Transcript THE ROLE OF NGOs IN TANZANIA 2010 ONWARDS

Experience on NGO work and financial
challenges
The case of TACOSODE
A PAPER PRESENTED BY Ms THEOFRIDA A. KAPINGA
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, TANZANIA COUNCIL FOR
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DURING
National Seminar
On
FUNDING AND SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES OF NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS IN TANZANIA
Organized By TACOSODE, At Blue Pearl Hotel
9th May, 2011
1.0 Introduction
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) perform important
work in many areas of social development in Tanzania: work
with vulnerable groups of society (children, especially
orphans; women; people with disabilities; unemployed youths;
elderly people; farmers; and others.), work for the protection of
the environment; work on health-related issues (HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and others); and work to ensure the correct use of
public funds (e.g. government expenditure tracking projects).
NGOs give citizens the possibility to actively participate in
society and social development.
• A major problem faced by NGOs in the
country is the challenge to secure the
necessary funding for sustainable
implementation of activities. Funding often is
donor-driven, focuses on short-term projects,
and leaves little space for long-term activities
and sustainability. Recent economic and
financial crises in many Western countries
have led to a reduction of donor funding,
with negative effects on sustainability of
NGO activities.
2.0. Historical Development of NGOs
• The emergence of NGOs in Tanzania started
way back before colonial era, where there
were Voluntary Organizations/Groups which
were formed by the community along tribal
basis to help them in time of need especially
in funeral arrangements and costs related
thereto- {it is a common practice for
Tanzanians to be buried at their place of
birth} and other community needs.
• Other Associations were formed for sports
and other recreational activities.
• Even at that time the contribution of NGOs in
development of the country could be seen. A
notable Association by the name Tanganyika
African Association (TAA) which was later
transformed into a political party -Tanganyika
African National Union (TANU) which fought
and won Tanganyika’s independence in
1961.
3.0 Low pace of NGOs Development
• Colonial government came along with their
NGOs to help their government, local NGOs
were suppressed
• Soon after Independence the local thrust for
group organization slowed down possibly
after realizing that the common enemy that
brought them together has gone! Now
celebration!
• The political environment was also not
supportive for group organizationnationalism, followed by the Ujamaa Villages
4.0.The Period of Mushrooming of
NGOs
• From 1974 on wards the country experienced
huge economic crisis due to price increase in
oil, drought, Uganda-Tanzania war, structural
adjustments – retrenchment, Government
stopping to be the biggest employer etc –
made people organize into poverty alleviation
groups/organizations. Thus by 1980’s the
country had registered over 3,000 NGOs
local, national, and international working in
Tanzania.
The Tanzania Council For Social
Development (TACOSODE)
Historical Backgroud
• TACOSODE is an abbreviation for the Tanzania
Council for Social Development. It is a new name for
what was formerly known as the National Council on
Social Welfare Services registered in February 1965
as a voluntary coordinating body for NGOs in the
country. Its establishment came as initiatives from
both the Voluntary Organizations (25 of them) and the
Government i.e the Department of Social Welfare. By
its Constitution the Minister who was responsible for
Social Welfare was automatically the Chairperson of
the Council.
• The Secretariat and the day to day management of
the Council’s activities was done by staff seconded
by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) until
1992 when the Department decided to call back the
last staff i.e. The Executive Secretary and the
Council started to employ own Executive Secretary.
• Not only that the Council’s secretariat was receiving
Government subvention on Quarterly basis (the last
amount was Tsh 360,000/= per Quarter in 1991.
• On the same arrangement other Welfare related
NGOs also enjoyed the Government financial
support e.g those working for the homeless, the
elderly, Orphans and Organizations of People with
Disabilities (PDs) and those working for PDs.
5.0 Turning Point
• It should be noted that the NGOs’ Financial
support was part of the DSW Budget
• Following the Economic hardships that the
country experienced from late 70’s onwards
the Government started cutting down its
Social Service budget that heavily affected
the DSW hence unable to provide
subventions to the Voluntary Sector. That
was beginning1991 (TACOSODE’s
experience)
5.1. Some Mixed feelings
• With the introduction of The New NGO act No. 24
of 2002 there was two schools of thought among
the NGOs about Government financing NGOs.
• Those who were in favour of the Government
support
• Those who felt that receiving government funding
would actually jeopardize the NGO’s autonomy
hence falling into the Government Control. That is
why the National NGO Council that was established
by the requirement of the NGO act could not get
government funding as is the case with the NGO
Board
6.0 Challenges facing NGOs
Financing
• Grants from Donors has continued to be the
number one source for the NGOs financing.
• Now with the increase in number of
registered NGOs in the country (National,
Regional, District based/ community based
and International NGOs) there is huge
competition for the shrinking Donor funding.
• Generally we can divide the challenges that
NGOs face with the regard to funding into
the following categories:
6.1. Challenges related to Donor requirements
• Collaboration with foreign registered NGOs
becomes a prerequisite by some Bilateral
Agencies
• Geographical preferences among Donors
(Donor partitioning)
• There are indications that poor infrastructure
poses a challenge to the spread of donors in
the rural areas in the country
• Accessing information on funding
opportunities - most funding opportunities are
now advertised through the Internet while
majority of grassroots based NGOs in rural
areas cannot access- no computers, not
being able to use computers/internet,
• Basket funding arrangement -whereby
donors pull together their resources and
access it through the District Councils – This
limits the chances for NGOs to access these
resources for the most obvious reason of
mistrust of the NGOs capabilities
• Donor Restrictions- Another problem -that
many grants and donations carry restrictions
on the types of expenses that they may
cover
• The most common restriction is to cover only
direct program costs, but not the cost of
support services or other overhead costs
incurred by the NGO, that NGOs must
contribute. these costs on their own, or at
least cover an increasing share of these
costs over time. But how? Most NGOs
activities do not generate income
6.2. Challenges related to the weakness of the
NGOs
• Over-reliance on Donor funding
 Dependence on grants and donations can also
inhibit the autonomy of NGOs to choose which
program activities to undertake and to select the
most effective intervention strategies to achieve
program goals.
 To a certain extent, all donors have their own
agenda, i.e., their own views as to which
problems are important and the best
intervention strategies to address these
problems.
• Non diversification of Donors
Many NGOs are not able to look for
alternative sources of funding - If you put
all your eggs in one basket you and your
family run the risk of hardship, or even
ruin, if the basket drops. Many NGOs new
and mature have died due to this trap
• Inadequate skills to meet minimum
standard in Proposal writing
 Smaller or newly established NGOs/CBOs
face a lot of challenges in proposal writing
hence have to hire some professionals who
work as consultants – How will they pay
these consultants?
 Even well established NGOs found
themselves in big competition with
International NGOs that register as local
NGOs hence becoming eligible for locally
available resources
• Challenges Related to Track Record

Most Donors would like to support an NGO that has
previous experience in handling Donor finances –
what happens to new NGOs? How can one get
experience without experiencing?
 Some of the NGOs that are lucky to access donor
funding have found themselves loosing credibility due
to poor management of the funds or poor
performance in the project activities – unable to prove
the value for money, measuring the impact of the
projects/program hence unable to get additional
funding
 Need to have someone to prove to the donor that you
actually can do it
• Challenges related to Competition
Between NGOs and their Government
 Competition between NGOs and their
governments for donor resources –
especially through the basket funding
arrangement – who has a bigger say?
7.0 Implication to the NGOs
• Short lived projects- unsustainable
interventions
• Absence of long term planning – due to
uncertainty of funds over time, it becomes
difficult for NGOs to do long-term planning,
improve their services or reach their full potential
• Loosing Staff - Reliance on projects as a
source of funding to cover core activities of the
organization puts such NGOs at greater risk of
loosing their staff working under project due to
inability to sustain their salaries
• Lack of funds limits the quantity and/ or
quality of the important work the NGOs do.
8.0 Conclusions and recommendations
• The NGO Sector in Tanzania is still young though it
is growing and expanding very fast. This means as
capacity builder organization there is still more work
to be done to strengthen the sector for example in
organizational development, community
mobilization for poverty reduction, Advocacy and
lobbying, Financial management, strategic
planning, resource Mobilization, Gender
mainstreaming and Networking, regional
Cooperation.
Thank you for your attention!