LOCAL GOVERNANCE TRAINING

Aiming for increased transparency and accountability at the local governance level, UDF conducted trainings for 70 local government officials over a six months period in 2007 .

The Project Theme was Community Sensitizations  so  that they may know their rights We were awarded Tshs.20,287,500/= by The foundation for civil society.. Focusing on the four Mbeya, Tanzania wards of Ilomba, Mwakibete, Mwasanga, and Tembela, the training targeted ward councilors, secretaries, community development officers, education coordinators, local chiefs. And common citizens.

Ensuring the trainings were community driven, more than 200 citizen representatives participated. Trainings, presented in two sections, were led by two trainers from the Mbeya District Council and three from the Mbeya Community Development Office. Prior to the program, reports of corruption by political officers, poor family planning education, poorly managed infrastructure projects, and tax evasion were common. With an overall objective of increased transparency and accountability, trainers addressed community concerns and problems through workshops on ethics, good governance, anticorruption, rights for vulnerable children, and conflict resolution. In the last day of the training we contacted a debate.

The panelist were the HIGH COURT, TAKUKURU, POLICE,TUME YA

MAADILI, MIGRATION OFFICERS AND REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE MBEYA CITY DIRECTOR . Through the Debate the trainees were happy to talk with top leaders the issues that hinder their transparence and accountability to citizen.

The success stories resulting from the trainings are many. Follow up studies in the targeted districts have shown that local governance offices are designing and implementing transparent strategic plans, educating the community on family planning and labor laws for pregnant women, and following through on the construction of infrastructure projects such as school construction and road and hospital repair. Also notable, local chiefs across the districts are conducting their own trainings to further expand the good governance message.

Additionally, as a result of the youth driven focus, several programs were initiated, such as a co-ed football team, that provides young people an accessible place where they can gather to use their talents, learn new skills, and avoid dangerous life styles.  Finally, and affirming the long term impact of the project, the training program created an influx of social responsibility and community driven conflict resolution in each ward as a direct result of the specific attention paid to ethics and community awareness.