Working paper 3. Exploring lines of blame and accountability in local service delivery

Can we create a performance index for local governance in Tanzania in order to hold government official to account? Researchers at the University of Mzumbe in Tanzania have received funding from the UK’s Economic and Research Council and the Department for International Development to explore how citizens can meaningfully hold local government to account. The research project runs from 2014-2017.

This working paper uses field work findings to explore the context of local governance performance in Tanzania. It attempts to map the local governance space from the level of the citizen (wananchi) up to the President; at each stage exploring lines of accountability, policy and planning, and service delivery. In addition, the analysis was extended horizontally to include non-state actors engaged in accountability or public service delivery. This multi-layered approach allows us to reveal the complexity of local governance, but to also understand the distance between the system in theory and what actually happens in practice.
This paper provides a synthesis of research findings from this fieldwork, conducted from January 2015-August 2016 in two districts of Tanzania (Mvomero and Kigoma Ujiji).