Strengthening Policy Forum for NGOs

Results as of May 2012 include: 1) a joint civil society organization policy platform pioneered by Policy Forum is actively engaging over 100 civil society organizations; 2) civil society organizations are playing an increasing role in the monitoring of budget planning management and expenditure cycle; 3) district-level civil society networks are engaged in social and budget accountability monitoring in 132 Local Government Authorities; 4) 19 regional civil society networks reported good results in terms of engagement with regional secretariats and their capacity to hold the secretariats accountable through public expenditure tracking; 5) 25 000 copies of the National Strategy for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (MKUKUTA II 2010 - 2015) were produced and disseminated to over 100 civil society organizations reaching over 3 000 000 people; 6) 25 000 simplified and translated copies of the new 2010 Mining Law were disseminated to over 100 civil society organizations reaching 600 000 people; 7) 50 000 copies of Policy Forum’s Guide on the Constitutional Review Process were produced and distributed to enlighten citizens on the propriety of the process of reviewing the constitution and to give them some background on previous constitutional amendments in Tanzania; 8) 6000 copies of a simplified analysis of the Household Budget Survey were produced and distributed; 9) 20 000 copies of a popular version of the Elections Expenses Act 2009 were produced and distributed; and 10) 80 organizations were trained to conduct Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys. These activities are contributing to increasing the capacity of civil society actors to influence key policies plans and budget issues in Tanzania.