Tanzania NGO Sector

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This article was originally developed from an article prepared for the NGO Handbook by Justin J. Nuttall titled, "Historical background of the Tanzanian NGO sector and Tanzanian NGOs."

The essay to follow is intended to be a (relatively) succinct, yet thorough, history of the non-governmental sector in the United Republic of Tanzania, tracing that history back to the mid-nineteenth century, and following its lineage to the twenty-first century. It examines in detail numerous facets of the Tanzanian non-governmental sector, including the provision of education and health-care, which were, practically speaking, the subject of the first non-governmental organizations in the country (indeed, having been provided before Tanzania was even a country), and the cooperative movement.

Throughout the essay, statistics are used whenever possible, to illuminate the facts being presented, and to provide a fuller picture of the sector on the whole. However, a caveat: Statistics regarding the same subject often vary, sometimes wildly so, from source to source and, in some cases, one set of statistics has been chosen over others. Some inconsistency in the presentation of figures concerning, for example, the number of non-governmental organization operating in any given year, seemed inevitable, due to uncontrollable factors, such as unregistered organizations, etc. But great efforts have been made to ensure a reasonably high level of acuity, and all figures are accounted for via their sources.

Contents

Non-governmental Organizations in pre-Colonial Tanganyika

A thorough analysis of the Tanzanian non-governmental sector must begin in the mid-nineteenth century, prior to the introduction there of a unified and/or centralized, non-tribal government. This may seem peculiar, if not impossible; how can one speak in terms of a non-governmental sector in the absence of such an underlying government? Strictly, one cannot. However, what one can speak of are the organizations that set the foundation for what would later become Tanzania’s non-governmental sector (when a government of the type aforementioned came into existence there). A failure to mention the work they conducted would leave any discussion of this type lacking, and would have the effect of walking into a film having missed the beginning.

And so it might be said that the first non-governmental organizations to be established in Tanganyika did indeed precede the first ‘governments’ in Tanganyika. They were resultant of efforts by European Christian missionaries, who began to arrive there in the1860s. Among the missionary orders whose activity in Tanganyika preceded colonial rule were the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, the Missionary Society, the University Mission to Central Africa, the London Missionary School, the Augustana Lutheran Mission, the Capuchin Fathers, the Italian Fathers of the Consolation, the Leipzig Mission, the Moravian Mission, the Neukirchen Mission, and the Seventh-Day Adventists. (Ishumi, 1995; 154; U. of Penn. African Studies Center) The Holy Ghost Fathers are perhaps the most significant of these orders.

The Holy Ghost Fathers, a Catholic order known also as the Spiritans (Wikipedia: The Holy Ghost Fathers), landed first in Zanzibar before making their way to Tanganyika sometime in the mid-late 1860s. There, they built a primary school at Bagamoyo, a historic event both because it was the first “[f]ormal Western-type” school to be built in Tanganyika, and because it was the first non-governmental school to be built there. (Ishumi, 1995; 153)

The curriculum of the school at Bagamoyo was quite varied, having been comprised of three distinct courses of study: The academic course, which was the most intellectually rigorous, and was reserved for the brightest students; the industrial course, which emphasized “handiwork and technical trades”, and was comprised of less gifted students; and the agricultural/manual labour course, which “embraced students who were judged to be more dull”. (Ishumi, 1995; 153-154) Religious instruction was compulsory, regardless of one’s course of study.

Hundreds, if not thousands, more primary schools were to follow, established by missionary orders such as those aforementioned. Abel G.M. Ishumi notes that, much like the school at Bagamoyo, their curriculums were largely secular, “[with] a direct relationship to skills needed in the formal sector”. (Ishumi 1995; 154) Nonetheless, he observes the following in regard to the education they provided:

[T]he comprehensive curriculum at the mission schools aimed at achieving several distinct and highly valued objectives: character building; imparting of vocational skills for practical work and self-support; development of a sense of imagination; creativity and exemplary performance in everyday like; training in the moral values of civil obedience; humility and responsible citizenship; and, finally, enabling the individual to have closer contact with God’s creation and to live in peaceful co-existence with his fellow men. (Ishumi 154)

Non-governmental Organizations in Colonial Tanganyika

Religious Non-governmental Organizations in German East Africa and British Tanganyika: The Provision of Education and Health-Care

Tanganyika came under German colonial rule in 1885, as a result of the Berlin Conference. Thereafter, in concert with modern day Burundi and Rwanda, it came to be known as German East Africa. (Ishumi 1995, 154; Wikipedia: German East Africa) Seven years later, in 1892, the German colonial government opened its first school at Tanga, roughly thirty years after the construction of the school at Bagamoyo. (Ishumi 1995, 154)

The school at Tanga was rather a different sort of institution than the missionary schools – a more utilitarian institution – geared less towards the development of ‘whole persons’ than it was towards the training of “clerks, interpreters, tax collectors (“akida”), and customs officials”. (Ishumi, 1995; 154) In addition to this school:

[German] district officers were urged to begin building schools at their stations and to educate the sons of local rulers (headmen, or Jumbe) and their relatives so that they could be sent to Tanga school for training in the various technical skills before returning for employment in their own local areas. (Ishumi 1995, 154-155)

It is well worth noting that the introduction of German schools had no adverse effect on the continued efforts of Christian missionaries. To the contrary, actually; throughout the roughly thirty years of German rule, the missionary schools thrived.

A statistical comparison of the rate at which missionary schools and state schools developed between 1892 and 1914[1] attests to this, foreshadowing the importance of the Christian Church in civil society during the decades to follow: By the time the school at Tanga had opened, there already existed 10 missionary schools. By 1903, the number of colonial schools had increased to 20, with an enrollment of 1,550 students. However, enrollment in missionary schools had, by then, increased to 50,000 students. By 1914, the number of colonial schools had increased substantially to 70, with an enrollment of 6,200 students, though these figures pale in comparison to the 875 missionary schools, teaching over 110,000 students, in operation by 1911. (Ishumi 1995, 155)

Resultant of its defeat in World War I, Germany lost its African colonies, which were converted into mandates by the League of Nations. German East Africa was partitioned, and control of Tanganyika was turned over to Great Britain. Once again, this shift in power had little effect on the efforts of the missionaries in their provision of education and other services. They added to the number of primary schools already in existence – numbering, by some accounts, well into the thousands by the 1930s – and began to open secondary schools, as well. (Ishumi 1995, 155)

The first secondary schools in Tanganyika were established “in the 1920s, thanks initially to the personal philanthropy of Indian businessmen”. However, these schools were open only to members of the Indian community. In 1925, the British opened a secondary school at Tabora, though it was “intended for the sons of chiefs and the nobility within the indigenous system of African native authorities”. Therefore, neither civil society nor the state had yet made secondary education widely available to Africans leaving primary school. However, beginning in the 1930s, Christian missionary schools did. (Ishumi 1995, 155) Missionaries had established at least 10 secondary schools by 1945. (Sivalon 1995, 180, Table 11.1)

The missionary schools remained an invaluable resource for the duration of British colonial rule; indeed, it is reasonable to assert that, over time, their services only became more necessary, more urgent: The missionary schools remained the only widely available source of education for Africans. This is partially because, under colonial rule,

Services such as schools were organized separately for the…Europeans, the Asians…and the Africans…colonial education policy emphasized class orientation in addition to ‘social tinting’ (i.e. color prejudice)…to match the racial configuration of rights, obligations, and expectations… (Munishi 1995, 142)

It comes as little surprise, though, that the missionary schools admitted students “irrespective of race and class”, eventually admitting students regardless of their denomination (e.g., admitting Protestant students to Catholic schools, and vice versa) or faith (i.e., admitting Muslim students), as well.(Munishi 1995, 142; Ishumi 1995, 155) By 1961, the year Tanganyika gained its independence, “70% of African primary school children went to schools run by the religious institutions”, and 55% of African secondary school students went to missionary schools, as well. (Munishi 1995, 142) So important were the educational services rendered by the missionaries that “[t]he colonial government recognized the importance of these institutions…through grants-in-aid”. (Mushini 1995, 142) And, due to the large proportion of educated Africans who attended the missionary schools, “Christian churches could claim to have been involved in educating, at one level or another, a large number of the political elite”. (Sivalon 1995, 181)

Secular Non-governmental Organizations in German East Africa and British Tanganyika: Cooperatives, Unions, and Political Societies

The advent of German colonial rule coincided with the incremental emergence of a secular non-governmental sector in Tanganyika. Notable among the earliest secular non-governmental organizations were beni dance societies, first established in 1890, which “provided not only recreation, but also mutual aid for their members and training in organization skills”. However, it was not until the period of British colonial rule that the secular side of the Tanganyikan non-governmental sector really began to take shape. This sub-section will discuss two types of organizations that formulated, in large part, that sector: cooperatives and political societies.

Secular Non-Governmental Organizations in British Tanganyika: Cooperatives

The Kilimanjaro Native Planters Association (KNPA), established in 1925, was the first Tanganyikan cooperative, formed by Chagga coffee farmers in the city of Moshi (MacDonald, 126). Its members attempted to counterbalance the economic encroachment of Europeans by “lobbying for better prices” for native coffee crops and, for a time, they were successful. However, the Kilimanjaro Native Planters Association folded in 1929, resultant either of “mismanagement of funds”, or of a conspiracy on the part of local leaders who became wary that “these elite peasants [the members of the KNPA] would become more elite than [they]”. (Chilongo, pg. 3)

Due to economic hardships resultant of “the worldwide depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s”, the British colonial government passed the Cooperative Societies’ Ordinance in 1932. The Cooperative Societies’ Ordinance, “the first co-operative law in Tanzania”, “provided for registration, audit, and financial supervision of societies”. (MacDonald, 127) It was also an endeavour to compensate for the depression by “[boosting] up its revenue base in [the] form of increased tax collection”. Consequently, the Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union (KNCU), an umbrella organization of eleven (or, perhaps, twelve) coffee-farming societies, was established on 1 January 1933. “Since then, co-operatives mushroomed throughout the country…[promoted by the assignment of] district commissioners (DCs) to supervise their formation.”

Coffee farmers remained at the vanguard of the mushrooming cooperative movement: “In 1947 the Mwakaleli Goffee Growers Association and four other coffee cooperatives joined with four rice cooperatives to form the Rungwe Cooperative [managed by Jeremiah Kasambala]…[and in] Bukoba the industry was advancing to the extent that in 1950 a group of 48 coffee societies formed the Bukoba Native Cooperative Union [managed by C. George Kahama]…[and on] the slopes of Mount Meru, another five societies joined together in 1957 as the Meru Cooperative Union [managed by Nsilo Swai]”. (MacDonald 1966; 128) Among the co-operatives to follow were the Ngoni-Matengo Co-operative Union, the Bugufi Co-operative Union, the Bahaya Co-operative Union, and the Rungwe Co-operative Union. (Chilongo, pg. 4)

However, coffee was not to remain the most valuable commodity marketed by Tanganyikan cooperatives; it would eventually be surpassed by cotton. The Germans were the first to attempt to harvest cotton as a cash-crop, though World War I stifled their efforts. But that endeavour was taken up again during British colonial rule, when it “became centered in the Lake Victoria region among the Sukuma tribesman, with Mwanza as the capital of the industry”. Inspired by coffee cooperatives, the Sukuma cotton farmers formed the Lake Province Growers Association in 1951 which, under the guidance of Gavin J.B. Green, evolved into the Victoria Federation of cooperative Unions in 1953. Later managed by Paul Bomani, by 1961, the federation consisted of “360 primary societies, nineteen unions, and a membership of 140,000”. (MacDonald 1966; 129)

Following the example of the coffee and cotton cooperatives, “other areas and crops were caught up in the cooperative movement”. (MacDonald 1966; 129) Cooperatives were formed by those dealing in rice, timber, wattle bark, mica, fresh vegetables cattle mangrove poles, oil seeds, and milk. Even other industries began to form cooperatives: In Dar es Salaam, the cab drivers formed a “cooperative taxi fleet”, and “a Watch Dealers and Repairers Cooperative Society was formed”; “in Tabora, a Beekeepers Cooperative Society [was formed]”; a cattle cooperative formed in Mwanza, calling itself Idetemya Begeni (Let Foreigners Quake); another was called Kiguna Bahabi (Protectors of the Poor). (MacDonald 1966; 129-130)

Secular Non-Governmental Organizations in British Tanganyika: Political Societies

The intervening period between World War II and Tanganyikan independence saw the rise of many politically inclined non-governmental organizations. The Tanganyikan Territory African Civil Servants Association was established in 1922, “to provide for the welfare of the native civil servants”. (Lissu, pg. 7) Seven years later, in 1929, “the Tanganyika African Association (TAA) was formed, largely to promote sporting and cultural activities”. (Lissu, pg. 7) The Tanganyika African Association is very important in the history of Tanzania, if not in itself, then for what it would become: “In 1954, [Julius] Mwalimu Nyerere, who had become leader of [the Tanganyika African Association] the previous year, reorganized it as the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), which led Tanganyika to independence seven years later.” Alarmed, the British colonial government attempted to check the activity of increasingly political non-governmental organizations by passing laws to inhibit their activity, such as the Trade Unions Ordinance Cap. 381, and the Societies Ordinance Cap. 337, “[both of which] attempted to monitor and restrict popular organizations by prohibiting them from engaging in oppositional political activity”. (Lissu, pg. 8)

The Societies Ordinance made non-governmental organizations beholden to the colonial government, whose officials, such as the Registrar of Societies and the governor, gained “wide discretionary powers”. Non-governmental organizations could have been refused registration with the government, or their registration canceled, for having been associated with political and/or foreign groups; or, they could have been made illegal. And if the government was disobeyed on such matters, the penalty could be very steep: Involvement in an outlawed organization carried with it the risk of fines and jail time, up to seven years; indeed, even being implicated in such activity was rather dangerous, as the colonial government had dispensed with the presumption of innocence.

Concluding Remarks on Secular Non-governmental Organizations in Colonial Tanganyika

Were it not for Christian missionaries, education – both at the primary and secondary levels – would not have been available to most Africans in colonial Tanganyika. But, because the provision of education came part-and-parcel of the missionaries’ primary goal – proselytizing – it was inevitable that, as they brought Christianity to greater and greater numbers of Africans, they began educating greater and greater numbers of Africans. Indeed, so inextricably bound were the two that, during the early twentieth century, the phrase ‘Kusoma [to read] Christianity’ became quite common in East African parlance. (Sivalon, quoting Anderson, 180) Therefore, it was a combination of the desire, on the part of the missionaries, to bring Christianity and education to the Africans, in conjunction with their open-door admittance policy, that, at least in part, lead to the vastly greater number of students enrolled in missionary schools.

While the missionary organizations existed and operated without incident, the same cannot be said of those secular organizations operating under British colonial rule. In order to ensure its preservation, the colonial government made free association very difficult for native Africans, and it made the penalties for disobedience positively prohibitive. And perhaps the greatest injustice lies with the fact that the colonial government’s policies did not really die with it, but continued on, repackaged and preserved, by the authoritarian government of the independent United Republic of Tanzania.

Non-governmental Organizations in the United Republic of Tanzania

Non-governmental Organizations in Tanzania, 1961-1966

Tanganyika gained its independence from Great Britain in 1961 and, on 26 April 1964, it joined with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania. (The World Factbook: Tanzania) During that time of transition the ruling Tanzanian African National Union, lead by President Julius Kambarage Nyerere, sought to bring a higher standard of living to “the rural poor Africans who had supported the cause and course for independence”. Further, it sought to raise its profile among the disparate tribes and peoples of Tanzania, and so “[m]eans and ways had to be found to mobilize and integrate such peoples into a new and wider conception of a modern nation-state”. Those means and ways eventually found the fledgling government deeply involved with the non-governmental organizations which had hitherto been so integral to development in the country, though not for the better. (Munishi 143-144)

To those ends aforementioned, Gaspar K. Munishi identifies four methods employed by the Tanzanian government: 1. “state-driven provision of services”; 2. “exclusion or reduction of the religious NGOs from their hitherto dominant role in service provision”; 3. “attempts at mobilizing self help for service provision”; 4. “the attempt to base the country’s development effort on socialism”. (Munishi 143-144)

The first method entailed, to a large degree, the second, and helped the government to engender loyalty and recognition among the people, though it came at the price of attacking institutions that had borne development on their backs over the previous century. In this way, the government worked quite openly against the non-governmental sector. Otherwise, during the years immediately following independence, the Tanzanian government’s encroachment upon the non-governmental sector was subtle and incremental. This is, in part, evidenced by the promulgation of the third method, “self-help”. This involved a combination of NGO/PO activity and state developmental methodology, wherein “locally based projects such as water dams, trenches for irrigation canals and piped water, schools and especially health centers” would be built by NGOs/POs and maintained by the state. (Munishi 145)

The state-sponsored perpetuation of agricultural co-operatives also speaks to the government’s gradual interjection of itself into the non-governmental sector. The government established the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives in 1962, and two co-operative “training institutions” – the Moshi Co-operative College and the Co-operative Education Centre (CEC) – in 1963 and 1964, respectively. Indeed, in these ways and others, the government helped co-operatives to multiply: Whereas there were 857 co-operatives in 1961, there were 1518 in 1965. (Chilongo, pg. 5) But it would seem that the government had mistaken quantity for quality. As Thabbie Chilongo writes,

Most co-operatives established after independence had one thing in common: they were established through a top-down approach…through government directives…Hence these co-operatives performed badly…the co-operative movement in Tanzania was in crisis and hence there was need for a transition from more state control to more autonomy and more democratically controlled movement. (Chilongo 5-6)

But the government was not about to loosen its grip on co-operatives, or on the broader non-governmental sector. Rather, it was going to tighten it; it was going to consolidate civil society as it moved towards the creation of a quasi-socialist state.

Non-governmental Organizations in Tanzania, 1967-1980

The forth of Munishi’s methods, “the attempt to base the country’s development effort on socialism”, would prove to be the (temporary) undoing of many – indeed, most – non-governmental organizations in Tanzania. In 1967, the government began “the official promulgation of ujamaa through the Arusha Declaration…followed by a period of nationalization of industries, plantations, housing and social service facilities”. (Sivalon 183) All social services were taken over by the government, including all non-public (NGO) schools, health-care facilities, cooperatives, and self-help projects, to ensure “equity of service provision and Africanization”. (Munishi 148) And so, in the name of developmentalism, the Tanzanian government took no less a grasp of its people than the British colonial government had a decade earlier.

In this period it was virtually impossible to organize independently outside state structures. To be sure, some non-state organizations existed. These were, however, mostly charitable, religious bodies involved in provision of social services such as education and health care. They were tolerated because they were almost invariably apolitical and therefore posed little threat to the existing power structure. (Lissu, pg. 11)

Replacing the defunct non-governmental organizations were relatively ineffectual governmental organizations, such as the Tanzanian Parents Association and the Union of Cooperative Societies, formed in 1976. Over a decade of developmental decline ensued, exacerbated, if not outright partly caused, by the disappearance of the non-governmental sector. The following three sub-sections will examine three sub-sectors of the Tanzanian non-governmental sector as they existed during the strict imposition of ujamaa: The education sector, the health-care sector, and the cooperative sector. The Education Act No. 50 expanded state control of all schools, which rendered missionary schools nearly completely beholden to the state, as did the Education Act of 1978. (Munishi 148; Ishumi 156)

The Provision of Education in Tanzania, 1967-1980

Though impaired by the onset of ujamaa, non-governmental schools continued to play an important role, particularly on the secondary level, seen to by organizations such as the Tanzanian Parents Association (TAPA), as well as some “regional co-operatives”. (Ishumi 157) Their continued existence, even to a lesser degree, was unavoidable if the students leaving primary school were to have a chance at secondary education, as the public secondary schools were rapidly being filled. For example, in 1970, 65,000 students completed primary school, of which 16% (roughly 10,000) continued on to secondary school; of those 10,000, 31% (roughly 3,000) attended non-government schools. By 1975, the number leaving primary school had more than doubled, to 138,000, of which 11% (roughly 15,000) continued on to secondary school; of those 15,000, 40% (roughly 6,000) attended non-governmental schools. By 1980, 213,000 students completed primary school, of which 8% (roughly 17,000) continued on to secondary school; of those 17,000, 44% (roughly 7,000) attended non-governmental schools. (Munishi 149, Table 8.2) Nonetheless, there can be little doubt that the non-governmental sector’s ability to educate was hindered, to say the least, by the Arusha Declaration and the legislation that followed. Therefore, it is worth bearing in mind that the above statistics represent the performance of non-governmental schools in spite of the move towards developmentalism. It is also very much worth bearing in mind that, even withstanding the (abbreviated) efforts of the non-governmental sector, the provision of secondary education was simply inadequate. This inadequacy, according to Abel G. Ishumi, was a major contributing factor to the resurgence of an autonomous non-governmental sector in the 1980s. (Ishumi, 157)

The Provision of Health-Care in Tanzania, 1967-1980

The health-care sector seems to have fared slightly better than the education sector, though it is unclear as to the extent non-governmental organization contributed to this. Between 1961 and 1971, against an increase in population from roughly 10,000,000 to roughly 20,000,000: The number of medical doctors increased from 415 to 579, while the number of patients per doctor decreased from 24,724 to 23,300; the number of medical assistants and rural medical assistants increased from 580 to 833, while the number of patients per medical assistant decreased from 17,703 to 16,200; the number of rural health centres increased from 57 to 89, while the number of patients per rural health centre decreased dramatically, from 466,700 to 151,700; the number of dispensaries increased from 875 to 1,452, while the number of patients per dispensary decreased from 11,700 to 9,300. Between 1971 and 1980, against a population of roughly 20,000,000: The number of medical doctors increased to 889, while the number of patients per doctor decreased to 20,300; the number of medical assistants and rural medical assistants increased dramatically, to 3, 710, while the number of patients per medical assistant also decreased dramatically, to 4,900; the number of rural health centers increased to 239, while the number of patients per rural health center decreased by roughly half, to 75,700; the number of dispensaries increased to 2,600, while the number of patients per dispensary decreased to 7,000. It is worth noting that many health centres and dispensaries were “built on a self-help basis”. (Mushini 146, Table 8.1)

Without doubt, the above statistics, in themselves, depict a health-care system that was, if nothing else, moving in the right direction. However, these numbers are a bit deceptive: While there were obviously improvements being made in the provision of health-care, there were also ideological roadblocks being put in place that would not only serve to contravene them, but, as in the education sector, to pave the way for the re-emergence of non-governmental organizations. For example, resultant of the Private Hospitals (Regulation) Act of 1977, private medical practice was proscribed, making health-care effectively, officially, (almost) unavailable outside of state facilities. This law, by the Tanzanian government’s own admission, “had negative implications on health services in the country”: It served to limit the availability of health-care, not only insofar as it disallowed doctors from practicing privately, but by further encumbering the non-governmental sector (though it did lead to an increase in business for traditional healers). (The National Website of the United Republic of Tanzania: ‘Health’; http://www.tanzania.go.tz/health.html) Further, it wasted the abilities of doctors, who, in order to earn more money, supplemented their incomes with side-projects, such as farming. (Tripp, ) “Certain missionary or church organizations continued to own their own units, and cautiously built a few new ones” (Munishi, pg. 147), but they could not compensate for the failing government system. And so, as was the case in the education sector, the non-governmental sector eventually began to re-emerge, of necessity.

The Dissolution of Cooperatives in Tanzania, 1967-1980

While the education and health-care sectors were undoubtedly damaged by the imposition of ujamaa, perhaps neither was dealt as sever a blow as were the cooperatives, which were not so much taken over as they were completely abolished. In 1970, the government directed each of Tanzania’s twenty-six regions to form a cooperative union, “mandated to oversee all cooperative activities in their respective regions”. (Chilongo 7) Three years later, in 1973, it passed the Presidential Decree of Villigisation, also know as the Ujamaa Act, which required each village to “register as a cooperative society to which all should belong”. (Chilongo 7) As a result, “the marketing cooperatives ceased to exist; instead villages were made [into] basic producer[s] and marketing organizations”. Then, in 1976,

[A]ll cooperative unions were effectively abolished and their activities were taken (over) by Regional Trading Companies, (RTC), which were parastatal organizations. (Chilongo, 2005; 8)

Non-governmental Organizations in Tanzania, 1981-1990

Beginning in the late 1970s, Tanzania’s economy entered a period of steady decline. Wages had been dropping, and would continue to throughout the 1980s. By 1981, Tanzania’s gross domestic product had dropped to -4.4%. Its industrial sector’s growth rate had dropped to -11.2% and, worse still, due to “the lack of foreign and domestic inputs, adequate transportation facilities, and fuel”, the agricultural sector found itself in even greater disrepair, dropping by 8.7% in 1982 alone. (Tripp 123) And, to make matters worse, the economy was also being besieged by external troubles, such as,

[t]he rise in import prices…the rise of oil prices in 1973 and 1979…sharp drops in commodity prices…recurring droughts in 1973-1974 and 1984…[and] the war with Uganda in 1978-1979. (Tripp 123)

Despite efforts to curb its financial woes, such as the National Economic Stabilization Program (NESP, 1981) and the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP,1982), Tanzania continued to experience economic distress well into the 1980s. As a result, service provision was failing badly: Government spending on services such as education and health-care dropped to only 11%; in that same year, “school fees were introduced”. For the duration of the 1980s, spending would continue to drop while fees would rise. (Tripp 125) In response, non-governmental organizations “[emerged] to meet various societal needs brought on by the new economic difficulties people faced…[filling] the gaps where the state could no longer provide social and public services”. (Tripp 121) Sagely, “the authorities chose to ignore their earlier ban of these types of organizations…[because they] had come to realize their own incapability regarding service delivery”.

And so, the non-governmental sector began to strengthen, albeit slowly. Indeed, towards the end of the decade, two “national umbrella [non-governmental organizations]” even formed: The Tanzania Council for Social Development (TOCOSODE), formerly known as the National Council on Social Welfare Development (1965), was formed in 1987 “by 25 founding-member [non-governmental organizations]. The Tanzania Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (TANGO) was formed in 1988 “by 22 founding-member organizations, with the objective of strengthening and promoting cooperation and networking among the member [non-governmental organizations]”. (United Republic of Tanzania: Public Administration Country Profile, United Nations, January 2004) Unfortunately, though, the government’s policies had rendered great damage to the non-governmental sector and, thereby, to the provision of services such as education and health-care which, while not irreparable, would take time to fix. (Lange, Wallevik, & Kiondo, 2006; 5)

The Provision of Education in Tanzania, 1981-1990

As Tanzania moved into the 1980s, education provision remained inundated with the same trouble that had been stifling it during the late 1960s and the 1970s: Primary education was readily available, due to Universal Primary Education (UPE), evidenced by the increasing number of leavers each year, while secondary education was generally unavailable, evidenced by the small fraction of those leavers admitted to secondary schools. In 1981, of the roughly 212,000 primary school leavers, about 4.2%, roughly 8,900, entered secondary school (Form 1); in 1983, of the roughly 463,000 primary school leavers, roughly 2%, roughly 9,000, entered secondary school (Form 1). (Ishumi 158, Table 9.2) This was due, in no small part, to the Tanzanian government’s ever-present economic problems, which were only worsening. Therefore, in order to address this problem, and others, it began to soften its stance towards the non-governmental sector.

[T]he 1980s provided an environment in which community self-help in school construction and education provision became both an immediate point of focus in sharing ht e costs of national development and a rallying point for various communities in the competitive search for secondary education opportunities for their children leaving primary school. Locally based and locally oriented community development associations began to emerge. (Ishumi 158)

Among the non-governmental organizations that worked towards improving the provision of secondary education were the Mufindi Education Trust (MET), formed in Mufindi district in 1984; the Buyango-Rusinga Development Association (BURUDEA), formed in Bukoba district in 1984; the Njombe District Development Trust, formed in Njombe district in 1984; the Network of Madaba Villages (WILIMA), formed in Songea district in 1984; the Kayingo Development Association (KADEA) and the Tweyambe-Ishozi Development Society (TIDESO), both formed in Bukoba district in 1984; and the Bwanjai-Bukandika-Kitobo Development Society (BWABUKI), formed in Bukoba district in 1985. (Ishumi 1995, 160, Table 9.3) And, of course, the churches also made their services available, no longer in spite of the government’s policy, but with its encouragement. (Lange, Wallevik, & Kiondo, 2006; 6)

Thanks to the Tanzanian government’s looser grip on service provision, and to the consequent re-emergence of non-governmental organizations, education provision became, if not better, then, at least, more expansive, throughout the 1980s. Rather than being monopolized, it frequently became a joint effort of the government and the people, very much in the spirit of “self-help”. For example, “[t]he Ministry of Education [assisted] with roofing materials, some teaching-learning materials, and teaching staff as long as a community, in collaboration with the district council, [undertook] to construct school buildings or to renovate pre-existing buildings”. (Ishumi 159)

As a result of these efforts, education provision began to improve, particularly secondary education, which became much more widely available, demonstrated by the following statistics: By 1986, there were 92,000 students were enrolled in secondary schools, 48,000 of which were enrolled in 124 non-governmental schools; by 1989, there were 133,000 students enrolled in secondary schools, 75,000 of which were enrolled in 195 non-governmental schools; by 1990, there were 195,000 students enrolled in secondary schools, 83,000 of which were enrolled in 213 non-governmental schools. (Ishumi 160, Table 9.4)

The Provision of Health-Care in Tanzania, 1981-1990

During the 1980s, the Tanzanian economy held no greater promise for health-care than it did for education. By 1984, the statistics cited in 2.2.2 were not significantly improved upon; to the contrary, in some cases, they declined. For example, against a population increase of roughly 2,000,000 (from roughly 18,000,000 to roughly 20,000,000): the number of medical doctors increased from 889 to 1,065, while the number of patients per medical doctor decreased from 20,300 to 19,421; the number of medical assistants and rural medical assistants increased from 3,710 to 3,974, though the number of patients per medical assistant increased, for the first time in over twenty years, from 4,900 to 5,205; the number of rural health centers remained the same, at 239, though the population per rural health center increased, also for the first time in over twenty years, from 75,7000 to 86, 540; the number of dispensaries increased incrementally, from 2,600 to 2,644, though the number of patients increased, for the first time in over twenty years, from 7,000 to 7,820. (Munishi 1995; pg. 146, table 8.1)

Christian missionary organizations, notably Catholic organizations, maintained their services during this time, though they could not provide for the entire populous. Therefore, as in the education sector, the cause of improving service provision fell to the non-governmental sector. In 1987, the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) began working to counteract the previous decade’s legislation disallowing doctors from practicing privately, in addition to their hospital work (please see section 2.2.2). (Tripp 132-133) Though their efforts would not come to fruition until the 1991, it was during the bleak days of the 1980s that the first steps towards the recreation of a non-governmental health-care sector were taken, and not a moment too soon: “[t]he first three AIDS cases were reported in 1983 in Kagera region. By 1986 all the regions in Tanzania Mainland had reported AIDS cases”. (The United Republic of Tanzania: National Policy on HIV/AIDS, November 2001; 7)

The Re-Emergence of Cooperatives in Tanzania, 1981-1990

In response to the economic crisis encumbering the nation, cooperatives began to re-emerge. Many were established and patronized by the urban poor, who were attempting to augment their low wages by operating small businesses. The cooperatives worked to achieve greater rights for those small-business owners, as well as for organizations that were taking up the provision of services that had hitherto been seen to by the government. They gave small businesses owners the room to maneuver, so to speak, which they would not have had one their own; they allowed them to “gain the necessary leverage to obtain various resources through both formal and informal channels”. (Tripp 129) For example, membership in a cooperative made small business owners eligible for state assistance, from the Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), the Community Rural Development Bank (CRDB), and the Cooperative Union of Tanzania (CUT), and allowed their members to share resources and, consequently, to save money. In addition, “[b]y forming groups [i.e., cooperatives], small-scale entrepreneurs [were] able to avert some of the problems they face[ed] as individuals in obtaining access to training, inputs, loans, licenses, loans, and other resources”. (Tripp 129-130)

Urban cooperatives were particularly important economic resources for poor urban women, especially for self-employed, low-income women, for whom “it was virtually impossible to obtain loans because they lacked the necessary collateral”. (Tripp 131) This is well evidenced by one of the most prevalent types of organization during the 1980s: credit associations, also known as upato games. These are “rotating credit associations”, usually formed by and comprised of self-employed women (though some catered to men), wherein each member would contribute a pre-determined amount of money, according to a pre-determined schedule, for a specific duration of time, after which duration one member, chosen by means of a round-robin method, would receive the entire “kitty”. (Tripp 127) By pooling their money in this manner, members of upato societies were able to greatly improve their lot:

Women who participated in upato societies made on average 26 percent more than other self-employed women…[and saved] 20-30 percent of their average monthly income obtained primarily from small businesses. (Tripp 127)

In addition to upato associations, other women’s cooperatives began to take shape, such as The Association of Businesswomen,

[F]ormed in 1990 to bring together poor, middle-class, and elite businesswomen [to promote] the interests of low-income self-employed women and [to assist] women in general with securing capital, providing them with marketing training to deal with the general problems women face of lacking “support, expertise, and transport of goods,” and being “neglected by financial institutions. (Tripp 131)

Non-governmental Organizations in Tanzania, 1990-Present

Non-Governmental Organizations in Tanzania, 1990-2000

Basic Statistics

The Tanzanian non-governmental sector continued to gain momentum as the 1980s gave way to the 1990s. The government’s provision of services remained inadequate, and so it grew in prominence, even gaining public recognition from the government. (Munishi 1995; 150) Statistics place the number of non-governmental organizations operating in Tanzania in 1990 at a minimum of around 200 (United Republic of Tanzania: Public Administration Country Profile, January 2004; 9), rising to about 224 by 1993 (Lange, Wallevik, & Kiondo, 2006; 6). Thereafter, though, they began to increase rather more steeply. This was due, at least in part, to the great influx of refugees from Burundi in 1993 and then again from Rwanda in 1994, which prompted the number of national Tanzanian non-governmental organizations to increase perhaps to as many as 813 “by the end of 1994”. (Whitaker, pg. 84) While the official directory of non-governmental organizations published in 1995 contravenes this number, placing it at only 749 (and the number of international non-governmental organizations at 64), the aforementioned figure of 813 may well remain accurate, reflecting a certain number of unregistered non-governmental organizations. Indeed, Kiondo and Mtatifikolo postulate that 813 may well be too low an estimate, for the same reason. (Kiondo & Mtatifikolo, 1999; 11) However, even assuming the latter figure is more accurate, it nonetheless represents a marked increase in the number of non-governmental organizations operating at the national level in Tanzania. And the same principle remains true of the statistics for the year 2000: While the Office of the Vice-President placed the number of non-governmental organizations at 2400, more than triple that of 1995’s figure, the number had been placed as high as 8499. (Lange, Wallevic, & Kiondo, 2006; 6)

The 1995 edition of the directory also identifies the specific varieties of non-governmental organizations operating in Tanzania at that time, as well as providing the number of each kind in operation. It also identifies the regions of the country where non-governmental activity was greatest. Regarding the former set of statistics: Of the 749 organizations recorded in the directory: 198 were District Development Trusts; 155 were religious organizations; 106 were social-service organizations; 98 were professional/educational organizations; 64 were environmental organizations; 56 were women’s groups; 43 were health organizations; 26 were youth organizations; and three were umbrella organizations. Regarding the second set of statistics: The regions of Tanzania with the greatest concentrations of non-governmental activity were: Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Iringa, Kiliminjaro, Mbeya, and Morogoro. (Lange, Wallevik, & Kiondo, 2006; 7)

The Provision of Education and Health-Care in Tanzania, 1990-2000

The 1990s bore witness to a continuation of the trends education and health-care that began in the 1980s: Non-governmental organizations persisted in providing such services where the government simply could not. A study conducted in 1993 by Andrew Kiondo revealed that, in numerous (9) regions of the country, the non-governmental sector was responsible for running a majority of the nursery and secondary schools, and nearly half of all hospitals. This subsection will discuss the non-governmental sector’s provision of both education and health-care, in turn.

Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organizations in the Twenty-First Century

The National Policy of Non-Governmental Organizations, 2001

In November of 2001, the Vice President’s Office released The National Policy on Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), a detailed breakdown of the Tanzanian non-governmental sector as it exists in relation to the Tanzanian government. It emphasizes, in no uncertain terms, the government’s perception of non-governmental organizations as being very important to the development of society, as well as its desire “to create a conducive and enabling environment to ensure that [non-governmental organizations’] potentials are fully utilized”. It also provides both a list of the criteria that the government requires organization must meet in order to be recognized as a non-governmental organization, and an official definition of a non-governmental organization.

The criteria necessary in Tanzania for an organization to be considered a non-governmental organization are as follows:

  1. The organization must be permanent or well established, with a “demonstrated degree of organizational structure, i.e. regular meetings and rules of procedures”.
  2. The organization must be formed “freely [and] willingly”, and must be operated on a voluntary basis.
  3. The organization must be self-governing, though it must “operate within the laws of society as a whole”.
  4. The organization must not operate for profit.
  5. The organization must be apolitical.
  6. The organization must “aim to improve the circumstances and prospects of a particular group or act on concerns and issues which are detrimental to the well being, circumstances, or prospects of people or society as a whole”.
  7. The organization “can be formed either by individuals or organizations”.

(The National Policy of Non-Governmental Organizations, 2001; 5)

From these criteria, the Tanzanian government derived the following, official definition of a non-governmental organization:

An NGO is a voluntary grouping of individuals or organizations which is autonomous and not-for-profit sharing; organized locally at the grassroots level, nationally or internationally for the purpose of enhancing the legitimate economic, social and/or cultural development or lobbying or advocacy on issues of public interest of a group of individuals or organizations. (The National Policy of Non-Governmental Organizations, 2001; 5)

The Non-Governmental Organizations Act, 2002

In 2002, the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania enacted the Non-Governmental Organizations Act, for the purpose of “[providing] for [the] registration of non-governmental organizations with a view to coordinate and regulate activities of non-governmental organizations and provide for related matters”. (The Non-Governmental Organizations Act, 2002; Part I) Its principal concern is that of coordinating Tanzania’s government with its non-governmental sector; therefore, it deals in large part with establishing the necessary governmental positions and bureaucratic avenues that would facilitate this.

The Non-Governmental Organizations Act, 2002 establishes the position of ‘Director’ to oversee the coordination of and “link” the government with the non-governmental sector, performing such duties as “[advising] on policy and other matters regarding Non-Governmental Organizations…[registering] Non-governmental Organizations…[and keeping and maintaining the] register of non-governmental organization”. It also establishes a register of non-governmental organizations, as well as the Non-governmental Organizations Coordination Board. The board’s duties are numerous and eclectic, including, though not limited to: Approving the registration of and registering non-governmental organizations, “examining” their annual reports, and “[advising] the government on the activities of non-governmental organizations”. Further, it establishes the National Council for Non-Governmental Organizations, “a collective forum of non-governmental organizations for the [p]urposes of [coordination] and networking of all non-governmental organizations operating in [m]ainland Tanzania”. These aforementioned points represent only a small sampling of the great detail of the Non-governmental Organizations Act, 2002.

Notes

  1. ↑ The latest available year regarding such information before Germany lost German East Africa following its defeat after World War I.

References

  • Ishumi, Abel. G. 1995. Provision of Secondary Education in Tanzania. In Service Provision under Stress in East Africa: States and Voluntary Organizations in Kenya, Tanzanian, and Uganda, ed. Joseph Semboja and Ole Therkilsden. London: James Curry Ltd.
  • Chilongo, Thabbie. 2005. Tanzanian Agricultural Co-operatives: An Overview. Moshi University College of Co-operative and Business Studies. Moshi, Tanzania.
  • Lange, S., Wallevik, H., and Kiondo, A. 2006. Civil Society in Tanzania. Chr. Michelsen Institute.
  • Lissu, Tundu Antiphas. 199?. Repackaging Authoritarianism: Freedom of Association and Expression and the Right to Organize Under the Proposed NGO Policy for Tanzania. Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (LEAT). URL = http://www.leat.or.tz./publications/authoritarianism/
  • MacDonald, Alexander. 1966. Tanzania: Young Nation in a Hurry. New York: Hawthorne Books, Inc.
  • Munishi, Gaspar K. 1995. Social Services Provision in Tanzania. In Service Provision under Stress in East Africa: States and Voluntary Organizations in Kenya, Tanzanian, and Uganda, ed. Joseph Semboja and Ole Therkilsden. London: James Curry Ltd.
  • Sivalon, John C. The Catholic Church & the Tanzanian State in the Provision of Social Services. In Service Provision under Stress in East Africa: States and Voluntary Organizations in Kenya, Tanzanian, and Uganda, ed. Joseph Semboja and Ole Therkilsden. London: James Curry Ltd.
  • Tripp, Aili Mari. “The Impact of Crisis and Economic Reform on Tanzania’s Changing associational Life”.
  • Whitaker, Beth Elise. 2001. “Creating Alternatives: Refugee Relief & Local Development in Western Tanzania”. Oxford: James Curry Ltd.
  • World Factbook: Tanzania.

Resources for Further Reading

  • USAID: http://tanzania.usaid.gov/: Including a number of documents such as the “NGO Act” of 2002, the “NGO Act Amendment” of 2005, and others on topics such as agriculture, economy, health, and HIV/AIDS.
  • The United Republic of Tanzania: National Policies: A list of some of Tanzania’s national policies may be found on the website www.TanzaniaOn-Line.org/policies.htm
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