Tanzania
 | Transforming Violent Extremism – TanzaniaStrengthening Collaboration and Relationships between and among Youth, Community, Leaders, and Security Actors in Mtwara Recently, Tanzania has been experiencing a series of violent attacks, and seen movements of violent extremist (VE) groups crossing over the borders. Specifically, Mtwara has become a critical area for engagement. To strengthen […] |
| STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE IN ZANZIBARUchaguzi Bila Zogo: Supporting Post-Election Dialogue and Reconciliation in Zanzibar In the wake of political instability initiated by Zanzibar’s 2020 general elections and the limited efforts undertaken by the government and opposition to de-escalate the situation, Search for Common Ground partnered with the US Embassy in Tanzania to […] |
| Outcome Mapping – Supporting Post-Election Dialogue and Reconciliation in Zanzibar – January 2023The “Supporting Post-Election Dialogue and Reconciliation in Zanzibar” project (October 2021 – April 2023), aimed to strengthen inclusive post-election dialogue and reconciliation efforts in Zanzibar. Against the backdrop of periodic incidents of violent conflict in Tanzania over the past seven years, the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar has experienced […] |
| 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. |
| Baseline Assessment – Supporting Post-Election Dialogue and Reconciliation in Zanzibar – March 2022Search for Common Ground Tanzania is implementing a 18-month project (October 2021- April 2023) titled “Uchaguzi Bila Zogo – Supporting Post-Election Dialogue and Reconciliation in Zanzibar”. Despite Zanzibar having experienced severe political tensions, in particular related to elections, recent political developments in both the Tanzania Federal Government and the Administration in Zanzibar have opened the room for greater collaboration among political parties and for increased involvement of civil society. In this rapidly changing context, the project aims at strengthening inclusive post-election dialogue and reconciliation efforts in Zanzibar. Specifically, the project aims to improve the integration of high-level political actors into community-level post-election dialogue and reconciliation efforts. The baseline assessment presents several opportunities for collaboration and positive interaction, such as 1) a need for more collaboration between policy makers and their communities; 2) positive messaging by politicians, for instance through more dialogue at the grassroots level; 3) vertical dialogue through the use of technology (e.g. Sema na Rais); 4) recognising the importance of the justice system and its potential to strengthen social cohesion and peaceful coexistence; 5) improve civic awareness among policy-makers, shehias (the government administrative structure at the community level) and communities and 6) the role that youth and women can play in dialogue with policy- makers. The baseline assessment also presents several recommendations, for instance running dialogues in structured settings to account for power dynamics in fragile settings and giving a central role to youth and women – women need support both to safely engage in public spaces and to be trained on social and large-scale conflict transformation, whereas youth need to be fully part of the current and future political processes to ensure inclusiveness of the process. |
| Conflict Snapshot & Baseline Study – Strengthening Community Peace Mechanisms in Zanzibar – June 2021Dumisha Amani (Strengthening Community Peace Mechanisms) project in Zanzibar, Funded by European Union: March 2021- December 2022. Overall, this project is designed in response to the specific needs, constraints, and opportunities that the implementation team has identified in Zanzibar. While Tanzania has historically had a reputation for peace and stability, ranked 54 out of 162 countries on the 2019 Global Peace Index, underlying tensions and concerns that have remained unaddressed often lead to community-level violence. Distrust between political parties and between government and communities has steadily increased, and numerous cases of election-related violence, a lack of reforms, and continued socio-economic disparities have contributed to the disillusionment of many in Zanzibar. Search and FCS are committed to ensure complementarities with existing initiatives addressing similar topics in Zanzibar by using Common Ground Approach.
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