Project News

DTF of Ulanga analyzing CI forms together with O&OD team

The aim of Improved O&OD is to mainstream the mindset of focusing on Community Initiatives^[1] (CIs), as well as the practices of supporting and promoting them in all Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in Tanzania.

In order to develop a model of such practices, during the planning and budgeting period this year (October through December 2016), O&OD team assisted 6 target LGAs to collect information of CIs, as well as to analyze the collected information. Using the form that the O&OD team developed, information on existing CIs in all villages were submitted to the District Councils through Ward Offices. District Taskforce^[2] (DTF) members discussed each and every collected form and analyzed each CI based on the 2 criteria of: "Willingness and Ownership" and "Organizational Capacity" of the community.

After the analysis, DTF discussed appropriate support of LGA to each CI. During the discussion, it was emphasized that LGA's role is not to "top up" financial resources to complete the CI projects for the community. Instead, DTF kept in mind that LGA should effectively combine Financial, Technical and Moral Supports so as to encourage the communities to succeed in their own CIs. O&OD team is promoting this concept of focusing on communities' capability in the local governance.

DTF of Bagamoyo discussing with O&OD team

Through the discussion, DTF deepened their understanding on the importance and the real meaning of supporting CIs, and developed their capacity in appropriately identifying, analyzing and supporting CIs.

O&OD team will continue to support DTF by monitoring the progress of LGA support to identified existing CIs, as well as by developing their capacity in monitoring the progress of those CIs.

Moreover, O&OD team is compiling the mechanism of identifying, analyzing and supporting CIs into an operational guide, which will be introduced nationwide, through Zonal Workshops targeting all LGAs, starting from January 2017. The final version of the operational guide will be available at the "Materials" page of this project website.