Tanzania Advocacy Partnership Program (TAPP)

Consortium partners: International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

The Tanzanian Advocacy Partnership Program (TAPP) strengthens the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to articulate and represent public interests to the Government of Tanzania on the civil society legal framework as well as selected health, environment, and private-sector policy issues, while fostering an enabling environment for CSO-government partnership. TAPP works closely with national and local advocacy organizations and networks to build an indigenous cadre of master trainers and capacity builders, who train and mentor other CSOs in organizational and financial management, networking, coalition-building, and the essentials of effective advocacy campaigns. The program supports proactive and sustained civil society advocacy through a combination of customized technical assistance, training, mentoring, and grants.

Key Results

• Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA). Pact has developed three distinct organizational capacity assessment (OCA) tools for advocacy NGOs, environmental CSOs, and faith-based health facilities. Assessments and reassessments have been conducted with 40 community organizations and fifteen business associations. Seventy Tanzanian consultants have been trained in the OCA facilitation process.
• Training and technical assistance. Pact has conducted 56 capacity building events for more than 1,500 participants, including 17 workshops, 24 strategic planning seminars, and 15 other gatherings.
• Advocacy subgrants. Pact has disbursed six subgrants totaling over $250,000 to local organizations for advocacy activities, including the first-ever lobbying campaign on legislation affecting the enabling environment, implemented by a network of NGOs.
• Legislative Roadmap. Pact has published 15,000 copies of the Legislative Roadmap, a two-volume civic education manual, explaining the functions of the branches of government, the lawmaking process, the budgeting process, and the role of civil society in influencing policy. USAID rated the Legislative Roadmap one of its top success stories in Africa for 2004.
• Media campaign. In an effort to improve NGO credibility and the enabling environment for NGOs in Tanzania, Pact is conducting a media campaign that works with journalists and various media outlets to report on CSO success stories. CSOs also receive training and resources to facilitate better sharing of their stories.