SUB-NATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF CIVIC PARTICIPATION IN POLICY
MAKING AND BUDGETARY PROCESSES – A CASE STUDY OF ILALA
MUNICIPAL COUNCIL IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
By John M. Lubuva
Municipal Director: Ilala Municipal Council, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
With contributions by Renatus M. Kihongo
Economist: Ilala Municipal Council, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Introduction
The UN Economic and Social Council resolved in 1929 (section vii) that participation requires
voluntary and democratic involvement of people in contributing to development efforts, sharing
equitably in the benefits derived there from and in decision-making in respect of setting and
implementing the economic and social development agenda. A research project carried out by the
Commonwealth Foundation in 47 of the 55 Commonwealth countries from 1997 to 1999 that indeed
“citizens perceive the need for association in community life and participation in public arenas”
(Valderrama, C. and Hamilton, K. 1999). Convention has for sometime, however, favored
participatory processes among rural societies, doubting its applicability to the diverse urban
communities. The purpose in this case study is to gain insight into the experiences of urban civic
participation in Ilala Municipal Council (IMC) that has set the ground for a new type of relationship
between the citizens and their governing authorities based on mutual trust and to evaluate the extent
could be met through participatory budgeting,
a. The Context for Increased Civic Participation
i. Role of national context and framework conditions in civic participation
Ilala Municipality was established in 2000 following reforms that led to decentralization of the Dar
es Salaam city administration into three autonomous municipalities for Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke
districts. Dar es Salaam is the largest city and de-facto capital of Tanzania with a population of about
3 million. Tanzania began to encourage civic participation by creating new structures to support subnational community initiatives in the 1960s, followed by the transfer of key functions for
development planning, coordination and management to regional and district levels, and the
establishment of Village Councils to strengthen grass-root participation in 1975. The focus then was
largely rural, but most adult residents in Ilala Municipality are first generation urban immigrants
with strong rural ties and with some experience from past participatory attempts, and this assured
acceptability of the more recent initiatives of IMC, considerably saving on time and cost of public
education and awareness creation. The IMC participatory budgeting program operates within a
national framework on good governance that creates focus on people's participation in decisionmaking, and elaborates the priority areas of attention of the key players in the governance system,
including LGAs and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). The IMC initiative benefited immensely
from awareness created through the national program.
With a population of 33.6 million in 2002, Tanzania has 21 administrative regions and 114 districts
and Local Government Authorities (LGAs). The government structure penetrates deep into the
grassroots, which facilitates engagement of civil society at various levels. Central government
comprises national, regional, district and divisional levels of administration and LGAs are
subdivided into wards, sub-wards, village governing councils and rural hamlets. The LGA structure
however presents some challenges. (Clifford and Meijer (2001) for example, observed difficulties in
characterising community in Dar es Salaam, arguing that it was not clear which of the sub-entity
levels constituted a ‘community’. They contended that the division of wards by and large defined
communities in practice, but their population size, up to 40,000 in some cases, made it difficult to
have the views of all groups reflected adequately at that level.
In its participatory budgeting
initiatives IMC defines communities around the sub-wards and villages, where the law grants
citizens the right to attend public meetings for decision-making.
Tanzania prepared a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in the late 1990s and embarked on a
multi-faceted set of budget and public administration reforms including decentralisation of service
delivery responsibilities to LGAs and the introduction of performance budgeting, and a performance
management system for the public services (Roberts, J. 2003). Local government capacity has been
built through an ongoing Local Government Reform Program (LGRP) and the regulatory
frameworks on central-local administrative and fiscal relations were reviewed to increase autonomy
and decision-making authority of the LGAs, to foster good governance and to improve access and
quality of public services delivery (URT 1998). The constitution and legislation both compel LGAs
to involve citizens in policy and budgetary decision-making. Tanzania operates a cash budgeting
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system, in which the budgets are derived from annually updated Medium Term Expenditure
Frameworks (MTEFs) with expenditures on priority poverty-reduction sectors protected from inyear cuts. Government has issued framework guidelines on sectoral, regional and district medium
term development plans for implementation of Vision 2025 (URT 2003).
IMC generates about 50% of revenue from own sources but most of the other LGAs depend on
central government for the bulk of their finances, which is allocated as conditional grants, based on
statements of their objectives, strategies and targets, and on feed back reports showing progress on
performance-indicators (Roberts, J. ibid). A new formula based system of conditional block grants
allocation that has been adopted for the pro-poor sectors in education and health, which make up
88% of all transfers. Alongside the ring fencing of expenditure on these sectors against annual
budget cuts and with the forward looking MTEFs in place, formula based allocations will add
certainty, predictability and equity in the grants system. However, IMC has a relatively robust own
source revenue base that enables it to exercise sufficient financial autonomy to sustain participatory
budgeting despite the risks that are inherent in the central government transfers.
ii.
Economic situation, condition of tenure and civic participation
Tanzania is a poor country with mean per capita income of Tsh. 265,300 (USD $ 265.3) in 2002
(URT2003). The government defines poverty as “a state of deprivation, prohibitive of a decent
human life” URT, 1999). Poverty in Tanzania is measured in two parameters comprising the food
line, which is the price of a minimum food basket to provide 2,200 calories per day and a higher
basic needs poverty line to allow for non-food consumption. Accordingly, the Household Budget
Survey report 2000/01 indicates that 19% of Tanzanians live below the food poverty line while 36%
live below the basic needs poverty line (URT 2003). The main source of livelihood in Ilala
municipality is self-employment, predominantly in the informal sector that accounts for 40% of adult
employment. The Household Budget Survey (HBS) 2000/01 recorded mean per capita monthly
income of Tsh 40,767 with wide income disparities across gender and education levels. The most
educated for example earn 10 times more than the least educated, while the average income of men
is nearly twice that of women. Compared to the national averages of 18.7% the incidence and depth
of poverty is low at 7.5% living below the food poverty line of Tsh 6,719 pm, and 17.6% below the
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basic needs poverty line of Tsh 9,203 pm compared to 35.7% nationally. Absolute poverty, which
breeds frustration, despair and apathy on citizens preoccupied with their next meal on a daily basis
does not impend participation in the municipality.
Housing and tenure systems present both opportunities and constraints to civic participation in the
municipality. That only 31.2% of houses are owner occupied means a large proportion of the
population who rent accommodation, are transient in the communities, with no vested interest and
little incentive to participate in local issues. 60-70% of houses are built in unplanned, un-surveyed
and under-serviced settlements with regular titles to land. Tanzania’s land law, however, recognizes
such tenure as rights of occupancy of the land, except for obviously hazardous land or public
property such as road and utility reserves. Property owners in planned and surveyed land have
regular title to the land. This broad based security of tenure facilitated participatory budgeting
initiatives of IMC since security of tenure stimulates the community spirit that bonds urban dwellers
around issues of common interests of welfare or concerns over their environment.
Previous development initiatives in Dar es Salaam, including Ilala municipality demonstrated that
communities are willing and able to contribute resources to improve services. However, inclusion of
the most disadvantaged of society in such schemes remains a key challenge. Mobilization in those
initiatives also required substantial skill and support of community development workers and
depended to a large extent on unsustainable donor funding, and the way and extent to which the very
poor, those with impaired abilities, the elderly, and other minority groups are participating in
decision-making is not very clear in some cases (Clifford &. Meijer, ibid).
iii.
Impact of level of and access to basic social services and infrastructure on
participation
The level of access to basic services is higher in the municipality than the national averages. The
mean distance to a primary school is only 0.8 km as compared to the national average of 1.8 km. The
mean distance to a dispensary or health centre is 0.7 km in the municipality and 98% of households
live within 6 km of one such facility as against national averages of 3.9km and 75% of households
respectively. 59% of households are connected to the electricity grid and 85.7% have access to piped
water as compared to national averages of 10% and 39% respectively (HBS 2000/01). The quality of
services, however, leaves much to be desired and in with declines noted in some cases, due to rapid
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population growth. The ratio of households with access to piped water for example declined form
93% in 1991/92 to 85.7% in 2000/01 while the primary school net enrolment ratio of 71% compares
unfavourably with the highest 81% ratio for Kilimanjaro Region (HBS 2000/01). Primary school
facilities are overcrowded from shortage of as much as 21 schools and 1,132 classrooms. The desire
to improve service delivery and quality motivates civic participation in the municipality.
iv.
Political will and political party platforms
The multiparty democracy existing in Tanzania creates an environment that is conducive for
establishment of civil organizations, which are key organs in budgetary and policy decision–making
processes. The ruling party ‘Chama Cha Mapinduzi’ (CCM) won the 1995 and 2000 elections on the
platform of good governance, and when the President entered office in November 1995 he declared
good governance as the priority of his presidency. There is therefore a strong and steadfast political
will to governance issues including civic participation that facilitated participatory budgeting in Ilala
municipality. All ministries with various sector reform responsibilities including in local
government, civil service management (public sector reforms), planning and privatization (economic
sector reforms), and a new ministry of state for good governance are placed in the President’s office,
while the office of the Prime Minister coordinates government activities in respect to the election
manifesto. It has for example put in place a strict reporting system that is rigorously enforced.
v.
Level of education
The HBS 2000/1 indicates that 92.4% of all adults aged 15 and above in Ilala Municipality have at
least a primary 1-4 level or adult education but the proportion of women without any education is
more than twice as high at 10.6% as that of men, which stands at 4.5%. Similarly 94.3% of all adult
men are literate and able to read and write in at least one language, compared to 88.3%, of adult
women. The gender education gap has serious implications considering that there is a strong
relationship between poverty and education levels.
vi.
Peace or absence of armed conflict
‘Freedom and Unity’ was the rallying call of the main pre-independence political movement
Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) that fostered peace, and the post-independence
government took deliberate steps to eliminate all potential causes of conflict, including the abolition
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of tribal based traditional leadership and making a secular institution of the state. Tanzania has since
stood out as a peaceful, stable society living in peace with a stable government. The absence of
tribal, religious, political or other forms of armed conflict enables communities to live harmoniously
with mutual respect for, and in trust of each other and of government, which strengthens the
government citizen relations that is imperative to civic participation (OECD 2001). Despite a diverse
culture, residents of the municipality were able to interact constructively with each other and with
IMC in the participatory planning and budgetary processes.
vii. Population size
The population census of 2002 revealed a population of 634,924 in Ilala Municipality. With own
source revenue of Tsh 15,936,099,674.00 (USD 15,936,100) for 2002, expenditure on all municipal
functions inclusive of staff salaries was a paltry Tsh 29,776 per capita for that fiscal year. There is
therefore a stiff competition for scarce public resources among communities, which along with the
poor quality of services, that spurred citizens interest on how resources are allocated or shared,
motivating them to participate in the municipal budgetary decision-making process, when the
opportunity was presented them. Awareness of the gap in financial resources of IMC against needs
provided further incentive for citizens to contribute resources and to ensure value for money.
i.
Cultural diversity and social capital
The urban character of Ilala municipality means communities are culturally diverse and the
traditional systems of social capital that normally develop along clan and the tribal lines in rural
Africa, are absent. Social capital formation largely revolves around CBOs that develop group-based
capacity to solve problems or address government systems especially in the underserved
spontaneous urban settlements. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, issues of urban insecurity, widespread
unemployment of women and the youth, coupled with low wages among the employed, and the
predominance of the informal sector economy have inspired a wide range of social capital
formations including advocacy groups, community policing initiatives, cooperative societies
including credit associations, petty trading associations and women income generation groups and
organizations, leading to material benefits from community initiatives in infrastructure and social
services development or self employment activities that positively affect livelihoods. The rich
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variety of social capital formations provided channels for IMC to reach some but not all, of the
disadvantaged groups in its participatory budgeting processes.
ii. Origination of civic participation activities: The role of the grass roots, external
actors to the country, partisan processes and legal processes
The constitution and local government Acts No. 7 and 8 compel LGAs to consult citizens in annual
budget and planning processes, and the guidelines for the LGRP instruct LGAs to hold stakeholder
consultations at least in the diagnostics stage and in developing the strategic plan (URT2000a).
IMC decided to implement a participatory planning and budgeting program both to conform to
government policy directive and legislation, and also in response to citizens’ concerns. When they
came into office after the October 2000 elections, councilors expressed popular concerns and
complaints against the top-down, technocratic budgets and plans failed to address community
priorities.
History of government/civil society relationships
Government relationship with CSOs and the overall strength of democracy play a significant role
in the quality of participatory processes (Christian Aid, 2002). Tanzania cultivated good relations
with citizens from the ‘ujamaa’ (African Socialism) era in the late 1960s and government has since
maintained a liberal attitude towards participation, allowing a fairly open society even under the
previous one-party rule. Political liberalizationhas increased the parameters for democracy and
created an environment that is more conducive to establishment of CSOs and a strong partnership
has developed between government and CSOs for advocacy, public education and program
implementation in poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS, gender mainstreaming, in the fight against
corruption, and in local government, legislative and other sector reforms.
iii. The presence of women elected representatives at the sub-national level, their political
influence and link to women’s participation in budgeting processes
The constitution recognizes women‘s right to participate in politics, social and economic life of the
country and the rights to vote and to stand for election are provided equally for men and women.
Government realizes that women’s advancement and achievement of gender equality are a condition
to social justice and economic development and the promotion of women participation in politics
and decision-making is among critical areas of its concern. The Government has taken affirmative
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action to include women in decision-making, assuring them of 33% of seats in the LGAs and 20% in
Parliament, with plans to increase parliamentary representation of women to 30% by 2005. Lack of
organizational and advocacy capacity, however, undermines the impact of women representation in
bringing gender issues up for discussion in the LGAs.
The existence of specific government agencies within different levels of government to support
gender equality
The Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children is responsible for policy on women
empowerment and a new Gender Affairs Department has been created in the President’s Office,
Public Service Management Unit to support women appointments to top management positions in
public policy and budgetary decision-making. Directorates of women affairs and women units have
been formed respectively in key ministries, and in the regional and district administrative structure.
Women wings have also been formed in all political parties that are registered in the country, which
provide a forum to women to address social, economic and political issues.
The level of agreement on the concept of gender equality in the context of civic engagement in
budgetary processes amongst key government organizations and NGO’s
Tanzania has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Convention, upholds all other international human rights
instruments calling for gender equality, and in collaboration with CSOs, is working to remove
provisions in existing laws that do not grant the rights and freedom of women. The government
promotes publicity by using the media and SCOs to in sensitise and create public awareness on the
legal system.
Degree and forms of gender analysis expertise within government agencies involved in
budgetary processes and NGO’s
In effort towards gender mainstreaming in the civil service, government has created a central
database on women and their qualifications for use by appointing authorities and developed
women’s database in key ministries and in the regions and districts. The national poverty monitoring
system has established an elaborate institutional structure comprising a steering committee and four
Technical Working Groups for surveys and census, research and analysis, routine data systems and,
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dissemination, all of which have adequate capacity for gender analysis (URT 2001). At sub-national
level, NGOs appear to have greater gender analytical capacity than government agencies and several
of them have an explicit focus on gender research and analysis.
iv. Processes to collect and analyze sex-disaggregated data; to identify key gender issues
for
translation into budgetary priorities and mechanisms to share information with
government agencies and NGO groups; to develop consensus
Tanzania’s poverty monitoring maser plan emphasises sex-disaggregated data analysis and diffusion
of information in popular versions of for example the Annual Poverty and Human Development
Report on progress of PSRP indicators and targets. The master plan also creates focus on
empowering CSOs including special groups of the marginalized and vulnerable to interpret and
articulate budget allocations and expenditures process, and to collect information that reflects their
fields experience and evidence about poverty, to back up official quantitative data. Similarly,
Household Budget Survey (HBS) reports for 1991/92 and 2000/01 disaggregated data by sex,
revealing for example that generally women have lower incomes than men (HBS 2000/01). The
Tanzania Poverty Monitoring Socio-Economic Database (TANSED) is yet another instrument that
contains time series and multiple estimates from various sources. The Database is disaggregated
also, to district level by sex and urban/rural strata (URT 2001).
The Government employs Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs), as a routine part of its Poverty
Monitoring System, in which data analysis about the conditions faced by poor people, is originated
from reflections and explanations of the poor people on their everyday experiences. The 1st PPA
cycle that covered 30 districts, focused on “vulnerability” due to its immense impact on people’s
well being and its capacity to rapidly erode progress on the PRSP (URT 2002). Mtambani sub-ward
in was covered in Ilala municipality, providing invaluable qualitative information to the IMC
participatory budgeting process. Additional disaggregated qualitative information, including
resource mapping, which is a powerful tool for visual representation of various resources within the
municipality was obtained form an ILO study on Child Labour (C. Kadonya, M. Madihi S. Mtwana,
2002).
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The LGRP required LGAs to conduct surveys of satisfaction with service delivery. IMC conducted
the baseline surveys in year 2000 and their results have significantly influenced the council strategic
plan, facilitated consensus on the vision, mission and key responsibilities of IMC with stakeholders,
and generally informed the entire reform process at IMC. With the assistance of consultants, the
survey data were analysed and comprehensively disaggregated by type of service, gender, age and
by wards, enabling a clear expression of the state of public service delivery and of level of access to
them by citizens and various social groups, which empowered communities to articulate problems
and prioritise in a constructive manner that led to realistic budgets.
Social, cultural and economic factors that influence women’s ability to participate in
budgetary processes; links to political will
Traditional norms and culture, which is hard to change, remain a major constraint to effective
participation of women in the IMC budgeting process. Tradition places women in low position
compared to men and they were not expected to influence the decision-making processes from
domestic level to the national level. Existing attitudes influence the election and appointment of
women to high profile positions and hence limit women’s voices from impacting decision-making in
policy and in the planning and budgeting processes, and they favor and promote boys’ education and
pay less interest in the education of girls. Due to their lower levels of education, women lack
confidence to engage in discussions equally with men, which limits their impact in participatory
policy decision-making and budgeting processes even when opportunities are given them.
The socialization process on the division of labor, which stereotypes different roles kinds of work for
men and women, view ‘reproduction’ and the care for a family at home as a woman’s primary
commitment, and assume that women depend on a male providers for cash needs, contribute to most
women being allocated low paying, unskilled or lesser skilled work in both the formal and the
informal economic sectors. Available data also “reveals significant income disparities between men
and women working in the same occupation” (URT, 1993). A survey of incomes done across nine
employment sectors for example, revealed average monthly incomes of Tsh 5,120 and Tsh 4,300 for
men and women respectively (Mjema and Shitundu 1996). Low education and productive skills
among women as compared to men, lack of child care facilities and of health and industrial safety
provisions tailored to the realisation of women’s practical gender needs exacebate the situation. The
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government has demonstrated high level political will in ratifying and actively implementing all
international human rights instruments calling for gender equality. Parliament for example legislated
in 2000 to allocate 33 % and 20% quotas of seats in the LGAs and in the Union Parliament
respectively, and Cabinet Decision No. 23 of 1996 endorsed for implementation, the increase of
women in all decision-making positions. Government has created a database on women and their
qualifications for use by appointing authorities to mainstream gender in the civil service and is
taking firm action to increase women access to education at all levels and has restructured carricula
to focus on employment creation, especially for women.
b.
Organization of the participatory policy making and budgeting processes
Having seen the need for participatory budgeting as an obligation to government policy and
legislative requirements to involve people in decision-making and also as a way to achieve
sustainable development in the municipality, IMC embarked on sensitization of sub-ward leaders
and on awareness creation for the participatory budgeting and planning process in 2001. The first
attempt to produce a participatory budget and plan for fiscal year 2002, however, failed and was
abandoned because expectations were unrealistically high - up to Tsh 40,000,000,000/= (US$ 40m)
in requests for development expenditure, against Tsh. 5,100,000,000/= (US$ 5.1m) revenue on own
sources, and the community priorities were not clearly articulated.
The process, for fiscal year 2003 commenced early in July 2002 to allow for training of key players.
IMC developed a tailored training program on urban participatory planning and budgeting in
collaboration with the Institute of Regional Development Planning (IRDP). Residential and field
raining sessions were conducted to council extension staff, Ward executive Officer and
representatives of NGOs and CBOs from each ward on the participatory planning process using the
PRA/PPA and the Opportunities and Obstacles to Development (O & OD) techniques. The Council
management team was exposed to three days and the 22 ward councilors to one day of training.
Training focus was laid on planning, budgeting and advocacy skills, and on role assignment to all
groups of stakeholders.
Following the initial round of training, the participatory budget for 2003 was more realistic and the
priorities were much more clearly set. 60% of the projects implemented in the year 2003 originated
from the community, while the balance of 40% of the projects were implemented to address
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crosscutting issues and to meet specific national PSRP targets. IMC planning and budgeting follows
the three-year cycle of national MTEFs. The value of all project budget requests from communities
ranked in priority 1 – 5 amounted to Tsh. 12,115,944,671/= projected over 3 years. During the first
year, IMC was able financed implementation of projects worth 3,004,829,100/= (US$ 3.0m)
equivalent to 25% of all projects proposed mainly from own source revenues of Tsh 6,200,000,000/=
(US$ 6.2m). With projected increase in own source revenue that grew at about 15% per annum from
2000 to 20003, higher levels of resource contributions of communities and other stakeholders
expected from improved relations with IMC, and with access to unconditional grants, IMC is certain
to finance the remaining projects over the next two years.
i. Capacity building for effective community participation in planning and budgeting
In 2003 IMC decided to establish 22 community level planning and budgeting support teams (CLPTeams), one in each ward with 10 members to empower communities with participatory planning
and budgeting skills. Effort was made to ensure the teams were apolitical, gender balanced with
more or less equal number of women to men, and inclusive of vulnerable groups. CLP team
members were trained on participatory mechanisms and on technical planning and budgeting skills,
which, considerably improved quality of grassroots plans and budget proposals. In the interim
January – June 2004 budget pending transition to the central government fiscal year (July 2004 to
June 2005) for example, IMC executing 41 new projects of which, 26 or 63.4% were proposed by
communities, in the participatory processes. Participatory budgeting is in progress for fiscal year
2004/05 and a decision has been reached to allocate a minimum of Tsh 50m (USD 50,000) for each
ward to ensure all communities benefit from the process. IMC also sets aside a fund of USD 60,000 USD 100 in each year’s budget to support Community Driven Development (CDD) projects as a
way to encourage citizens take a more active role in tackling their own problems by collectively
initiating, financing, managing and controlling projects.
The role of the different actors
The media was instrumental in public information dissemination to creating awareness, educate and
sensitize citizens on participation, particularly at the national level. Territory based CSOs, mainly
CBOs, helped to identify and prioritize locality based social, economic, infrastructure and
environmental concern of communities, and mobilized community resources for service delivery and
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other projects. Theme and sector based CSOs contributed supplementary evidence based,
quantitative and qualitative information from field experiences, mobilization, organization and
advocacy skills, and they mobilized additional resources for community projects through their
national or international associates.
Labor-based CSOs are not very active in the sub-national levels but they participate at annual
consultations with CSOs on the national budget priorities. Faith based CIO’s are very active in the
local scene where they provide a wide range of affordable, non-profit oriented social services,
especially in health and education, supplementing the service delivery efforts of IMC. Their main
other contributions are in advocacy against HIV/ AIDS, crime and other social ills and in building
opinion and consensus across religious lines. Women’s organizations including women’s political
party wings provided a gender perspective to various issues, both at the municipal level of
consultations and in lower entities, creating particular focus on health and other social services, on
self employment income generation for women, and on safety and security.
Political parties are encouraged to, and they participate in policy and budgetary consultations at the
national and council level, helping build opinions and consensus on key public issues across political
lines. Partisan roles are discouraged at the grassroots where political differences are potentially
divisive. Private sector organizations provide financial and managerial support to various community
initiatives, though often form a spontaneous philanthropic standpoint lacking in the more structured
and constructive engagement commensurate with the sustainable corporate social responsibility
approach. Business organizations have also influenced municipal tax policy in favor of fair, broad
based taxes that encourage compliance, and in determining costs of services that IMC has
outsourced to them, as in solid waste management.
The people’s direct involvement in grassroots meetings to discuss and prioritize community
problems, and propose projects for budgetary resource allocation by IMC underpins and gives
legitimacy to the IMC participatory annual planning and budgeting process. They contribute
resources in kind and materially to the realization of service delivery and other projects, and by dint
of their presence on the ground, they monitor and evaluate on-going programs and projects through
physical inspection. People have also played an important role in generating local information;
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especially the evidence based experiential information through the PPA, to supplement official
government and IMC data.
Many institutions played important roles in the participatory budgeting initiative of IMC, the roles
of which were in creating space and providing the forum for civic participation, creating public
awareness, mobilizing citizens, participatory and technical skills development training in planning
and budgeting, sensitizing council staff and decision-makers on bottom-up decision-making
approaches and providing administrative and financial support to the process; generation and
analysis of data from surveys, official records and reports, diffusion of information, and allocating
funds from its budget to execute decisions reached in the participatory process. Central government
created a conducive institutional and regulatory environment for the entire process by expanding
decision-making and budgetary mandates of IMC and through providing technical and managerial
capacity development training of staff and councilors technical and managerial capacity
development training of staff and councilors technical and managerial capacity development training
of staff and councilors, and provision of financial support to IMC for the surveys and consultation
meetings the LGRP. In its first Medium Term Plan (MTP) government for example, aims at
“empowering local governments and communities as well as promoting broad-based grass-root
participation … to stimulating development initiatives” (URT 2003).
The regional and district administrations assisted IMC in interpreting government policy and
legislation on good governance, with monitoring and evaluation feedback on the participatory
initiative, and with resolving religious or political conflicts when they arose. Parliament revision of
laws created an enabling environment for LGAs to involve people in policy and budgetary decisionmaking, and in creating focus on inclusion of women in the decision-making processes. Several
presidential commissions on important issues of national interest including corruption, land laws,
political party organization and legal reforms collected public opinion to reach national consensus on
them, in a manner that created public awareness on the civic role in government affair. International
agencies including the Breton Woods Institutions encouraged and pressed for integration of good
governance and civic participation in poverty reduction initiatives of poor countries making it for
example a condition to access foreign aid and qualify for debt relief, which led developing countries
governments open up to civic society, unleashing immense opportunities for sub-national
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participatory decision-making budgeting processes. Many international agencies provide technical
and financial support to the IMC participatory budgeting process and for project execution.
Participatory procedures for long-term decision-making
The long-term Strategic Urban Development Plan (SUDP) for Dares Salaam was developed in 1992
through a citywide consultation process of the Sustainable Dar es Salaam Program (SDP) of the
post-Rio Sustainable Cities Initiatives on Environmental Planning and Management (EPM). Basing
on a City Environmental profile, consensus was reached on nine priority objectives around which
nine working groups of key stakeholder representatives were formed to develop strategic plans for
implementation. The SDP process that guides city development to date turned the city around by
popularizing participatory planning procedures to improve the living conditions.
Participatory procedures for medium-term decision-making
Medium term decisions in the municipality were developed from two stakeholder consultations held
to make a diagnosis of the state of service delivery by IMC basing on the survey of levels of
citizens’ satisfaction with municipal services, define the municipal vision and the mission of the
IMC, and draw a three year medium term strategic plan that provides the framework for the annual
planning and budgeting processes. The participants to the consultations were carefully selected from
among CSOs, political parties, religious organization, business and professional associations; central
and local government agencies, private sector service providers including utility companies,
financial institutions and across social groups such as women, the youth, the elderly and the disabled
to reflect the urban complexity and cultural diversity of society in the municipality.
The Logical Framework Analysis technique with graphic tools of analysis using the problem tree
and objective tree that describe and analyze a core problem, the hierarchy of causal factors and of
proposals to solve the problem was used to facilitate discussion. Use of the visual analytic devices
helped organize ideas about the needs of citizens into a hierarchy of cause-and-effect relationships
that were systematically translated into a logical framework of project objectives and to select
strategic components of the medium term plan that respond to the citizens’ needs.
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Participatory procedures for short-term decision-making
The annual participatory planning and budgeting process involves direct participation of citizens in
grassroots meetings at sub-ward and village governing councils. Communities rank and prioritize
their problems and submit project proposals for discussion and approval of the Ward Development
Committee (WDC), are then forwarded to the municipal council, where they are consolidated into
the municipal annual budget and development plan. Resource allocation for the projects proposed at
community level is made from in four areas: Government Grants, own source revenue, community
contributions and donor funds, when available.
Various environmental scanning techniques are used to facilitate discussions and decision-making at
the grassroots public meetings including the O & OD and various PRA/PPA. The process involves
identifying available opportunities for development and exploring how the opportunities could be
exploited to foster local development. Obstacles are then identified that could impend productive use
of available opportunities and resources and strategies are drawn to resolve the obstacles. Both men
and women are encouraged to participate equally in the process and the exercise involves various
groups of the communities including vulnerable groups. After various practical exercises community
members then discuss and prioritize proposed development projects with the support of CLP-team
members.
Cost of the planning and budgeting process
The cost of planning and budgeting process including training was only Tsh Tsh. 18,732,460 (USD
18,7320) in 2002 equivalent to USD 0.029 per capita expenditure, representing 0.62% of the
resulting projects worth Tsh. 3,004,829,100 (USD 3m) implemented in the 2003 fiscal year.
Nevertheless the gains in satisfaction with the services from community participation outweigh the
cost by far. Combined costs of training and budgeting processes for the January-June 2004 period
and for the 2004/05 fiscal year were Tsh. 22,496,500 (USD 22,496.5). The costs are expected to
decline considerably in future with reduction in training needs.
Participatory procedures in social services delivery
Civic participation in the delivery of social services is achieved through service management boards
and committees for health education and water supply that are mandatory in all LGAs in Tanzania.
The service boards and committees constitute members who are elected from among community
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members. Health boards and committees advise management at facility level and the decisionmaking organs at council level on health delivery plans and on the allocation of financial and other
resource for delivery of health services, and they monitor and evaluate the quality of health services
delivered by the council. Water users committees are responsible for managing community water
supply schemes including revenue collection on user charges and management of expenditure for
operation, maintenance and for investment to expand the services. Under the Primary Education
Development Program, school committees manage the accounts for capitation and for construction
and maintenance of school facilities from funds that are transferred to school accounts by central and
local government authorities as well those contributed by communities or donors. The school
committees also manage procurement and contracts.
Participatory procedures in Physical infrastructure programs
Participation in physical infrastructure programs takes pace around CBOs in the form of CDD
initiatives, where communities, operating through democratically leadership decide, plan, design and
execute their own projects, with or without assistance of IMC, central government or donors. Even
when assistance is sought from any of the above institutions, communities retain control of the
projects and take responsibility for project management including procurement and contracts, for
monitoring and evaluation, and for operation and maintenance.
Participatory procedures for economic development
Participatory modalities for economic development revolve around cooperative societies and various
self-employment associations of women, youth, the elderly and the disabled. Credit societies are by
far the most common associations in Ilala municipality and most of them are work place based.
Participatory procedures in cultural affairs
The cultural scene, now a thriving beehive of activities in sports, dance and traditional music,
fashion design, handicraft, fine and theatre arts within Dar es Salaam and nationwide is largely
driven by individual efforts, civic entertainment groups and associations with private sector
corporate sponsorship and promotion. Government has passed legislation on intellectual property
copyrights to protect markets in this sector, and it has established a cultural development fund that
provides funding for some cultural programs designed by individuals or preferably by groups. The
size of the fund is, however too small and few individuals or groups have so far benefited from it.
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Government is not otherwise involved in managing cultural activities in a routine manner, except in
respect of historic and cultural conservation. IMC and other LGAs are yet to mainstream cultural
affairs in their operational systems.
Consequences of increased civic participation (Outcomes)
Civic participation had many positive consequences on the effectiveness and structure of the IMC
budget and development plans, including the following benefits to communities and to IMC:
1. Positive attitude of taxpayers resulting in increased revenue from taxes, service user
charges and cost recovery,
2. Increased number of projects implemented jointly by IMC with communities,
3. Sustainability of the development projects implemented at local level for example water
wells projects.
4. Improved effectiveness of budgets and development plans in addressing relevant
issues of community concerns,
5.
Increased transparency and equity in allocating scarce public resources across
communities, especially between previously neglected inner city and the periphery
6. Employment creation in the solid waste management and increased level of solid waste
removal by CSOs and local SMEs engaging in waste management.
7. Higher performance of the Ilala Municipal Council in the National Benchmarking for good
governance,
8. Improved relations with Civil Society with a new spirit of cooperation in all municipal
programs and projects,
9. Good performance in the implementation of Primary Education Development Program
(PEDP) that guaranteed uninterrupted flow of central government grants,
10. Increased level of skills to analyze and prioritize problems and issues, and increased
capacity to design and execute community projects,
11. Increased level of community involvement in monitoring and evaluation of projects during
implementation and service provision,
12. Official recognition of the private and civic sector contributions to community projects that
are now incorporated into the council budget and development plan, which encourages
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more contributions of non-public resources and gives hope to citizens concerns over poor
services,
13. Improved accountability of CSOs that have their projects incorporated into the IMC budget
and development plan,
14. Increased participation of women and youth in decision-making and council resource
allocation, creating focus on social services and employment needs of these groups,
15. Increased interest of citizens in council affairs and greater participation in grassroots
democratic processes
Factors of success
An enduring political will and steadfast support to civic involvement both at central and local levels
of government, along with an institutional and regulatory environment that allows for autonomy of
LGAs and for direct participation of citizens in grassroots levels of administration were the key
factors of success in the IMC participatory budgeting processes. A clear definition of communities
along the boundaries of grassroots administrative structures, and careful identification of key
stakeholders to ensure broad based representation of all sections of society including the
disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, also facilitated implementation of the participatory process.
Other key factors of success include extensive and continuous awareness creation and public
education, and sensitization of staff, councilors and local community leaders on the bottom-up
processes, training of IMC councilors, management and extension staff, and of representatives of
CSOs on participatory mechanisms and in planning and budgeting tools and techniques. Deliberate
action on community empowerment through establishment and training of CLP Teams to build their
capacity for community organization and to equip them with technical tools and skills for analysis,
planning and budgeting was also a major factor in ensuring quality of participatory plans and
budgets. The main practical lesson from the IMC experience is for management staff and the elected
decision-makers be flexible and innovative in adapting in responding to citizens demands and have
the will to make changes on the procedures so as to ensure effectiveness and sustainability of the
process.
Constraints and problems encountered
IMC encountered several problems and faced many constraints in executing the participatory
budgeting processes. Key among them include the following:
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i.
Constrains of urban setting: Although many want to participate, the degree of participation in the
process had been low due to most of the people being away from their places of residence at
work or attending business during the day when meetings are held at the grassroots.
ii.
Inadequacy of funds from the IMC and the Central government to finance most of the
community driven projects and affected the consistency of the community initiatives approach
iii.
CLP team members who are not permanent residents may shift from one ward or district to
another and IMC had to frequently incur cost for training of replacements
iv.
The urban social and economic infrastructures are costly and technically complicated making I
difficult for local communities with low level of skills and resources to initiate and design
project, hence increasing dependence on government.
v.
In some cases political differences and conflicts arose within communities that created a loss of
solidarity and cohesiveness of communities, affecting the level of participation in planning and
budgeting or stalled the process in the affected areas
vi.
As revealed from the PPA in Mtambani sub-ward, the youth feel excluded from decision-making
processes and systems at different levels from community to national level and their interests are not
taken care of, and the elderly and people with disabilities who can work feel excluded from access
to credits and training for different skills that are made available to other social groups in the
community
IMC is in the process to address some of these problems in the following ways:
i.
To encourage communities to hold grassroots planning and budgeting discussions and meetings
after working hours or during week ends at a time agreed as convenient to many of the community
members,
ii.
To encourage participation of skilled members of communities so that they may advise on
technically complicated infrastructure issues,
iii.
Sensitize IMC staffs on improving efficiency and value for money cost effectiveness in project
implementation so as to earn more mileage on the limited financial resources of IMC and to forge
partnership with private sector organizations for them to contribute resources to support
community initiated projects,
iv.
To make sure that selection CLP-teams are apolitical,
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v.
To ensure that CLP-teams are largely constituted of permanent residents of the localities,
vi.
To seek for ways and means to reaching the vulnerable and excluded sections of society.
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Christian Aid, 2002
Quality of Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategies; Experiences from
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http://www.esrftz.org/ppa/Documents_Page.htm
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