/ 2 November 2010

People get a meaningful voice

Finalist -- Drivers of Change Civil Society category: <b>The Foundation for Civil Society in Tanzania</b>.

Finalist — Drivers of Change Civil Society category: The Foundation for Civil Society in Tanzania

A disconnection between governments and citizens results in public sector strikes, community protests and violent confrontations. It is difficult to get leaders to listen to the people they are meant to serve.

In Tanzania the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) works as a mediator between the people and the elected officials. The FCS is an independent, non-profit organisation in the development sector. Its primary goal is to support other NGOs by strengthening capacity and making grants. Building capacity includes creating platforms where marginalised citizens can meet decision-makers.

The FCS joins the dots — parliamentarians, legislators and donor bodies meet civil society at training courses, seminars and conferences to discuss social change. The platforms have included public dialogues and programmes on local radio and TV shows, in which stakeholders “share their success stories and challenges encountered”.

The FCS also hosts an annual civil society organisation forum at which Tanzania’s community workers exchange ideas and skills and discuss policies that affect their work. As a grant-maker the FCS focuses on programmes that “strengthen effective engagement in poverty reduction”. Its mission is to “empower citizens through the provision of grants, facilitating links and enabling a culture of ongoing learning to civil society”.

This entails working on policy, advocacy and strengthening governance. A grassroots approach — as opposed to a purely administrative or policy lobbying stance — has also ensured that the FCS yields real-time results. A community-driven fund for disabled persons was initiated after the FCS organised training workshops with a partner body to discuss Tanzania’s National Disability Policy.

The workshops were held at places where disabled persons could participate, including in hospital wards. Judith Baige, a representative of a local women’s group, says the workshop inspired disabled women to work together “just like other women without disability”.

In a documented FCS case study she reported that the disabled women formed their own organisation to represent their concerns. “We were isolated by the community. Persons with disability were regarded as a curse. That’s why most of us did not go to school.

“The FCS has stimulated us to search out even those people with disabilities who are hidden indoors,” says Baige. The foundation also assisted with a project to lobby for the rights of the elderly. An old-age facility in Nyanza had 40 elderly people in its care and needed medical services.

The FCS ensured that they got the identity cards required to access free medical services, as outlined in Tanzania’s National Ageing Policy. Other old-age homes are now taking similar steps. One of the beneficiaries, Emilia Kaswahili (60), from Kakebe village, says poverty had always prevented most people from getting access to medical services.

“When you succeed to get money to see the doctor, you don’t have enough money to buy medicine. It was a nightmare to most of us,” she says. Joan Mungereza, who nominated FCS for this award, says it had motivated others “towards solidarity and networking”.

“It inspires organisations to believe in their work and deliver results through working together in the fight against poverty,” says Mungereza. The judges praised the foundation as “a driver of change for building civil society capability to engage policymakers in Tanzania and beyond”.