Local governance, finances and service delivery in Tanzania

Braathen, Einar; Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd

doi:10.7577/nibr/samarbeidsrapport/2005/1

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Decentralisation gained further momentum from the mid 1990s and onwards within the framework of the Local Government Reform Programme (LGRP) that was charged, among other things, to ensure that districts have relevant and capable structures of governance to manage their own affairs. Under this arrangement, management of staff was expected to be decentralised so that local government authorities could appoint, develop and discipline their own staff [ 18 , 37 ].…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The decentralisation-centralisation dilemma: recruitment and distribution of health workers in remote districts of Tanzania

Munga

Songstad

Blystad

et al. 2009

BMC Int Health Hum Rights

114

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BackgroundThe implementation of decentralisation reforms in the health sector of Tanzania started in the 1980s. These reforms were intended to relinquish substantial powers and resources to districts to improve the development of the health sector. Little is known about the impact of decentralisation on recruitment and distribution of health workers at the district level. Reported difficulties in recruiting health workers to remote districts led the Government of Tanzania to partly re-instate central recruitment of health workers in 2006. The effects of this policy change are not yet documented. This study highlights the experiences and challenges associated with decentralisation and the partial re-centralisation in relation to the recruitment and distribution of health workers.MethodsAn exploratory qualitative study was conducted among informants recruited from five underserved, remote districts of mainland Tanzania. Additional informants were recruited from the central government, the NGO sector, international organisations and academia. A comparison of decentralised and the reinstated centralised systems was carried out in order to draw lessons necessary for improving recruitment, distribution and retention of health workers.ResultsThe study has shown that recruitment of health workers under a decentralised arrangement has not only been characterised by complex bureaucratic procedures, but by severe delays and sometimes failure to get the required health workers. The study also revealed that recruitment of highly skilled health workers under decentralised arrangements may be both very difficult and expensive. Decentralised recruitment was perceived to be more effective in improving retention of the lower cadre health workers within the districts. In contrast, the centralised arrangement was perceived to be more effective both in recruiting qualified staff and balancing their distribution across districts, but poor in ensuring the retention of employees.ConclusionA combination of centralised and decentralised recruitment represents a promising hybrid form of health sector organisation in managing human resources by bringing the benefits of two worlds together. In order to ensure that the potential benefits of the two approaches are effectively integrated, careful balancing defining the local-central relationships in the management of human resources needs to be worked out.

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Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few studies carried out in Tanzania have focused on identifying the type of changes that decentralisation policies have brought about for the management of resources, service provision, and accountability and good governance [ 18 - 20 ]. The results highlight both positive and negative effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The decentralisation-centralisation dilemma: recruitment and distribution of health workers in remote districts of Tanzania

Munga

Songstad

Blystad

et al. 2009

BMC Int Health Hum Rights

114

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“…According to Munga et al;(2009), decentralization in Tanzania took place in the midst of the weak local institutions, most of which fell under the hands of selfish politicians who are given so much power by the laws in the administration of local councils and therefore sometimes used threats to influence recruitment process. Braathen et al; argued that though decentralization by devolution in Tanzania is on track, but it is still behind when compared to some countries like Uganda in the areas of Human resources and fiscal decentralization due to several government initiatives which do not give room for true autonomy in local authorities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Myth of Administrative Decentralization in the Context of Centralized Human Resources Recruitment in Tanzania

Lawrence

Kinemo

2019

JPAG

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Tanzania is implementing the decentralization by devolution policy (D by D) as a mechanism of facilitating quick development process through the involvement of people from grass root levels. One of the areas for decentralization is administrative decentralization whereby local government authorities are regarded as autonomous organs when it comes to management of human resources from hiring to firing. However, recently from 2009, the government decided to establish a new centralized recruitment system, which recruits and allocates human resources on behalf of local government authorities and other government institutions. Several reasons have been advocated in favour of these changes like to facilitate uniformity and lack of meritocracy by the local government authorities. Using secondary data, this paper attempts to show how the establishment of centralized recruitment in Tanzania has acted as a thorn towards the full attainment of administrative decentralization. The paper ends by concluding that centralized recruitment has not only weakened local authorities in implementing D by D policy but it has left a lacuna in the real meaning of D by D policy.

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“…WCs are members of the district council but they are elected at ward level during general elections. The Ward Executive Officer (WEO) is appointed by the DED (Harris et al, 2011) and responsible for revenue collection, developmental issues and law-and-order functions at ward level (Braathen et al, 2005). The Ward Education Coordinator (WEC) supervises all education activities at ward level, including e.g.…”

Section: Journal Of Education and Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Village Executive Officers (VEOs) are appointed by the DED (Harris et al, 2011) and report to the WEO (interviewees). VEOs are responsible for revenue collection, developmental issues and law-and-order functions at village level and are also the secretary of the Village Council (VC) (Braathen et al, 2005). The VC consists of a chairman, the chairmen of all the hamlets of the village and at least 15 and not more than 25 village councillors (Uwazi, n. d.).…”

Section: Journal Of Education and Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Exchange and Use among Actors Involved in Tanzania’s Local Primary Education Governance: Insights from Social Network Analysis in Two Mvomero District Villages

Holvoet

Inberg²,

Lulu

et al. 2018

JET

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It is nowadays widely acknowledged that the exchange of information, both horizontally and vertically, between different actors involved in governance processes is critical for reaching outcomes. One way to grasp local governance realities is through social network analysis which is particularly apt to map and understand patterns of relations among a delineated set of actors. This article draws upon data from a network survey among actors involved in primary education governance in two Mvomero district villages to study information exchange and use. As informal relations and institutions tend to be equally important, we also map and analyse informal relations between the different actors. Findings amongst others reveal that there is hardly any (horizontal) exchange of education- related information between the two villages. This lack of exchange among village actors that are similarly positioned foregoes opportunities to combine resources and creates a learning deficit in solving similar education-related problems.

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Local governance, finances and service delivery in Tanzania

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

The decentralisation-centralisation dilemma: recruitment and distribution of health workers in remote districts of Tanzania

The decentralisation-centralisation dilemma: recruitment and distribution of health workers in remote districts of Tanzania

The Myth of Administrative Decentralization in the Context of Centralized Human Resources Recruitment in Tanzania

Information Exchange and Use among Actors Involved in Tanzania’s Local Primary Education Governance: Insights from Social Network Analysis in Two Mvomero District Villages

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