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The Chukua Hatua (Take Action) programme has been running in six districts of
Shinyanga region and in the Ngorongoro district in Arusha region.
Not many turn up because many dont see the importance of village
meetings. There is often little implementation of what is decided so
why bother? Male residents of Busanda.
Relative to many countries, Tanzania has an impressive structure in place for
local governance at sub-village, village, ward, and district levels. However,
the effectiveness of this structure in really allowing local voices to be
influential is questionable.
Village- and district-level councils are elected and it is their role to oversee
bottom-up planning and decision making through to a full council at district
level. However, effective control at both levels tends to be held by centrally
appointed officials. Elected representatives at local level often lack the desire
3
or capacity to hold these appointed officials to account.
At local level, meetings are only called by the village chair and executive.
These should take place quarterly, but often happen rarely or not at all.
When they do take place, they are not well attended because local people
have little faith in them, as one young artist points out: We ask questions in
meetings but dont get satisfactory or truthful answers, or we are prevented
from asking because only a short time is set aside for questions.
There is also a sense of insecurity: people are afraid of being excluded from
the patronage system and of losing its benefit or protection. There is
evidence of more direct threats to individuals who speak out. Party
polarization is also an issue, with any challenge by ordinary citizens often
taken by leaders as an indication of opposition politics.
In addition, there is a lack of information about policies, laws, peoples rights,
and even what is happening in the country. In rural areas, most people get
their information from radio, but reception is sometimes poor and people,
women in particular, do not have time to listen. Print media are less popular
because newspapers arrive very late (up to a week after publication) and in
any case many people cannot read.
Oxfams Chukua Hatua (Take Action) programme has been running since
August 2010. It operates in six districts across Shinyanga region, a dry, agro-
pastoralist area which is one of the poorest in Tanzania, and Ngorongoro
district in Arusha region, another pastoralist region prone to drought.
The goal of Chukua Hatua is to achieve increased accountability and
responsiveness of government to its citizens. The programme aims to do this
primarily by encouraging active citizenship, particularly for women fostering
citizens who know their rights and responsibilities, demand them, and are
able to search for and access information. Underpinning the programme is
the belief that if people demand their rights and entitlements, then the
government will be increasingly compelled to respond.
Chukua Hatua has taken an evolutionary approach to programming, using
multiple simultaneous pilot projects followed by a review of the pilots
successes and, based on this, a planned programme design to scale up the
successful approaches. The intention is to find out what works as a catalyst
to active citizenship. In the first phase the programme piloted five
approaches:
1. Election promises tracking: Training of trackers in 36 communities
prior to the 2010 elections. They made recordings of rally promises and
took these back to their communities to agree priorities. They are now
following up progress against the leaders promises and recording their
findings using cartoon notice boards.
2. Farmer animators: Orientation of more than 200 farmers nominated by
their farmers groups of approximately 30 people, to understand
principles of accountability, how to strategize to hold those in power to
account, and how to share their knowledge and facilitate their groups to
take action.
3. Active musicians: Training 42 musicians from existing groups on
principles of accountability to act as seeds in their groups to influence
their music, which is widely listened to by communities.
4. Student councils: Activating an existing space that should provide a
voice for students but is currently used by teachers to control students;
sensitizing students and teachers on issues of democracy to enable
students to campaign for leadership and to hold elections; linking
students with community champions to help them raise issues with
teachers and school management committees.
5. Community radio: Creating a new space in Ngorongoro district to
enable pastoralists to share information and debate. Currently the only
radio outlet accessible is a Kenyan station. Unfortunately, however, the
government has not yet granted the radio licence.
We cant invite leaders like the MPs because they come [only] when
they have their own issues. We invite them but they dont attend.
Maybe we see them during the [election] campaign, which is when
the road is repaired. Resident of Busanda village7
The programme recorded a number of occasions where people were
prevented from speaking out or challenging authority. This suggested that
Chukua Hatua needed to intervene directly in shaping leaders responses.
Examples of negative responses from those in power were found at all
levels, and can be attributed to the fact that leaders are not used to being
challenged or held to account.
For example, in Kahama, active musicians performances were very popular.
However, local leaders claimed that the musicians were in the pay of another
political party. Musicians from Kahama said that many people would ask key
questions, but they also cited instances where: Unfortunately the leaders
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phoned the police and claimed the villagers were disturbing the peace.
Local elected leaders can provide a key bridge between communities and
government; they can be both duty bearers and local activists. In the
What next?
Oxfam is now planning phase two of the programme. This next phase will
build on the successes of the farmer animators and extend this approach to
religious groups and leaders, since faith forms such an integral part of
peoples lives. It will also expand the approach to other groups such as
teachers, youth groups, and traditional birth attendants and healers.
The election tracking work will be subsumed within the animator approach,
and broadened to enable animators to look at engaging with budgeting and
other village plans. This will enable communities to begin to agree and voice
their priorities in advance of elections, and encourage those who seek
election to tailor their promises to communities demands.
The farmer animators pilot showed that wider awareness raising was
possible, but this now needs to be made concrete. To this end, the active
musicians approach will also be adopted with other arts groups, such as
theatre.
The gender component will be strengthened by supporting emerging women
leaders and working on mens attitudes towards women. Young people will
also be targeted, particularly those out of school.
1
UNDP, 2011 Human Development Report, http://hdr.undp.org/en/
2
TAMASHA (2011) Monitoring Governance and Active Citizen Pilots:
Chukua Hatua Project in Shinyanga and Ngorongoro, draft report.
3
Oxfam in Tanzania Strategic Plan 20102015, Oxfam GB.
4
Oxfam GB (2011) Outcome Mapping Monitoring Report.
5
Source: Anna Bwana, Oxfam Governance Programme Officer, Shinyanga region.
6
Source: Kisuma Mapunda. Programme Officer.
7
TAMASHA (2011) op. cit.
8
Ibid.
9
Capacity Building Initiative for Poverty Alleviation (CABUIPA), partner report on
Councillors: accountability and oversight training.
10
See Voices from Loliondo, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7knZOEVxO0k
11
For more details on this approach to development, see ODI (2011) Taking
Responsibility for Complexity: How implementation can achiieve results in the face of
complex problems, Working Paper 330.
http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=5275&title=complex-problems-
complexity-implementation-policy
Oxfam GB
Oxfam GB is a development, relief, and campaigning organization that works
with others to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering around the world.
Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International.
Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY
Tel: +44.(0)1865.473727, E-mail: enquiries@oxfam.org.uk