Introduction: Last week, the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) tabled in the Parliament the annual general report of the CAG on the financial statements of the central government for the year which ended June 30, 2012 in compliance with Article 143 of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania and Section 34 of the Public Audit Act No. 11 of 2008. The report highlights some of the issues that impede the efficiency of Central government, Local government, Public Authorities and other bodies in realizing their objectives.

The Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) on the 10th of April 2013 invited Policy Forum members and secretariat staff to a meeting to discuss ways the two organisations can complement each other in their work.

The guest of honour, Hon. Commissioner Bernadeta Gambishi thanked Policy Forum for the collaboration the network had been extending to the commission in the previous years and also appreciated the willingness to collaborate with CHRAGG.

Projections for demand  growth show the demand for cashew kernels will move up rapidly high before the end of the decade.The World needs an increase of 9% per year to meet demand and Africa, which produces 43% of Cashews, is the only region that can supply this. In terms of quality and value, research shows that Tanzania produces one of the best chashew nuts in the world which is exported to India.

Although the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 calls for a ‘developmental mindset’ focusing on economic growth that is ‘private sector-led’ with the state facilitating ‘strategic investments’ and ‘selective industrial support,' it was questionable that this was being implemented.

This was noted by Brian Cooksey, an independent research professional who was the presenter at the Policy Forum breakfast talk held on the 22nd February, 2013. He based his presentation on Policy Forum's third Tanzania Governance Review.

Civil society representatives from Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda this week met with the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Committee on Communications, Trade and Investments (CTI) in Bujumbura to discuss harmful tax competition between their countries that deny governments critically needed revenue.

In pursuit of realising significant developments and addressing the challenges in the natural gas industry, the government embarked on developing the policy and legal framework to govern exploration and production, transportation and distribution of natural gas. In November 2012, the Ministry of energy and minerals released a draft natural gas policy for public consultation.

To this end, Policy Forum held a Breakfast Debate on Thursday 24th January, 2013 to discuss the draft gas policy and present were CSO and industry representatives to air their views.

On 14th January 2013, Policy Forum Secretariat with some of its members namely the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, UNGO, Human Development Trust, Restless Development, Forum Syd and the Kibaha Network of Civil Society met with the Constitutional Review Commission to present their suggestions to be incorporated in the new constitution.

Following the significant discovery of natural gas in Tanzania, the government embarked on developing the policy and legal framework to govern exploration and production, transportation and distribution of natural gas among others. To that end, in November 2012, the Ministry of energy and minerals released a draft natural gas policy for public consultation. We, the undersigned CSO networks met on the 5th November 2012 to discuss and analyze the draft policy with the aim of providing inputs for improvement of the draft policy with national interests at the fore.

In the last 10 years Tanzania has recorded an impressive economic growth. The country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has increased from a low level of 4.2 per cent in 1995 to averaging 6-7 per cent during 2002-2012. Given this impressive economic record, one would expect poverty to decline. However, this has not been the case. Poverty is still a major problem facing the majority of Tanzanians, particularly those living in rural areas.

This year Policy Forum's Local Government Working Group has produced a documentary on Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM), the documentary reflects the health situation in Chabu and Shinji villages in Mbeya, Ileje.

MIICO a member of Policy Forum, was selected by the members of Policy Forum to form a SAM partnership with the network in 2010. MIICO was further trained on SAM and after being trained they formed a SAM implementation team which conducted SAM in Chabu and Shinji villages in Ileje, Mbeya particularly on the health sector.