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Submitted by Web Master on 19 June 2014

Civil Society Organizations have been praised for their contribution in educating the Tanzanian society on crucial issues including the ongoing constitutional making process. They have been advised, however, to provide solutions and advice to the government on key governance issues instead of merely criticizing the executive. 

The counsel was given by Honorable Deputy Speaker, Job Ndugai at the seventh CSO Bunge Exhibition held on 16th-18th June 2014 which was organized by The Foundation for Civil Society in collaboration with TACOSODE, Policy Forum, SIKIKA and Hakielimu. The annual exhibition at the house of parliament aims at strengthening the collaboration between CSOs and members of parliament.

Hon. Ndugai used the analogy of a football match in escribing the collaboration between CSOs and government. “It is only those on the pitch who really know how tough the game they are playing is. The spectators (referring to CSOs) may comment on possible ways of scoring a goal but they really don’t know how difficult scoring that goal is.” He urged CSOs to put themselves in the government position when advising them. This, he urged, will help strengthen the collaboration between the two.

The Executive Director of TACOSODE, Theofrida Kapinga,praised the government for providing spaces for CSOs to take part in national policy making processes, echoing the theme of the exhibition which asserts that good collaboration between CSOs and government will advance the national development process.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Alex Ruchyahinduru, Manager for Communication and Advocacy at Policy Forum thanked Hon. Job Ndugai for his wise words and urged him to encourage other parliamentarians to work with CSOs. “They should not see CSOs as noisemakers but key stakeholders to work with in realizing national development goals.”