Policy Forum in collaboration with PSAM conducted a three days workshop aiming to develop a collective learning agenda on SAM by drawing from trainers experiences in training and applying the PSAM approach. The workshop was held on 22nd to 23rd September at Royal Village Hotel, Dodoma Tanzania.

Engaging with government officials during Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) interventions is key to harvesting good outcomes.This was emphasized by SAM practitioners during a five-day workshop organized by Policy Forum in collaboration with the Public ServiceAccountability Monitor (PSAM), Agricultural Non-State Actors Forum (ANSAF) and ActionAid-Tanzania that took place in Dodoma on the 18th – 22ndof May 2015.

The Ileje District Commissioner has hailed the support extended by civil society organisations in her district and admitted her own work would have been more difficult in their absence. Rosemary Staki Senyamule acknowledged the work done by IRDO, MIICO, Restless Development and Policy Forum to name a few and advised government to see CSOs more than just faultfinders but partners in development.

Following the recent tabling and discussion of the Controller and Auditor General's (CAG) report on the Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) Tegeta Escrow Account (TEA) in parliament and the subsequent public outcry regarding revelations of unprecedented fraud, we, the undersigned Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)  wish to communicate our joint position on the controversy.

The Private sector in Tanzania has been urged to create incentives to promote ethical conduct in their businesses such as initiating reward schemes. The call was made by Joel Nanauka, a presenter at the debate when he was presenting on “What are the incentives for Tanzanian businesses to conduct their operations in an ethical manner?” during the Policy Forum breakfast debate slated 26th September 2014.

“A fundamental element of social accountability is for citizens and CSOs to have access to accurate and relevant information regarding public policies, programs, services, budgets, and expenditures.”

This was revealed at the Policy Forum Breakfast Debate held on 27^th June 2014 by Mr. Abongile Sipondo from the Public Social Accountability Monitor (PSAM), South Africa who presented a preliminary study conducted in Tanzania on the challenges and opportunities of applying PSAM’s Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) Approach in Tanzania.

During the year 2013, the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF), a member of Policy Forum, was nominated at  the network’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) to partner with Policy Forum to conduct Social Accountability Monitoring(SAM).

Policy Forum recently took part in the Kanumba Day, to commemorate the late Steven Kanumba, a film Director and actor who had worked with the network to dramatise the Social Accountability Monitoring concept.

The screenplay concept that Policy Forum, its scriptwriters and Kanumba jointly developed, resulted in the production of the movie “Kijiji cha Tambua Haki”, a tale that depicts the everyday struggles of rural community members in the fight for accountable local governance.

In early 2013, SDC, a core funder of Policy Forum (PF), set up a Social Accountability Small Grants Fund (SASG) aimed at supporting CSOs working at the local level to complement advocacy efforts of national level organisations such as PF and reinforcing links between work at the national and local levels. The central hypothesis behind this is to draw out experiences at local level and use them to impact national level policy processes.

In May 2010, Policy Forum (PF) and MIICO (Mbozi, Ileje and Isangati Consortium) entered into a partnership to implement Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) in Mbeya region. Specifically, MIICO stakeholders in Ileje selected the health sector in Ileje District Council to begin their SAM intervention in the region. The intervention began with PF training MIICO staff followed by the introduction of SAM to Ileje District officials.