Millennium Challenge Account Building Organizational Networks for Good Governance & Advocacy (MCA-BONGA)
Name: Millennium Challenge Account Building Organizational Networks for Good Governance & Advocacy (MCA-BONGA)
Duration: October 2005 - September 2009
Donor: USAID/Mlillenium Challenge Account (MCA)
Bonga is a Kiswahili word meaning "to speak out!" This project is a key activity in the Tanzania government's fight against corruption and is part of the MCA Threshold Program for Tanzania. As part of this program Pact builds the capacity of civil society organizations to increase participation in effective policy dialogue, with a focus on accountability. Subgrants are awarded to partner NGO networks that conduct advocacy and/or public expenditure tracking activities.
The project has 20 partners, of which 14 are networks/umbrella organizations with members from all parts of the country; the remaining 6 are individual advocacy-focused NGOs. Pact provides capacity building support to our partners in the following areas: conducting public expenditure tracking, gender mainstreaming, strategic plan development, financial management, advocacy skills, leadership and governance, investigative journalism, media roundtables for journalists and media owners, community mobilization and how to work with the media.
Emerging results
- Pact partner organizations are conducting public expenditure tracking (PET) activities in 34 districts of mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. These activities hold local governments accountable for how funds are budgeted, allocated and utilized.
- Pact published a widely distributed booklet, known as the Legislative Roadmap, to guide Tanzanian CSOs in advocacy activities. This was followed by the Advocacy Expert Series - six booklets to further guide CSOs advocacy initiatives: Media Guidebook, Gender Mainstreaming; Community Mobilization: Civil Society and Advocacy; Networks and Coalition Building; and Policy and Law Making in Tanzania. They are available by download at the Pact Tanzania Website (www.pacttz.org)
- Pact has trained over 120 media personnel in investigative journalist techniques and provides them with funding to conduct their investigations and produce stories. In one year over 75 stories have been published in the English and Kiswahili Press.
Pact developed a specialized assessment tool, the BONGA Advocacy Index Tool (BAIT), which is used to assess and measure the growth and progress of Tanzanian advocacy organizations and networks.
Staff contacts
Theo Macha BONGA Program Manager
theo@pacttz.org
John Bernon
Program Officer
jbernon@pacthq.org
