Tanzania Evaluations
 | Final Evaluation – Strengthening Community Peace Mechanisms in Zanzibar – February 2023The “Strengthening Community Peace Mechanisms in Zanzibar” project, implemented by Search for Common Ground in collaboration with the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) and funded by the European Union, aimed to de-escalate and resolve conflicts in Zanzibar. Spanning 24 months (December 2020 – December 2022), the project supported […] |
| Final Evaluation – Jenga Amani Yetu – Building peaceful communities in Tanzania – July 2022The “Jenga Amani Yetu – Building Peaceful Communities in Tanzania” project has been implemented by Search for Common Ground in partnership with Legal Human Right Centre and Zanzibar Legal Service Centre with financial support from the European Union from January 2020 to June 2022. It covered five districts – Mara, Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba), Mtwara and Pwani. Tanzania is experiencing a decline in human rights standards alongside increasing restrictions on civil society, media, opposing political parties, and threat of violent extremism. In this light, the project’s main goal was to support and strengthen civil society organizations’ contribution to the promotion of fundamental freedom and democracy in Tanzania and Zanzibar. The project has significantly strengthened the chain of collaboration and mutual understanding between government representatives and other key stakeholders, including representatives of CSOs, journalists and community members themselves in addressing different social disputes and other forms of conflict. The Common Ground Approach used by Search to strengthen collaboration among the available peacebuilding actors (government, civil society organization and media) resulted in increased trust and transformation of perceptions among the involved groups. The “Tuzungumze Amani” radio programme represented a central activity with an effective “key people to more people” approach which contributed to raising awareness to the wider communities within and outside of the intervention areas. |
| FINAL EVALUATION FOR “WORKING TOGETHER TO REDUCE VIOLENT EXTREMISM THREATS” PROJECT- IN PWANI AND MTWARA REGIONS IN TANZANIAWorking Together to Reduce Violent Extremism Threats in Pwan and Mtwara region in Tanzania, funded by US embassy, implemented from 2018 to 2020. The peace and stability of Tanzania is being threatened by the rise of VE attacks and recruitment in the country. Although until recently, VE activity and government responses in Tanzania have concentrated in recognizing vulnerable areas including Mtwara and PWANI regions in four Districts named Kibiti, Rufiji, Mtwara urban and Tandahimba which borders Northern Mozambique. The VE groups operating in Tanzania have capitalized on youth unemployment, feelings of Muslim marginalization and political suppression. The project builds the capacity of communities in Pwani and Mtwara to identify risks of VE, VE radicalization, develop collaborative and community-led initiatives. The project managed to increase the proportion of community members’ confidence and capacity in reducing threats associated with VE issues and positive changes from Search’s intervention. Also community members’ participation in the project has boosted their knowledge about VE, confidence to talk about VE, and has pushed them to act on the resolution of key VE issues. |
| Final Evaluation – Advancing Sustainable Peace and Security in Tanzania – December 2019“Advancing Sustainable Peace and Security in Tanzania” was a 24-month project implemented from January 2018 to December 2019 with funding from Acacia Mining. It is a continuation of a successful partnership between Search and Barrick/Acacia Mining which started in 2011. The project aimed to foster sustainable, positive, and cohesive relationships between community members, decision-makers, Acacia, and other stakeholders in mining communities in three sites: North Mara, Bulyanhulu, and Buzwagi. The program made a clear contribution in conflict transformation around the three mine sites. Data shows that the Search program is positively associated with an increase in feelings of social cohesion, safety around the mine site, trust with the police, and Acacia security. A Return on Investment calculation showed that Acacia’s investment in peacebuilding through Search was positively correlated to a significant and consistent drop in incidents across all three mine sites, and that this correlation is hugely supported by the quantitative and qualitative data that emerged from this research. Community felt Acacia and the police had a better understanding of their needs, and that acts of violence and human rights violations from Acacia and the police had decreased significantly. A strong majority of community members felt empowered to participate in peaceful conflict transformation, and they felt that they had the necessary tools and platforms to do this. Finally, the goal of supporting the communities shift towards sustainable alternative livelihoods has also had a notable impact. Nearly half of all households surveyed had participated in one of Acacia’s community programs in the past two years, and 80% intended to initiate an alternative livelihoods in the near future. |
| Combined Evaluation Report: Katika Usalama Tunategemeana: A Community-Owned Approach to Promoting Moderate Voices in Tanga and Pamoja! Strengthening Community ResilienceKatika Usalama Tunategemeana: A Community Owned Approach to Promoting Moderate Voices in Tanga was a 24-month project supported by the US State Department’s Bureau for Counter-Terrorism. Pamoja! Strengthening Community Resilience to Violent Extremism was a 21-month project supported by the US State Department’s DRL Bureau. Both projects aimed to empower communities in costal Tanzania to prevent violent extremism by increasing community engagement, dialogue, inter-faith collaboration and social cohesion, using the Common Ground Approach (CGA). Program participants found the CGA training to be effective, according to the evaluation. Community dialogues facilitated by the projects effectively increased youth engagement with local leaders and created more inclusive spaces for sharing concerns. |
 | Learning Assessment – Let’s Join Hands for Development – December 2017Let’s Join Hands for Development was a 20-month project implemented in Tanzania from 2015 to 2017 and funded by Acacia Mining. The project focused on fostering greater knowledge and respect for human rights among stakeholders near three gold-mining sites around Northern Tanzania. Search trained Tanzanian police and local government officials on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR), facilitated human-rights-oriented community engagement activities such as participatory theater and high school clubs, and facilitated engagement between Acacia and local communities using the Common Ground Approach. This evaluation finds that the program largely achieved its objectives of increasing the capacity of stakeholders to uphold the VPSHR and creating platforms for dialogue. The collective actions of Search, Acacia Mining, local authorities and police, such as increased respect for the human rights of mine intruders and improved command and control systems for security, resulted in tangible reductions in violent conflict near the mining sites. Since 2014, fatalities due to use of force at the North Mara mining site has decreased by 230 percent per year, for an overall decrease of 950 percent from 2014 to 2017. |
| Meet Me at the Maksani: A Mapping of Influencers, Networks, and Communication Channels in Kenya and TanzaniaRadicalization across East Africa has increased in recent years, affecting both Kenya and Tanzania; Kenya on a larger scale. Search conducted this research to map key influencers, networks and communication channels that drive and prevent violent extremism, with the goal of informing more effective programming. The mapping methodology was based on social network analysis (SNA), and the findings validated in a civil society workshop. The mapping revealed that poverty and unemployment were the most common frustrations people were dealing with, and that they turned to their friends most often for solutions. This suggests a diluted influence of religious and community leaders, though they likely still have indirect influence. CSOs had very little influence, and need to improve their coordination of efforts. Though most of the advice given is non-violent, it lacks focused action and so is less easy advice to follow than the action-oriented recruitment to VE. Existing channels for communication should be leveraged to increase awareness of concrete non-violent actions to take in response to the pressures they face. While progress has been made in Kenya (and to a lesser extent in Tanzania) towards overcoming this barrier to more effective VE programming, there is still work to be done in both countries. |