“A fundamental element of social accountability is for citizens and CSOs to have access to accurate and relevant information regarding public policies, programs, services, budgets, and expenditures.”

This was revealed at the Policy Forum Breakfast Debate held on 27^th June 2014 by Mr. Abongile Sipondo from the Public Social Accountability Monitor (PSAM), South Africa who presented a preliminary study conducted in Tanzania on the challenges and opportunities of applying PSAM’s Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) Approach in Tanzania.

During the year 2013, the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF), a member of Policy Forum, was nominated at  the network’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) to partner with Policy Forum to conduct Social Accountability Monitoring(SAM).

Policy Forum recently took part in the Kanumba Day, to commemorate the late Steven Kanumba, a film Director and actor who had worked with the network to dramatise the Social Accountability Monitoring concept.

The screenplay concept that Policy Forum, its scriptwriters and Kanumba jointly developed, resulted in the production of the movie “Kijiji cha Tambua Haki”, a tale that depicts the everyday struggles of rural community members in the fight for accountable local governance.

In early 2013, SDC, a core funder of Policy Forum (PF), set up a Social Accountability Small Grants Fund (SASG) aimed at supporting CSOs working at the local level to complement advocacy efforts of national level organisations such as PF and reinforcing links between work at the national and local levels. The central hypothesis behind this is to draw out experiences at local level and use them to impact national level policy processes.

In May 2010, Policy Forum (PF) and MIICO (Mbozi, Ileje and Isangati Consortium) entered into a partnership to implement Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) in Mbeya region. Specifically, MIICO stakeholders in Ileje selected the health sector in Ileje District Council to begin their SAM intervention in the region. The intervention began with PF training MIICO staff followed by the introduction of SAM to Ileje District officials.

Social Accountability practitioners from Southern Africa will meet in Dar es Salaam this week to share information and to dialogue on the best ways to monitor public resources for the interest of communities in the region and to learn from one another on different ways of advocating for changes that lead to improved service delivery to the people.

In 2012 and 2013, Policy Forum has been facilitating training on Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) to various groups including councillors and district staffs, CSOs members and citizens in Rufiji, Kilwa and Kibaha districts so as to empower communities to participate effectively in district governance based on their right to social accountability. This capacity enhancement enables civic groups and communities to evaluate evidence of the implementation of finance management processes and make recommendations to improve these processes.

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.

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.