HakiElimu Community Governance Programme

According to HakiElimu, the beneficiaries of the programme included both male and female primary school pupils, secondary school students, teachers, head-teachers, parents/guardians, and local government/community leaders at village, ward, and district levels. As a first step, HakiElimu held dialogues with district, ward, and community representatives towards constructing a joint vision and approach. This was a step to ascertain whether HakiElimu's intervention was desired, to gain agreement on the philosophies and values that underlie its work, and to build local ownership. Upon reaching agreement, two community facilitators per district were recruited and participated with colleagues in an orientation programme on the HakiElimu approach. A baseline study on aspects related to primary education governance was also conducted. The facilitators were full-time employees of HakiElimu, and worked closely with the district education team.

HakiElimu outlines the following communication strategies as being part of the Community Governance programme.

Strengthening/democratising school committees: This activity focused on enabling the school community, especially those who have been traditionally excluded such as pupils, women, and the economically poor, to have “ownership” of school committees. Activities included: sharing information and discussing the roles and powers of committees in school management, including the use of funds, and stimulating community dialogue on how committees can be used to improve schooling.

Strengthening student and teacher associations: HakiElimu facilitated the development of inclusive, democratic and transparent children's, young people's. and teachers' associations. Support was also given to less formal associations, such as clubs focused on HIV/AIDS, children's and human rights, livelihood challenges, and social recreation. Particular attention was given to how pupils and teachers could use their associations to effectively lobby local government institutions on key priorities (such as late payment of salaries) and improve schooling. HakiElimu also facilitated learning and development among teachers, including through the use of teacher resource centres (TRCs), to promote better teacher-pupil interaction and child-centred, gender-sensitive paedagogy.

Community information and media: HakiElimu facilitated information-sharing at the community level to help spur new ideas and action. Particular attention was given to enabling the widest possible dissemination of information about school activities and finances. Communication channels and technologies were used to pass along information, including school notice boards, wall poster magazines, and community forums such as theatre. Volunteer community reporters were encouraged to investigate and communicate stories on local education matters and were supported with materials including stationery, basic cameras, and assistance with transport.

Enabling participatory planning processes: HakiElimu sought to make local government decision-making processes more inclusive, participatory, and transparent. Activities included assisting young people, women, people with disabilities, and other marginalised groups to build their capacity to participate more forcefully, and supporting local authorities to make processes more people-friendly.

HakiElimu facilitated connections between schools and communities in the four selected programme districts. This included sharing insights about “what works,” particularly in relation to transforming school committees and other governance aspects. Reflection on lessons learned and study tours were promoted within and between wards. Emphasis was placed on the involvement of pupils, parents, teachers and other community actors, rather than government officials alone. Mechanisms to report back, discuss findings, and monitor impact of learning exchanges were established.

Youth, Rights, Gender, Children, Education.

The organisers believe that through the documentation and dissemination of lessons learned, stakeholders throughout Tanzania benefited from the programme. Field-based community facilitators were encouraged to reflect on their work and systematically record observations individually and with each other. In addition, a professional writer was recruited once a year to compile lessons and insights in creative, accessible formats. HakiElimu disseminated this information widely, including through the media and at public forums. Ten young Tanzanian women and men gained practical skills and experience in promoting social justice through the youth development internship initiative.

The programme's key outputs by the end of 2003 were:

• partnership agreements were developed with district leaders and baseline studies were conducted to enable measurement of progress;
• 50% of school committees strengthened capacity and included women, the economically poor and other disadvantaged groups;
• 50% of school communities have gender-balanced functioning pupil and or teacher associations;
• 30% of village councils became more transparent and responsive to the concerns of the economically poor, women, and young people in relation to education matters;
• 80% of school communities have access to information on national education policies;
• 80% of school communities networked with other schools;
• lessons learned in the Community Governance programme were documented, rendered into accessible formats, and disseminated widely within the districts and in national education policy-making processes; and
• 10 young women and men served as interns at HakiElimu and developed capacity to pursue social justice through civil society action.