Community Score Card and Citizen Report Card in Tanzania

1. Community Score Card and Citizen Report Card in Tanzania Presentation to the TAP3 Long Term Grantee Launch Workshop JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 2-6 MAY 2011 by: Mr Fariji Mishael Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF)

2. Background • TASAF (Tanzania Social Action Fund) is the project that was initiated by the Government of Tanzania in 2000. • An initiative on poverty reduction aimed at addressing issues that could not be dealt with through macro policies of economic restructuring that started in 1980s • Anchored to Poverty Reduction Strategies developed over time.

3. CSC and CRC as M&E Instruments • The CSC and CRC are part of TASAF’s Monitoring and Evaluation Framework • TASAF M&E Framework comprises three sub-components • Computerized Management Information System • Studies and Surveys (evaluations) • Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME)

4. PME • PME in TASAF aims at: • Strengthening participation of beneficiaries in assessment of progress. Management Committees present physical and financial reports to the community members on quarterly basis • As per Local Government Act of 1982 that requires the Village Assembly to be convened on quarterly basis to deliberate on progress of development activities in respective village • Enhancing transparency and accountability – accountability of public service providers to the users participation by making known the entitlements of services and allowing users to gauge the performance against set norms; • Sharing of information among users to enhance knowledge

5. Community Score Card (CSC) • CSC is meant for enhancing transparency and accountability of public services provided to the communities in rural and urban areas. • It is more participatory thus requires good facilitators to manage interactions between service providers and users • It is conducted in form of FGD whereby beneficiaries and service providers convene, scoring on agreed indicators; • CSC has been conducted in 33% of the Local Government Authorities in Tanzania to assess implementation process to improve public services and the quality of service delivery in areas with completed facilities; • Education, Water, health, rural (feeder) roads

6. Community Score Card… • Used to assess the availability and quality of public services in areas where Pilot Conditional Cash Transfers are provided (in three LGAs): • Whether or not the conditions set for beneficiaries can be met or not based on the status of service delivery at community level • As well, used to assess the availability and quality of technical support in implementation of sub projects at community level • Facilitated by the trained Local Government Staff with supervision from the national facilitators (for quality assurance)

7. Citizen Report Card (CRC) • Has been conducted once and it is expected that the subsequent rounds will be conducted after one or two years; • Uses a national sample to determine the hhs to be interviewed; • Using a standard questionnaire on selected public services – Water, Rural (feeder) roads, education and health (choice of sectors); • Before the report is released, the sectors are given a chance to respond to the findings on the survey; • Based on the report, the sectors works on the findings to address the identified challenges

8. What CSC and (CRC) Can Do • Awareness of the users on the entitlement for each category of services; • Action oriented in addressing the identified challenges • Availability of Medical Kit for Dispensaries; • Proper use of Capitation Grants for schools • Placement of required personnel as per standard norms (where possible) • Disciplinary action against misbehaving personnel; • Empowerment of the users to demand the required service and the right to information

9. What CSC and (CRC) Can Do • Enhancing participatory planning by engaging providers and users to work out a joint plan to address challenges • assigning responsibilities for each part. • NB: This is true for CSC as CRC is still being undertaken

10. What They Cannot Do • Influencing big policy change – This cannot take place in the short period due to cost implication • E.g. need for additional personnel where there is need due to congestion of users Requires more time to see how the outcomes of the studies will be of importance to the policy makers • Despite their newness, interest is being built in government circles to use the instruments for assessment of service delivery owing to the large amount of money disbursed but people keeps complaining of poor service quality

11. Cost • For a nationwide survey, the cost for CRC ranges from US$ 300,000 to US$ 500,000. This however depends on: • Whether using a local or external firm to conduct the survey; • In our case, there was no local firm with knowledge of CRC • For CSC, the cost per community facilitation stands at US$ 500 per village • Good to work with NGOs but there is no NGO with knowledge of CSC and CRC

12. Way Forward • Delivery of public services remains the responsibility of the government (Central and Local Governments) • TASAF is an entry point to enhancement of transparency and accountability by introducing CSC and CRC • CRC and CSC remain the instruments for Transparency and accountability in TASAF operations

13. Thanks