We, the Inter-faith Standing Committee on Economic Justice and Integrity of Creation and members of Policy Forum, having gathered at the alternative Mining Conference in Arusha from the 19th and 20th October 2011 have deliberated for two days on the negative impacts of mining on communities and the environment, we issue a call to the Tanzania government and parliament to live up to their mandated roles by acting on behalf of communities who have not received tangible benefits from mining activities that have claimed chunks of their ancestral lands.

On the 23rd of September, Policy Forum's Budget Working Group (BWG) was invited by Forum Syd and Svenska Institutet to present at a breakfast seminar in Sweden on illicit capital flight from poor countries, how it affects development, and how it can be stopped. The presentation centred on a new report on the subject of which the BWG co-authored.

On the 20th and 21st of September 2011, Policy Forum Secretariat was invited to attend the EITI reports analysis training. The training took place in Accra -Ghana at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) where the Africa Regional Extractive Industries Knowledge Hub is situated.

Last month Policy Forum met with the parliamentarians in Dodoma to advocate for the establishment of a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), an independent non-partisan entity that will help strengthen the legislature’s oversight role in the budget process.

Policy Forum elected its new Board of Directors during its 2011 Annual General Meeting held in Dar es Salaam on the 6th of May. The outgoing chair, Mr.

Start: 18/05/2011 - 9:56am

End: 20/05/2011 - 5:00pm

City:

Dar es Salaam

Location within the city:

Ubungo plaza

1. Use of English Language in the proposed bill. The bill could have been written in Kiswahili which is understood by all Tanzanians. More than 80% can neither speak nor read English. As such, it will be difficult for them to understand the legal technicalities used in the Constitutional Review Act. We recommend that the bill be written in Kiswahili Language.

Seven civil organizations yesterday filed a petition at the High Court seeking nullification of the newly enacted Constituency Development Catalyst Fund (CDCF) Act which, they claim among other reasons, compromises powers of the National Assembly to supervise the executive.Led by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), the organizations want the court to declare that the CDCF Act, which came into effect two years ago, is offensive to the Tanzanian constitution.

Kindly be informed that Policy Forum offices will be closed for our Annual Retreat from Monday December 13th to Friday 17th December, 2010.

The office will be opened and resume regular activity and operations on Monday 20th December 2010.

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience that this may cause.

On behalf of my fellow members from Civil Society Organizations, many of whom have greatly contributed to the content of this speech, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the government of Tanzania for extending this invitation to participate at this annual policy dialogue. The presence of non state actors in this meeting indicates the recognition of the vital contribution CSOs have to the development agenda of Tanzania. Our greater expectation during the five days of this dialogue is to see our views and recommendations taken onboard by government as it implements policy.