational self assessment 

have made a big difference to our organisation. 

Thanks Foundation”. Alphonce D. Nkonoki, 

Executive Director – Lubana Corridor 


| 25 |

| Research & Analysis | 

Neema Ndunguru 

Lack of qualified qualified 

human resources 

dogs civil society 

sector 

Neema Ndunguru 

The human resource capacity of The Foundation-funded 

projects plays an imperative 

role in influencing and affecting the degree 

to which projects achieve their objectives, a 

new study has revealed. The study that involved 

42 organizations in nine regions in Tanzania 

Mainland including Zanzibar is likely 

to make the Foundation for Civil Society to 

clearly reinforce its policy that states that 

grantees can use up to 30% of their grant to 

cater to overhead and administrative costs, 

writes Neema Ndunguru 

The research sought to find out to what extent 

are funds fromThe Foundation-funded projects 

| 26 | 


allocated to the employment of qualified staff. 

The study titled “State of Human Resource in 

Civil Society Organizations” sought to gain 

insight into the current state of human resource 

in The Foundation’s grantees. 

It involved exploring the nature of human 

resource capacity in grantee organizations 

after it was observed a number of CSOs had 

not been performing as initially intended, as 

well as the prevalence of poor reporting and 

poor financial management feedback from 

grants officers. 

The research proposes a number of ways to 


“Civil Society Organizations 

play a crucial role in the 

development of society in 

terms of the promotion of 

democratic change and the 

building of society’s capacity 

to become more active, self 

reliant, and sustainable in the 

democratic process,” - study. 

improve the capacity of workers at CSOs 

including laying up long term strategies on 

capacity building, use of various means for 

capacity building and improvement of information 

and experience sharing platforms. 

The research showed that most organizations 

possessed financial management and monitoring 

and evaluation tools but a cross reference 

with previous evaluations conducted revealed 

that the use of these tools was not necessarily 

appropriate and that organizations had little or 

very poor knowledge of the use of particular 

systems. 

“Civil Society Organizations play a crucial 

role in the development of society in terms 

of the promotion of democratic change and 

the building of society’s capacity to become 

more active, self reliant, and sustainable in the 

democratic process,” declares the study. 

According to the study CSOs are the medium 

through which people gain access to participating 

and engaging in this process of change. 

“Change, however, cannot be positively 

effective without the appropriate tools and 

mechanisms in place. One such mechanism 

is that of the human resource capacity in civil 

society organizations,” says the study. 

The study says a number of the Foundationfunded 

CSOs depend on volunteers and constitutional 

leadership to plan and implement 

their projects. “....the role played by these individuals 

is significant, reports from our grants 

officers indicate a prevalence of inadequate 

professionalism in project management and 

poor financial records and reporting among 

a number of CSOs,” says the report. 

The responsibility of decisions made over the 

allocation of the 30% grant value as administration 

budget is entirely left to the grantees 

and The Foundation has no say at all, a situation 

that shows if nothing is done, the status 

quo will remain.The research was conducted 

last November

Tanzania CSO 

Directory 2008/9 

Sunday Mtega 


for Civil Society 

in collaboration 

with NGO Resource 

Centre 

(NGO RC) of 

Zanzibar, natio- 

smtega@thefoundation-tz.org 

nal umbrella organizations, 

CSO 

networks as well 

as other registrars 

of CSO, is in the process of preparing Tanzania 

CSOs Directory. The process will cover 

both Tanzania Mainland and Tanzania Zanzibar. 

The Directory will help CSOs in Tanzania 

to network as well as in publicizing their 

work, their capacity, achievements as well 

as their contacts. The process also will help 

to understand the size and level of growth of 

the sector in terms of number of existing and 

functioning organizations, financial size and 

human resources. 

Current estimates put CSOs in Tanzania at 

6000 – 8000 organizations. 

The process towards making the idea of a Directory 

a reality was beefed up by the support 

of CSO regional networks. At the meeting that 

was held in Morogoro in March 2008, the 

networks agreed to support the data collection 

process at regional and district levels. 

“We are happy with this initiative, we will take 

it as our own as in the first place it is for our 

(CSOs) benefits” says Peter Bayo an official 

of Arusha NGO Network (ANGONET). He 

added that the exercise will help regional 

networks to understand the exactly number 

of CSOs in their regions, their contact and 

capacity in terms of staff number and financial 

management. 

Mr. Bayo’s remarks were supported by Mr. 

Ezekiel Muhubiri (Kilimanjaro Umoja NGO 

Network), MS. Rebecca Mkilima of Lindi 

NGO Network and Mr.Yusto Mchuruza of Ka- 

gera NGO Network who said that the exercise 

itself is a capacity building for CSO network 

organisation on Directory making. 

The data collection process will take place 

to the first weeks of the month of April 2008. 

All CSOs which include registered NGOs, 

CBOs, Trade Unions, Professional Associations, 

Farmers Association, Cooperatives and 

SACCOs with activities are geared to support 

the community, are expected to register and 

appear in the Directory. 

The process of preparing a CSO Directory was 

inspired by the launch of the similar Directory 

in Zanzibar which was supported and funded 

A cross section of participants at the 

regional CSO network meeting in 

Morogoro in March 2008 

| From Inside | 

by NGO Resource Centre (NGO RC). Achim 

Chiaji who is the Project Manager of NGO 

RC says the CSO Directory in Zanzibar has 

500 CSOs listed. 

Speaking of the exercise inTanzania Mainland, 

the Executive Director of the Foundation, Mr. 

John Ulanga theTanzania CSO Directory will 

be launched during the CSO Week to be held 

in May if all goes according to plan 

For more information about the CSO 

Directory 2008/9; contact; 

Mr. Sunday Mtega, E-mail smtega@ 

thefoundation-tz.org or 

Mobile +255754585853 


| 27 |

| Opinion | 

EAC CSOs’ Forum: 

an idea whose time is now 

Jwani Tranquilino Jube 

Any good idea unless 

put into use 

ends up in smoke 

regardless of its 

nobility. It requires 

only a little effort to 

ensure good ideas 

are not lost like the 

clouds of summer 

season which don’t 

produce any rain- 

jwanijube@fastmail.fr 

fall. Listening and 

learning from the 

CSOs Annual Forum which took place in Arusha at 

the end of last November, there were a wide range 

of issues and ideas that were brought to the fore. I 

rate the forum as having been successful from presentations, 

subsequent discussions and the overall 

participation. Reflects Jwani Tranquilino Jube 

At the end of the two-day forum participants from 

diverse regions ofTanzania and representatives from 

Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda went back home with 

rich collection of papers. 

It is my earnest hope that the participants have retained 

at least one or two important matters among 

the diverse issues that arose during presentations 

and discussions. 

Many participants spoke of the need to avail the 

East African Treaty to members of the civil society. 

Another issue that was backed by majority of participants 

was establishment of an organized CSO 

forum for the East African Community. 

Some participants proposed that the Tanzania CSO 

Forum should become the link between CSOs in 

the country and the other member states of the East 

African Community. 

This feature discusses the idea of East Africa Community 

CSOs’ Forum as an idea whose time has 

come. Majority of the participants said the idea can 

no longer be avoided or ignored. They concurred 

| 28 | 


Masaai people lives in 

both Tanzania and Kenya 

that the ongoing EAC integration, called for CSOs 

in the region to come together. 

Participants agreed it was of outmost importance for 

civil society fraternity in EAC to take up immediate 

actions and start forming networks across the region. 

Yes, CSOs certainly need a joint forum! 

To speak, the process of initiating EAC CSO’s Forum 

has started and CSOs coordinators and representatives 

have been advised to start defining areas in 

which they can cooperate on regionally.This will be 

used as a stepping stone in the process of forming 

EAC CSOs’ Forum, which will be able to cater for 

the concerns of the citizens in the region. 

The idea of forming such a forum was floated during 

a plenary discussions titled: “The Role of CSOs in 

enhancing the East Africa Integration.” This was 

during the 5th CSOs Annual Forum and Exhibitions 

in Arusha. 

It is envisioned that the forum would act as platform 

for dialogue on issues that addresses the needs of 

the East African so as to enhance the future of the 

East African Community. 

The proposal received wide support from participants 

at the forum. Mr. Donald Deya – CEO – East 

African Law Society, said the idea was long overdue. 

His organization, he said had been granted observer 

status by EAC secretariat. 

Mr. Deya urged that, the need for such a forum, to 

be used as a regional instrument where citizens can 

communicate concerns about the community, was 

real and paramount. 

Member of East Africa Legislative Assembly from 

Tanzania Hon. Dr. George Nangale as well as the 

Deputy Minister, East African Cooperation (Tanzania) 

Hon. Dr. Buberwa Kamala offered their support 

to the idea. 

The latter insisted that, in order to increase citizens’ 

participation in the East Africa Community 

integration processes there must be an instrument 


or structure of communication between the CSOs 

in the region. 

According to the deputy minister such an instrument 

or structure would enable CSOs and the EastAfrican 

citizens to have an opportunity for joint dialogue and 

dissemination of information. It would bring new 

cooperation capable of putting up a joint mechanisms 

for defending the citizens concerns. 

He insisted that, forming such an instrument would 

help to ensure CSOs’ contributions in enhancing 

the EA Community are given a chance in the near 

future. 

During the discussions, it emerged that EAC treaty 

recognizes human rights groups, grassroots organizations, 

labour unions, youth and gender movements, 

environmental movements, religious bodies, 

farmers’ organizations, the academic community, 

research institutions, professional associations; and 

the media as part and parcel of the civil society. 

The community’s support for CSOs is outlined in 

Article 127; Part 1, 3 & 4 of the EAC Treaty. The 

treaty allows Civil Society Organizations within 

the region to be granted observer status by the 

community secretariat. 

The Principal Labor and Employment Officer for 

the EAC, Ms. Mary Makoffu during the discussion 

said in order to strengthen and promote citizens’ 

participation EAC has created Gender, Community 

Development and Civil Society Mobilization Unit. 

Ms Makoffu said the secretariat organized the first 

major regional civil society workshop in July 2005 

and the workshop report was presented to the 

Council of Ministers in November 2006. 

She said EAC secretariat works very closely with 

CSOs with regional interests irrespective of whether 

they have observer status or not. She brought to the 

light the qualities needed for effective participation 

of CSOs in the regional body. 

The qualities are: Capacity to understand and to 

be understood; Trustworthiness; Mutual respect; 

Holistic vision; dialogue with stakeholder; Dialogue 

skills; Ability to confine self within working area. 

Others are clear dialogue structure; Indisputable 

facts as basis for dialogue; Consecutive discussions 

and feedback. 

She said that CSOs can participate in the East 

African Integration process in the following areas: 

Policy Preparation; Policy Decision Making; Policy 

Operationalization; Policy implementation; and 

Policy Monitoring & Evaluation. 

CSOs that have been granted observer status by 

the community include the following: East African 

Business Council, EastAfricanTrade Union Council, 

EastAfrican Centre for Constitutional Development, 

EastAfrican Magistrates and JudgesAssociation, East 

Africa Book Development Association, and East 

Africa Law Society. 

Other CSOs whose applications are yet to be cleared 

include: International Council of Social Welfare; 

East AfricanYouth Forum; Legal and Human Rights 

Centre; East Africa Youth Forum (Kenya Chapter); 

East African Youth Development; East African Fine 

Coffees Association; Association of Professional 

Societies in East Africa; East African Confederation 

of Informal Sector Organizations and The Eastern 

African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the 

Advancement of Women

John Ulanga at FCS: 

His life and work, 

“FCS is a house of new ideas and good work” 

At the Foundation for Civil Society, a 

number of senior staff is youthful, led by 

the institution’s Executive Director, Mr. 

John Ulanga, who is in his mid thirties. 

For such an institution, which for the last 

five years has handled grants worth Tsh 

20 billion, it is no mean feat. The leader 

and staff of such an institution must be a 

person of very high integrity as well as 

good performer, writesAbdul Njaidi who 

interviewed Mr. Ulanga recently. 

For Mr. Ulanga, what has made him tick 

is adherence to professionalism, integrity, 

seeking new knowledge to find creative 

solutions, as well as respecting the abilities 

of others. He made this confession at a 

special interview to commemorate The 

Foundation’s fifth anniversary. 

Mr. Ulanga who frequently was able to 

provide answer to my questions before I 

even finish, said that after a collective decision 

has been made, he is able to ensure 

its implementation to the word. 

When we come to leadership, Mr. Ulanga 

who has been at the helm of FCS since 

November 2006, said what count is one’s 

ability and vigour to make things work out, 

even when under pressure or hostile environment, 

without going outside the law 

and policies of a given organization. 

When asked if his age has ever been a 

hindrance in as far as undertaking his 

responsibilities as a leader are concerned, 

Mr. Ulanga said: “Of course there 

are challenges... but I thank those who 

have trusted me and given this position of 

responsibly, it is gratifying and I promise 

not to fail them.” 

The Executive Director said FCS to a great 

extent was being lead by young people. 

“This gives me more strength and greater 

self confidence,” he said adding: “Yes, 

here at The Foundation we are many 

young people... my fellow youths ... for 

sure they love Tanzania ... our beloved 

motherland, they do their work for the 

benefit of this nation ... it is a good team 

and I appreciate working with them,” Mr 

Ulanga said. 

With such a team, Mr. Ulanga reaffirmed 

that FCS is poised to reach greater heights 

even as the institution celebrates 5th anni- 

versary this year. “FCS has been making 

achievements day by day ... every new 

date we are accomplishing something 

new. We have the audacity to venture 

and confront new emerging issues with 

calculated risk... but always we managed 

to achieve something extraordinary for the 

civil society sector,” Mr. Ulanga said. 

Some of the new ideas in the catalogues 

of accomplishment include: The CSO 

capacity self assessment tool, introduction 

of e-mailing list which is an open 

fora for anyone, an interactive website, 

various training modules for CSOs, TV 

program to show CSO work, Newsletter 

of the Foundation, CSO Focus Magazine 

and other publications like the Image of 

Success Booklet which goes hand in hand 

with Best Grantees Award (BGA). 

Other newly introduced items or improved 

are the citizens platforms in form 

of Public Policy Dialogue at regional 

level, CSO exhibitions and engagement 

with MPs and Members of the House of 

Representatives. Other new innitiative of 

the Foundation is an open grants making 

procedures and information provision, as 

well as more involvement and working 

with CSO CSO umbrella and networks. 

Other new events in the pipeline include 

the Tanzania CSO Excellence Award, 

CSO Week and Tanzania Directory of 

CSOs. The award is geared to encourage 

high standards and quality performance 

among CSOs while the directory is a 

marketing and networking tool for CSOs 

in the country. 

When asked about memorable moments, 

he said there have been many achievements 

and challenges. “It is difficult to say 

what is most memorable but what I can 

say is in year 2006 when we headed our 

first CSOs Exhibition at the parliament, I 

was told it was better than the previous 

ones. Still in the exhibition of 2007, it was 

said it was the best of all....This goes a long 

way to say every day we are improving, 

today is better than yesterday,” he said. 

Mr. Ulanga, MBA holder and certified professional 

accountant is a graduate of Dar 

es salaam University . Before joining The 

Foundation, he worked with the Economic 

Social Research Foundation - ESRF.

Coming together is a Beginning 

Keeping together is Progress 

Working together is Success 

Team Work 

Contact 

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Address: P. O. Box 20073, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

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Why burn yourself in the heat while everything is under one roof 

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