[Tanzania] Civil society asked to back govts in poverty alleviation

from African News Dimension

East African Co-operation, Deputy Minister, Diodorus Kamala, has appealed to East African-based civil societies to support governments in the region to strengthen their economies and alleviate poverty.

The minister made the remarks on Monday, at the opening of the East Africa Association of Grant-makers (EAAG) workshop on Endowment Building held in Dar es Salaam.

The EAC regional integration, he said, is not confined to the co-operation between the three governments but include citizens through various civil society organisations.

’’The co-operation, goes beyond our government leaders and people at the boarder towns, and must involve much wider part of our citizens,’’ said Kamala.

The minister said civil societies have a crucial role to stimulate fruitful discussions on the benefits and challenges of the EAC, as the regional bloc moves towards a political federation.

’’I encourage civil societies like EAAG, to act as key players in creating an enabling environment for non-political foundations and trusts in East Africa to work together and harness the resources for sustainable social development,’’ said the minister.

On grants issuance, the minister warned that if not well implemented, the process could create dependency on the part of the recipients.

’’The grantees might end up looking to grant makers as ’rich uncles’ who have solutions to all their problems,’’ noted the minister.

He proposed to the East African-based grants-making associations to adopt best practices and make grant-making process in the region more sustainable.

’’In the final analysis, grants must help the poor to get out of their situation instead of increasing their dependency,’’ observed the minister.

Kamala pledge Tanzania’s commitment to closely work with civil societies to achieve sustainable and equitable growth of the region’s economy.

’’We will continue supporting the growth and development of a vibrant civil society sector in Tanzania and across East Africa,’’ the minister promised.

John Ulanga, Executive Director of the Foundation for Civil Society Tanzania, said EAAG is working towards improving quality of lives of people in East Africa.

This, Ulanga observed, will be achieved by networking grant-makers to better define community issues, providing professional development opportunities, creating and sharing knowledge on grant-making.

Formed in 2002, EAAG is a membership association of 16 foundations, trusts and other related organisations in the region.