Journal of Policy and Leadership

Implementation of Community-Based Targeting mechanism: A local perspective in Lindi District, Tanzania

2024-08-09T07:19:57+00:00

Deciding on which poor households' targeting mechanism is appropriate has always been a challenge to policymakers. Given the challenge, Tanzania adopted Community Based Targeting (CBT) for poor households’ cash transfer programme. The design was expected to increase the legitimacy of the programme at the local level, though it is exposed to elite capture and information distortion, which may, in turn, negatively affect the legitimacy level of the programme. This paper assesses community perceptions of the CBT Mechanism in Lindi District and determines households’ factors influencing community perception of the transfers. Likert scale data were collected and analysed using factor analysis, ordinal logit regression and the Mann-Whitney U test. The community perceived the performance of the mechanism as average, although complaints of exclusion and inclusion errors were reported. The threshold set by programme design, information distortion and other implementation flaws were blamed for such errors. Moreover, the paper indicates that the sex and participation status of respondents influenced the community's perception of the CBT mechanism. Beneficiary households were more likely to be aware of the villages’ meetings conducted to nominate eligible households than non-beneficiary households. The study recommends that programmes for targeting poor households should be designed in a way that the criteria set for households’ participation are matched with the available resources. Moreover, the study suggests modification of the Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) operational manual (URT, 2013) so that community actively participate in selecting and scrutinizing eligible households by removing the exclusion mandate from the hand of the Community Management Committee (CMC).

Instructors’ experience with using ICT in facilitating student teachers learning in selected teachers colleges in Morogoro, Tanzania

2024-08-09T17:31:38+00:00

The integration of information and communication technology (ICT) into present teachers' colleges is predicated on instructors' experience and skills, as it facilitates the design of appropriate educational environments. However, instructors' experience and teaching skills with ICT in organizing and managing the ICT-based teaching and learning process are insufficient. This study investigates instructors’ teaching skills and experiences in the use of ICT in facilitating student-teacher learning in Tanzanian teachers' colleges. The study was conducted in two teachers' colleges in Morogoro using 40 respondents. The study employed a mixed methods research design to collect data through questionnaires, interview guides and documentary review. Simple random sampling was used to select 36 instructors, and purposive sampling was used to select college principals and ICT specialists. Quantitative data are presented in tables showing frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, while data from the interview are presented in quotation marks, for explicit interpretation. Qualitative data were thematically analysed, while quantitative data were descriptively analysed. The findings reveal that instructors possessed several ICT teaching skills and experiences used in facilitating student-teacher learning. These comprise the use of internetbased digital content, resources, word processing and PowerPoint presentation skills. Furthermore, web based video conferencing was found as scarcely used among instructors due to their lack of skills. It is recommended that the government and other education stakeholders should aim to provide in house training to cement essential current ICT skills for instructors, to better facilitate student-teacher learning and better prepare them for future teaching careers.

Indigenization and legitimization of Local Government Authorities in Tanzania: A historical account

2024-08-09T17:46:44+00:00

This article reports on the state of indigenization and legitimation of Local Government Authorities in Tanzania. A systematic historical review approach was conducted to trace the major public administration practices that influenced and shaped the trends and the responsible institutions in Tanzania. The findings indicate that past practices have a significant impact on the administration of the states at the local level of governance. Thus, the institutional distortions theory demonstrates that the colonial native administrative system imposed on Tanganyika created institutional errors whose distractions affected the capacity of actors in making rational decisions regarding the choices of institutions. Because of these distractions, the possibility of choosing the right institutions for postcolonial Tanzania was a herculean task. The pre colonial bureaucratic African administration strand of the African Public Administration theory informs us that the administration during the pre-colonial era was highly decentralized with very few centralized polities. This indicates that pre-colonial Africa had a robust system of local governance. We conclude that the past interventions in local government systems could have created a form of government not intended by independent Tanzania.

Influence of socio-economic factors on the participation of individual investors in Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange

2024-08-09T18:10:01+00:00

Individual participation in the emerging stock market, such as the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), is growing, although it covers only 2 per cent of the working population in Tanzania. This study examined socio-economic factors that explain individual participation decisions in DSE. Data were collected from 200 participants and 200 non-participants using a questionnaire. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model, while qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that individuals participate in different social and economic groups, which motivates them to invest. The BLR results indicated that social interaction, income, and internet technologies are the potential to influence individualsʹ decisions to participate in the stock market. Conclusively, social interactions, access to the internet and investment preference have a high likelihood of influencing individuals' investment decisions. These results are consistent with socioeconomic and cultural risk theories showing that the intermix of economic and social factors influence individuals' investment decisions. However, these theories do not include internet technologies. In this vein, the inclusion of these technologies in determining the influence of an individual's participation in the stock market is necessary. These results call for the government to strengthen supervision and quality monitoring of social group operations and management of funds. Furthermore, the study advocates DSE to use technology enablers such as the internet and social media to reach many individual investors.

Transparency in Local Government health and education service delivery in Dodoma, Tanzania

2024-08-09T18:24:50+00:00

Effective Local Government education and health service delivery requires a sound transparency system in place. However, the literature suggests that the absence of effective transparency particularly in local government determines the quality of service delivery. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring the functionality of transparency in LGA service delivery; More specifically the paper aims to identify the openness and honesty of local government officials, examine the citizen information accessibility and assess the influence of open decision-making in LGAs services delivery. The crosssectional research design was employed. The study involved 399 respondents from villages and streets (Mtaa) including 15 key informants. Secondary data were obtained from the villages and streets (Mtaa) meetings log books, council financial reports as well as previous assembly meeting minutes. Quantitative data were analysed through factor analysis and stereotype logistic regression mode while qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. Unfortunately, the contribution of transparency to LGAs services delivery is minimal. The results revealed that there was a negative association between transparency and education and health service delivery. However, this cannot deny the ordinal information, which revealed that a minor relationship exists between the variables. The major concern for low transparency in LGAs might be the inadequate chain of command in the Tanzania LGAs framework. Additionally, most local government authorities in Tanzania use low-level technology. Thus, it is recommended that the Regulatory framework should be adjusted to ensure LGAs officials are more transparent. Further, these should go together withICT innovation in LGAs setting towards effective transparency in LGAs for improved education and health service delivery

Availability of health services through health insurance schemes in Tanzania

2024-08-09T18:31:17+00:00

This article presents citizens' perceptions of the availability of health services through community based health insurance schemes in Tanzania as of 2015. A descriptive crosssectional design involving qualitative and quantitative methods was adopted to collect data from 433 individuals in six districts of Tanzania's mainland. Data collected through questionnaires, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary reviews were analysed descriptively and thematically. The results indicated that the unavailability of health services is still a challenge for insured poor households in Tanzania. This is due to inadequate health facilities, frequent drug stock out, shortage of health workers and equipment, long distance to health facilities, especially in rural areas, and long waits for consultations. This bears on the inadequate availability of health services for poor households in the study areas. Therefore, scaling up the availability of health services through health insurance, efforts to make health facilities available and closer to people, sufficient supply of drugs, health workers, and equipment, and short waits for health services are important.