cases from tanzania - Sustainet

Sustainable agriculture: A pathway out of poverty for East Africa’s rural poor
(ii) Strengthen accounting, audit, banking and reporting procedures for use by cooperative
societies and where necessary institutionalize public accounting procedures
(iii) Prescribe the minimum qualifications for management and board members
(iv) Develop Cooperative Management Information System to help monitor the performance
of cooperatives”
(KSRA, short version, p. 10).
Sustainable agriculture solutions Sustainable agriculture relies on strong local groups,
to which members feel a strong sense of ownership and belonging. Democratic participation
in decision making, new skills in organizing and accountancy, and transparency in decision
making and financial affairs are vital for this. Sustainable agriculture is thus a valuable school
for local-level democracy and good governance.
Strong local groups are also able to put pressure on government agencies to ensure that
they provide services, guarantee rights and enforce justice. Sustainable agriculture thus has
a trickle-up effect on improving the government hierarchy.
Sustainable agriculture techniques are frequently promoted by faith-based NGOs (e.g.,
Catholic dioceses, protestant churches, or international NGOs such as World Vision).
These organizations usually feel committed to serve the local people and usually obey high
humanitarian values. Their approaches not only meet the standards of ecological sustainability;
they also are based on social, cultural and ethical values. These organizations strive to
integrate local people into decision-making processes. Local NGOs are encouraging farmers
to organize themselves. Thereby, they revitalize farmers’ organizations and fill the gap left
by weak cooperatives.
Policy changes needed Local organizations, especially those that are traditional, should
be consulted and given an opportunity to feed their knowledge and experience into the
formulation of government strategies. Local farmers’ organizations should be strengthened
and supported, and their capacity to market goods jointly enhanced.
The agricultural legal system should be enhanced, reducing the number of individual laws. The
legal/judicial system should also be strengthened to ensure that laws are actually observed.
Village governance in Tanzania
Cases: HEM (p. 58), PELUM (p. 85)
The problem To provide good services to local residents, village government leaders need
to be knowledgeable and informed, and have the confidence and power to demand services
from other agencies and higher levels of government. They must be able to set and enforce
local laws. Without these qualities, villagers are likely to violate laws, and they will not be able
to draw on government support programs. NGOs will find it difficult to start development
projects without the support of the village councillors. Some village governments even demand
pay when asked to co-operate in community mobilization. Because the government
is unable to provide services, NGOs sometimes have to do so.
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