Policy Forum held the March 2024 Breakfast Debate in collaboration with Stanbic Bank Biashara Incubator, which focused on shedding light on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and identifying key loopholes that the government must address to effectively combat this issue. The discussions delved into various facets of IFFs, highlighting their detrimental impact on the economy and the urgent need for concerted efforts to curb them.

Policy Forum conducted a two-day training session in Dodoma, Tanzania, which aimed at bolstering the understanding and capacity of civil society organizations, faith actors, academia, and parliamentarians on taxation issues.

This was done in collaboration with Norwegian Church Aid / Kirkens Nødhjelp and Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), with focus on building resilient tax systems capable of navigating economic fluctuations and adapting to shifts in government priorities.

The policy debate revolved around the complaints of petty traders, such as the establishment of business stalls by the council and government officials, which benefit the owners of these establishments. It also focused on

Tanzania has a wealth of natural, cultural and man-made attractions in all parts of the country which are untapped from the standpoint of tourism development. Although the potential is there, not all areas can be developed in the foreseeable future because of the problems of inadequate access, poor infrastructure and lack of utilities.

Stakeholders have called upon the government to resort to the creation of agro-processing businesses and rural  agro -based  industries as a means of increasing revenues and reducing import bills through value addition. This call was made during the Policy Forum breakfast debate held on 27th January 2017, Dar es Salaam

On the 25th of June, 2015, Policy Forum participated in the public launch of the “Stop The Bleeding” Campaign in Nairobi aimed at curbing Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa.

An Interim Working Group (IWG) of the African IFF Campaign Platform made up of six Pan-African organisations namely Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Af), Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and Trust Africa supported and joined by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) will launch a unified African Campaign platform on IFFs.

Africa loses a big chunk of money as a result of illicit financial flows (IFFs).  Different studies have indicated that these IFFs are responsible for draining the African continent of resources for development and are detrimental to revenue mobilization efforts. For example the recent report by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (AU/ECA HLP) from Africa, show that the continent loses more than $50 billion annually through IFFs.

During its 2014 Annual General Meeting (AGM), Policy Forum (PF) secretariat arranged for a field visit aimed at familiarizing   its upcountry members with  the work of key government institutions that  it has been closely working with. For 2014, the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Commission for Human Rights and Good governance (CHRAGG) were selected for the familiarization tour.

The field visits were done on day one of the AGM in the afternoon where  two teams were formed, one to visit the NAO and the other to visit CHRAGG.