Local Government Reforms & Challenges of Local Governance in Tanzania

This is an authoritative source of local governance study in Tanzania which covers the key dimensions of local governance: Local Autonomy, Participation, Accountability and Transparency. This study pursues these concerns by investigating questions about how central-local relations have unfolded, given the past history of centralisation in Tanzania; how citizens participate in various decision-making bodies at the local level; how various mechanisms for holding local leaders accountable are implemented, and whether they are well known to the key actors; and how various information from the councils is disseminated to the public. Using path dependence as a theoretical explanation, the study tries to assess whether the various local government reforms in Tanzania have been path dependent. As well as providing another contribution to contemporary Tanzanian local politics, this study extends that part of the literature on decentralization that focuses on the practical aspects of local government to local governance. The study intends to inform both public policy makers and academics on the challenges of decentralization and the establishment of local governance in Tanzania.