Training of local councillors in Tanzania: learning ‘good governance’

Training of local councillors in Tanzania:learning `good governance'

HARRY TAYLOR*

IDPM, University of Manchester, UK

SUMMARY

This article reports on an attempt by DfID to support wider political reform in Tanzania bysupporting a pilot programme of training for locally elected councillors in an urban localauthority, Dodoma. As well as hoping to deliver speci®c skills development for thesecouncillors, it was also intended to in¯uence attitudes in an emergent multiparty democracyand develop a political culture appropriate to liberal democracy rather than one-party rule.The programme was designed locally with the assistance of consultancy support from IDPM,University of Manchester. The design of the programme was derived from an analysis of thechanging role of councillors in Tanzania. The evaluation of the programme revealed a positiveimpact at both the learning and `job impact' levels, although some of the results may have to betreated with caution. The basic curriculum developed in this pilot programme is believed to beappropriate for replication on a national basis, but there remain a number of logistical,®nancial and political issues that need to be resolved before ùpscaling' to a national level canbe attempted with con®dence. Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

The British government is committed, through its aid programme, to the encourage-ment of `good governance' practices in less developed countries, by which it usuallymeans the governance practices of democratic countries in the Northern developedcountries and, more speci®cally, British-style democracy (Robinson, 1993; Turnerand Hulme, 1997, pp. 229±231). With the collapse of the socialist systems in Europe inthe early 1990s, the liberal democracies have attempted to seize the opportunity toconvince the less developed countries to accept that democracy is the only wayforward in terms of political reform. In sub-Saharan Africa a number of countrieshave introduced pluralistic systems to replace one-party systems. Whether thisconversion to the tenets of liberal democracy is genuine remains to be seen, sincemany of these reforms were introduced following pressures from donors whothreatened to withhold funds if political reform was not forthcoming (Stokke, 1995;Burnell, 1997). Also, some African countries are demonstrably resisting such reforms(Turner and Hulme, 1997, p. 228).

Given this uncertain commitment to reform, what can donors do in practical termsto assist LDCs in reforming their political systems (Robinson, 1993)? Of course, much

CCC 0271±2075/99/010077±15$17.50Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Public Admin. Dev. 19, 77±91 (1999)

*Correspondence to: Mr H Taylor, IDPM, University of Manchester, Crawford House, Precinct Centre,Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9GH, UK.

advice can be given on structures and systems of government, on civil service reformand on processes of decentralization. Whilst this no doubt has been of value, it doesnot really address the central problem of political reform in these countriesÐthat ofchanging the `mindset' of the whole population away from one-party dominationwhere dissent is suppressed towards one in which there is an acceptance of a variety ofperspectives and a toleration of non-violent opposition to the currently ruling group.Should donors get involved in this enormous task, or merely help with advice ongovernance structures and leave the political culture to develop afterwards? Thisarticle reports on an attempt by DfID to follow the former path and make anintervention in this wider area by providing funds to run pilot training programmesfor locally elected councillors in Tanzania. It is at this `grass-roots' political level thatthe `mindset' needs to be changed both in order to permeate the wider population andalso to provide a base of good practice for national politics (Gills et al., 1993). Thenext section outlines the background to the project and the emerging role ofcouncillors in order to establish the need for training. This is followed by a descriptionof the overall approach taken in the project. The remaining sections examine thecontent, delivery and evaluation of the ®rst pilot programme, o�er some re¯ectionson the success of the project to date, and ®nally look at the prospects for ùpscaling'the project on a national basis.

THE NEED FOR TRAINING

The evolution of local government in Tanzania can be seen to have three phases post-independence and pre-multipartyism. First, the early 1960s saw the establishment of asystem which adapted the colonial structure into a system of district councils, towncouncils and municipal councils. Second, 1972 and 1973 saw the abolition of estab-lished local government and urban authorities and their replacement with alternativeforms of regional and district administration. Third, in 1982 the government tooksteps to restore councils, establishing village councils and township authorities inrural areas, and town councils, municipal councils and city councils in urban areas(Max, 1991).

Local government itself, and important components of the context within whichlocal government has to operate, continue to be the subject of reform and change,an ongoing process from which detailed aspects of the role and structure of localgovernment have yet to fully emerge. An exhaustive list of factors a�ecting localgovernment would be extremely long. Three particularly important aspects are:

. The introduction of multipartyism. Since July 1992, Tanzania has been a multi-party state, and October 1994 saw the ®rst multiparty elections for councillors.CCM remains by far and away the majority party, and is the only party representedin Dodoma where the ®rst pilot programme was held. However, local democracymeans that this will not necessarily continue to be the case. The next councilelections will be in 1999.

. The civil service reform programme. The reform programme, with the vision of asmall, e�ective and e�cient government, began its implementation in 1992/3,becoming more comprehensive in 1993/4. Local government reform is one of sixcomponents to become part of the programme, and proposals (which will include

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Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. 19, 77±91 (1999)

the training of councillors) were still being developed at the time of this analysis.A substantial draft Local Government Reform Proposal was produced by the CivilService Department in March 1996, setting out a reform agenda and action plan.Any summary does the detail of that analysis a disservice. However, it is clear thatthere is an expectation that generally there will be a devolution of responsibilitiesfrom central to local government, with the latter improving its e�ciency ande�ectiveness at the same time (Government of Tanzania, 1996).

. Recently announced changes in regional administration. These changes demon-strate the current ¯uidity of the local government situation and have speci®c, butstill to be clari®ed, implications. In the words of the Prime Minister, `the govern-ment has decided to restructure and downsize the government at regional level, withthe aim of granting more authority and responsibility to local authorities . . .'.Consequences include the disestablishment of Regional and District DevelopmentCommittees, the reallocation of regional technical sta� to districts and villages, andall government departments at district level currently under the direct supervisionof line ministries to be supervised by the respective local government authorities.

The major implication of these changes for local councillors is that there willbe profound increase in expectations of them. Central government has increasedexpectations in terms of the range of service for which councillors will be responsible,and the competence with which they will be delivered. The electorate to whomcouncillors are ultimately accountable is likely to have its existing expectations oflocal government raised both by the ongoing central±local devolution and the e�ectsof multiparty (and therefore oppositional) politics. Councillors therefore have todevelop their own personal capacities to deal with the complexities of this process,while at the same time overseeing the development of the institutional and organiza-tional capacities of the authorities for which they are responsible. All this is at a timewhen the future of local government in Tanzania is far from clear, and where the onlyreward for councillors is the ful®lment of a sense of civic duty. There are, according tothe Prime Minister's O�ce, 120 councils with an average of 20 councillors; othersources put the number of councillors nationally at 3000, which does not includeother local o�ce holders such as village executives. It is obvious, but should be noted,that these potential recipients of training are distributed throughout the whole of thecountry in areas which are demographically, socially and economically diverse.

Role of Elected Councillors

Analysis of the role of councillors reveals four dimensions to their role.First, there is a need to balance the needs of various stakeholders (Garavan, 1995;

Macarthur, 1997). This de®nes the role of councillors in terms of the relationshipsthey have with those who have, or would like, some in¯uence over councils andcouncillors. Councillors need to be aware of the nature of, to balance and to managethis extensive range of relationships, including: those with central government stake-holdersÐincluding the President, the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's o�ce,ministries, the Civil Service Reform Commission and the Local Government ServiceCommission; political stakeholdersÐincluding the party to which the councillorbelongs, party o�cials, local MPs and opposing parties; the peopleÐincluding the

Training of local councillors 79


ward electorate, the citizens in the ward (not all of whom can vote, e.g. children, orwill have voted for the councillor), the citizens of the local authority as a whole, andinterest and other groups, e.g. religious and other social organizations; councilo�cersÐexecutives and other technical, professional and administrative councilemployees; and other stakeholdersÐincluding donors, NGOs, universities andinstitutes such as the Institute for Development Management.

Second, the role of councillors can also be de®ned in terms of the constitutional andlegal requirements. These are set out ®rstly in articles 145 and 146 of the Constitutionas amended in 1984, which stipulates that local authorities shall be established at alllevels in accordance with the provisions of the law, and requires them to be responsiblefor mobilizing and involving the people in all development activities, to provide localbasic services, to maintain law and order and strengthen democracy to promotedevelopment. The Constitution is complemented by various acts of 1982, including theLocal Government (District Authorities) Act, the Local Government (Urban Author-ities) Act, the Local Government Finances Act, the Local Government Service Act(which established the LGSC) and the LocalGovernment NegotiatingMachinery Act,and the Decentralisation of Government Administration (Interim Provisions) withother Acts addressing rating and the conduct of elections. Together, these Acts setout the structure, functions, role, duties and processes of local government in generaland of individual local authorities, and identify the extent and limitations of coun-cillors' responsibilities. Further legal or quasi-legal de®nitions of councillors' roles areprovided by government orders, council standing orders, rules and procedures,®nancial regulations and the Code of Conduct for councillors developed by the PMO.

Third, there are technical skills, including: (i) strategic analysis, planning andimplementation, setting and guiding the policies and overall direction of the authorityin line with the manifesto upon which the councillors were elected, the legal andconstitutional status of local government, and the need to serve all the citizens of theauthority; (ii) ®nancial management, including the setting of budgets and themonitoring of expenditure, and the oversight of fair revenue collection; (iii) the settingup, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and processes at the locallevel, as required by the Constitution; (iv) e�ective meeting skillsÐthe skills needed toensure e�ectiveness as an individual participant and as a chair of meeting ofcombinations of councillors, o�cers and constituents.

Fourth, there are leadership skills, including: (i) the ability to educate and mobilizeconstituents, both in terms of the civic role of local authorities and for speci®cdevelopment activities; (ii) advocacy and representation skills, re¯ecting the interestsof constituents within the council, and of the council to other stakeholders; (iii) theability to manage relationships with council sta�, behaving in a way which is appro-priate to the respective roles and re¯ects the legal and constitutional position settingoverall policy, but not engaging in day-to-day management duties; (iv) the use ofdi�erent leadership styles, adapting the approach to the situation and the individualswith which the councillor is dealing.

Justi®cation of the Need for Training

The foregoing subsection shows that the role requirements of local councillors arecomplex and becoming increasingly so. At the same time there is (quite rightly) no

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person speci®cation of knowledge, skills and experience required before a person canbecome a councillor, as may be the case with salaried positions of equal responsibility.The need for training is therefore unarguable. Informal learning is no longeradequate. There is a need to provide the opportunity to bring this diverse group ofdemocratically elected and accountable individuals to a common and enhancedstandard of competence, a view shared by the councillors themselves in Dodoma. Itshould also be noted that this is not a new idea. Training of councillors in Tanzania atthe Institute for Development Management was well established (and ahead of UKpractice in this respect) up until the abolition of local authorities in 1972. In terms ofthe gender aspects of the programme, Dodoma Municipal Council has chosen onlywomen for its eight co-opted members to redress the imbalance in the number ofwomen, and they, and co-opted councillors generally, must of course be included inthe training. However, actions beyond the scope of this article are also required toaddress the issue of women in Tanzanian politics.

OVERALL APPROACH TO THE PROJECT

IDPM was approached by DfID in early 1996 and asked to draft a proposal for atraining programme for locally elected councillors outlining the curriculum, timingsand costings. This of course could not be done in Manchester, so a detailedpreliminary planning visit was requested and supported by DfID. The principlesadopted in the planning visit included:

. Òwnership' of the programme would reside with the recipients (central govern-ment, the local authority) and should not be seen as imposed from outside. To thisend we would involve all relevant local parties in design and delivery and wouldseek a suitable local training provider to become the major trainer expertise for theprojectÐwith consultancy support from IDPM.

. A sample of potential participants would be involved at the design stage to achievea consensus on the mode of delivery.

. The training delivery would include a component to create training deliverycompetence in-country so that local providers can take over subsequent trainingactivities (Taylor, 1995).

. The learning processes would be participative, collaborative and learner-centredrather than didactic.

. The learning processes would be sensitive to local culture.

It was felt to be especially necessary to follow these principles in this project,because the target group was by no means homogeneous and thus local knowledgewas required to understand this diversity and its implications for learning processes.The Constitution only stipulates that candidates for council elections should be ofsound mind, over 21, a Tanzania citizen and literate in Kiswahili before they becomeeligible to stand for election as a councillor. In terms of governance it is a strength thatthis is so. Such diversity is seen in terms of educational level (basic primary topostgraduate level), age distribution (the 1998 elections saw a large increase inyounger councillors) and political experience (the 1988 election saw more than 50%of councillors take o�ce for the ®rst time) (Max, 1991). Again, while comparative



®gures are not available for the last election, over half of Dodoma's 38 councillorswere newly elected or co-opted.

Notwithstanding the diversity outlined above, our analysis of the role of councillorsallowed the framing of four generic learning objectives for the programme. At the endof the programme, participants should:

. Understand the full range of the locally elected councillor's roles in a multipartydemocracy, including the constitutional, political and representational aspects,balancing the need to satisfy the range of stakeholders making demands ofcouncillors whilst recognizing the limits and sources of their power and the need toact in accordance with principles of `good governance'.

. Be able to carry out their various roles with a full knowledge of their constitutionaland legal authority as expressed in the Constitution and various Acts.

. Have acquired a range of practical `technical skills' in relation to the operation oflocal government in Tanzania which will enable them, with the assistance of councilo�cials, to promote local development of services, increase revenues and cope withthe demands of decentralization. These skills will include: ®nance, budgeting andrevenue collection; planning and strategy for local government; managing thedevelopment process at local level; and running e�ective meetings.

. Further develop their leadership skills so as to become more e�ective in theirdealings with the various stakeholders they interact with. These skills will include:mobilization and education of constituents; advocacy and representation; adaptivestyles of leadership; and managing relations with council sta�.

CONTENT, DELIVERY AND EVALUATION OF PILOT PROGRAMME

Design of the Training Programme

Although the Dodoma programme was intended to be a `stand-alone' event for thedirect bene®t of Dodoma Municipality and its councillors, it was also neverthelessintended to serve as a prototype for a possible extension of this project to other localauthorities. The design outlined below thus represented a ®rst attempt to satisfy theneeds of a speci®c group in a speci®c locality, and would need to be modi®ed in part ifand when extended to a national level. Nevertheless, the view was that this pro-gramme will for the most part be replicable in other areas with some changes ofemphasis to re¯ect some local concerns.

Opinions varied widely on the length and timing for the programme. Clearly theanalysis of needs indicates an extensive need for in-depth knowledge and skills indiverse areas. However, it has to be recognized, ®rstly, that resources are limited toprovide the training and, secondly, that councillors have jobs and businesses to attendto as well as their council duties and would thus not welcome a prolonged absencefrom such responsibilities. It was therefore felt that the four major areas of learningcould be dealt with in a programme consisting of 10 training days divided up asfollows:

Area 1 Overview of the councillors role Days 1 and 2Area 2 Constitutional and legal position of councillors Days 3 and 4

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These two aspects would be taught in the ®rst week of the programmeÐMonday toThursday. There would then be a long weekend break to allow councillors to returnhome, and the second week of the programme would commence on Tuesday and gothrough to Friday:

Area 3 The practicalities: technical skills Days 5 and 6Area 4 The practicalities: leadership skills Days 7 and 8

Councillors would then return to their duties and attempt to apply the lessons of theprogramme. After a period of two to three months there would be a follow-up andevaluation workshop of 2 days (Days 9 and 10) to discuss progress made, to cover anysubjects councillors thought had been omitted from the earlier training, and toevaluate the training and identify future learning needs. The detailed content of theprogramme is shown in the Appendix.

Target Population

The target population for the 10 days of training was to be all elected and nominatedcouncillors of Dodoma Municipal Council (Approximately 38 participants). It wasconsidered neither feasible nor desirable to split the group up for separate trainingevents, since although this was quite a large group, there would be opportunitieswithin the design of the programme for small-group work. After considerablere¯ection it was not considered desirable to invite council sta� to be participants on theprogramme, since this would make the group too large and would divert the trainingaway from the speci®c needs of elected councillors. No `streaming' of the group wouldtake place for small-group work on the basis of education, gender, ethnic group orseniority.

Training Methodology

Given the tremendous variety in the educational background of the participants, itwas considered highly unlikely that formal lecturing methods would be appropriatefor this group. The training materials and their delivery had to be participative and¯exible to cope with the variation in ability levels. As a general rule, topics wereintroduced by short formal inputs, followed by active sessions by the participants todiscuss, role-play or carry out assignments or exercises. The training materials allowedfrequent opportunities for review of concepts and summaries.

Trainer Resources for the Programme

The programme was delivered entirely in Kiswahili and thus had to be delivered byTanzanian nationals. Therefore a team of trainers for this programme was drawnfrom sta� at IDM, Mzumbe plus several trainers from other sources, e.g. PrimeMinister's O�ce, LGSC and CSRP.



Evaluation of the Dodoma Pilot Programme: Scope and Methodology

The programme was evaluated ®rst in terms of both its immediate learning and itsimpact at the end of the programme, and second in terms of the extent to which thislearning and motivation were actually used by the participants in carrying out theirroles as councillors (Campbell, 1998). The immediate learning results were reported ina Course Delivery Report of December 1996 and recorded a high level of motivationand learning by the participants. Here, however, the concern is more with thefundamental question of whether the programme had an impact on the councillors'behaviour and performance. This ìmpact' evaluation was carried out some eightmonths after the programme ended and should thus have allowed su�cient time forcouncillors to implement changes. In order to get the widest possible view on theimpact of the programme on the behaviour and activities of councillors, a range ofsources of information were collected. From the councillors themselves we collectedinformation via an individual written questionnaire, and we also asked them toparticipate in `focus groups' of eight or nine people discussing the impact of theprogramme in terms of prepared questions formulated by the training team.Additionally, we sought to validate the information provided by the councillors byasking similar questions of (a) council o�cials at municipal level and (b) WardExecutive O�cers (WEOs). These questions were put via group discussion (at whichthe councillors were not present). Finally, we visited a number of wards to talk tocouncillors, WEOs and other ward o�cials regarding the impact of the programme at`grass-roots' level.

Evaluation of the Dodoma Pilot Programme: Main Findings

The learning objectives of the programme were set out above. These objectivesinformed the design and delivery of the programme and are thus also used as the basisfor evaluating the impact of the programme. Each objective is considered in turn andevidence is summarized mainly in terms of the councillor `focus group' discussions,but supplemented by information from other sources as outlined above.

Objective 1

. The acceptance and enactment of the concept of `stakeholders'. In our discussionsthe concept has clearly entered into the language of the councillors, and most werecapable of specifying the key stakeholders relevant to their roles as councillors.

. The production of a Code of Conduct for councillors is itself a powerful demon-stration of the increased awareness of the extent and limitations of councillors'powers.

. In terms of multipartyism, some councillors reported that they did hold occasionalmeetings with opposition politicians to try and develop joint local mobilization.This, however, was di�cult in a number of wards, because the opposition does nothave clear leadership and is not well organized.

. Both councillors themselves and council o�cials reported that since the pro-gramme ended, there has been, with perhaps only ®ve or six exceptions, a clearerunderstanding of the limits and sources of councillors' powers. Ward ExecutiveO�cers also reported an improved relationship between themselves and

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councillors. They felt that they were no longer seen as merely `beasts of burden' bycouncillors, but many had attempted to involve them more.

. A general view expressed by councillors, council o�cials and WEOs was thatcouncillors had become more con®dent and ¯exible in their e�orts at mobilizationof their constituents.

Objective 2

. Clari®cation of the rights of councillors vis-aÁ -vis council o�cials. Both groupsreported that this had resulted in an improvement in their relations. A sub-committee of the council has been set up to deal with legal and Code of Conductissues pertaining to both councillors and o�cials.

. Councillors reported that now they understood the bylaw-making process morefully, they were able to adopt a more consultative approach both in terms ofpreparation and implementation. Constituents felt that their views relating tobylaws were more taken into account in Ward Development Committees.

Objective 3

. Anecdotal evidence from councillors would seem to suggest an improvement inrevenue collection, but in reality the statistics do not reveal a consistent picture asyet. Some wards have certainly made a signi®cant improvement in revenue collec-tion in comparison with previous years, but others have done less well. Thisvariation may be due to di�erences in the cycle of revenue collection in di�erentwards, and thus until the end of the current ®nancial year it will not be possible todraw ®rm conclusions on the bottom line impact of this part of the programme,and even then there may be other intervening factors that in¯uence revenuecollection.

. Both councillors and council o�cials report improvements in the way that meetingsare managed at municipal level. Both groups report better chairmanship, bettertime management, improved agenda control and record keeping, and a seeminglygenuine desire to tolerantly let others put their points of view and to try to reach aconsensus. Ward Executive O�cers reported similar improvements at meetings atward level, as well as a greater propensity by councillors to call meetings to dealwith local issues involving di�erent stakeholders.

. Councillors appear to accept the idea that development has to be promoted at locallevel and that their role as mobilizers of the populace is very important in this, andalso that mobilization takes on a di�erent meaning in the context of multipartyism,where the need to command has been displaced by the need to persuade andmotivate constituents.

Objective 4

Some of the impacts reported here are similar to those reported elsewhere, since thereis a joint contribution between the `technical' skills and their exercise through e�ectiveleadership of the various stakeholders.

. Councillors and council o�cials reported a greater ¯exibility of leadership styles inthe work of councillors since the programme. Whereas under one-party rule an



autocratic style would have been the most common, now councillors have to adopta more democratic and inclusive style of leadership.

. A corollary of good leadership is good followership, and councillors reportedimproved teamwork both between councillors and also between councillors andcouncil o�cials since the programme. It is clear that this process is not yetcomplete, and further clari®cation of the respective roles of councillors and o�cialsmay be necessary.

General Comments on the Impact of the Programme

The foregoing analysis indicates a range of impacts across all four major areas of theprogramme. Even allowing for some degree of overstatement by the participants, theimpact of the programme was such that both council o�cials and WEOs con®rmedthat the programme had made signi®cant di�erences to the attitudes, behaviour andperformance of councillors. It may be that the full impact of the programme has notyet been fully realized and that further bene®ts may accrue in the budgeting processand in revenue collection. What no one doubts who took part in the evaluation is thatmost councillors have become invigorated and more professional in carrying out theirduties. However, a small minority may not have bene®ted from the programmepossibly because of deeply entrenched attitudes. However, these probably representno more than 15%±20% of the participants.

The basic design of the curriculum was found to be appropriate to the practicaleveryday concerns of councillors. The four main areas of the programme re¯ectaccurately the nature of the councillor's role, although some thought needs to begiven to better integrating the material in the fourth componentÐleadership skillsÐwith the other parts of the programme. Finally, it is clear that in order for the bene®tsof the training to be maintained, there is a necessity to provide a back-up in the formof up-to-date documentation on regulations and follow-up activities such asoccasional brie®ngs on new legislation relating to the work of councillors.

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE PROJECT

As indicated in the Introduction, this project represents an e�ort by a donor, DfID, tosupport broad-based change to the political culture in Tanzania, and as such is a bolddeparture from more modest and limited structural reforms. Although only a pilotproject in one municipality, Dodoma, the intention is to use this as a prototype for anational programme. This section of the article draws some general lessons from theexperience of implementing this pilot programme, whilst the ®nal section belowreports on the speci®c issues of ùpscaling' the project to the national level.

The ®rst general comment to make is that although the pilot programme wasevaluated in a positive light as having had an impact on the performance ofcouncillors by the councillors themselves and by other signi®cant stakeholders, thereis a di�culty of actually measuring the performance of councillors and attributingany improved performance to the training itself or to some other extraneous factors,including the `Hawthorne' e�ect (Ilgen, 1998). This evaluation problem faces mosttrainers but is particularly acute in this case, because the stakeholders have a vested

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interest in saying the programme was bene®cial in order to maximize the chancesof receiving further support for the extension of the project (Cassen et al., 1994). Insome cases the supposed bene®ts of the programme were truly miraculous! Allowingfor this possible bias, however, still leaves the judgment (admittedly a subjective one)that the programme structure and content are valid.

Secondly, the relationship between the external consultants, in this case IDPM, andthe local training provider, IDM, was not just about the providing of technicalknowledge of training analysis and design, but more about facilitating the use ofexisting competencies already acquired by the training provider. Time and again thelocal training provider's competence was clearly ahead of its con®dence to deliver it,and there did seem a reluctance at times by IDM to go with their own judgmentsbut rather defer to the èxperts' for an opinion. This may be understandable in apilot project, but if and when there is an extension, the external consultants musttake a back seat and transfer ownership of the programme fully to the local trainingprovider.

A third issuewhichmerits special mention is that the supply of training always seemsto create a further demand. The continuing training needs of councillors themselvesare considered below, but here there is an issue of the programme creating a con-comitant demand for training for council sta� who work alongside these councillors.They have clearly seen that councillors have become more knowledgeable andcompetent as a result of this programme, and see themselves as having similar needs.This has manifested itself in requests by council sta� to be included in the programme,but this was not seen as a viable option. Training councillors will have an indirectimpact on the demands made of council sta� for a more professional service to beprovided, and serious consideration needs to be given to how this need can be met.

UPSCALING ISSUESÐREPLICATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The decision to run a second pilot programme in Singida prior to making a decisionon whether to replicate this programme on a national basis renders the commentsbelow provisional. An evaluation of the Singida programme will be carried out in duecourse, and then ®rm recommendations will be o�ered on the desirability andpracticality of replicating the programme in all councils in Tanzania. The commentsbelow represent the main issues to be considered.

Content of Programme

It is believed that the basic content of the Dodoma programme is valid. In ouranalysis of the needs of Singida councillors the same issues were raised by them interms of their needs as were previously expressed by the Dodoma councillors. (TheSingida councillors had no prior knowledge of the components of the Dodomaprogramme.) However, the Singida councillors did greatly appreciate our attempts totailor the programme to the speci®c concerns of their locality, and adjustments to thecontent will be made to re¯ect this within the existing course design. Hence our view isthat any national programme of councillor training should have a core content basedaround the four main areas of the Dodoma programme, but that each individual



programme is modi®ed in its details to match the speci®c concerns of the council andthe background of its councillors. For example, in areas where opposition parties aremore established, the area of the curriculum concerned with multipartyism wouldneed to be more fully developed. This element of `customizing' the programme wouldrequire someone to carry out an initial analysis for each programme run and thedevelopment of some speci®c training materials. Although this may have costimplications, it is felt that this would be preferable to having a `standard product' thatis rolled out regardless of the speci®c needs of given localities.

Mode of Delivery

Although some of the programme is knowledge-based (e.g. legal and constitutionalposition of councillors), the majority of the learning is concerned with the develop-ment of skills of one kind or another. Such skills can only be learned in an interactiveenvironment where the learner interacts not only with the trainer but also, import-antly, with other learners struggling to learn new skills and sharing past experiences.Even in the case of knowledge learning, the learners ideally need to discuss thematerial with others in order to make it meaningful to their own situation. If thelearning objectives we speci®ed are correct, then this would suggest that face-to-facetuition must be the primary means of delivering this programme. Although it may bepossible to use open learning materials as a supplement to face-to-face tuition, it isdi�cult to see how a programme wholly based on distance learning could haveanything like the behavioural impact that was noted in the Dodoma programme(Plowman, 1994). Moreover, given the very wide diversity in educational backgroundof councillors noted above, any open learning materials would be a compromisebetween oversimpli®cation and complexity. At least in a face-to-face programme thetrainer can adapt the training materials and style of instruction to meet the needs ofthe particular group (although even within a single council there will still be widedi�erences in educational attainment that the trainer will have to cope with.)

Assembling the Training Capability to Deliver a National Programmeof Councillor Training

There are approximately 115 councils in Tanzania with approximately 3100 coun-cillors, either elected or in special seats. This represents a large training task. If thetraining time were reduced to ®ve days instead of the eight days for the Dodoma pilot(this depends to a certain extent on the Singida pilot programme which will run for®ve days), this would reduce the resources required. Even this scenario would requirethe assembly of a team of around 30 trainers to deliver the programmes, possibly on aregional training team basis. The training team assembled for the delivery of the pilotprogrammes, consisting of IDM sta� and sta� from the PMO and the LGSC, hasshown a very high level of capability and professionalism in designing an interactiveand stimulating programme. This participative approach needs to be transmitted tomembers of an expanded training team, and a criterion of selection to the trainingteam should be the ability and willingness to move away from formal `talk and chalk'training styles. It is suggested that further training for trainer inputs be mounted prior

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to delivery of the programme on a national basis to continue to promote such adevelopment. A major risk of attempting to ùpscale' this project is uncertainty aboutwhether there is su�cient training talent with the right knowledge base and apredisposition towards participative training methods.

However, in quantitative terms the trainer involvement for each ®ve-dayprogramme is estimated at:

Initial consultations and analysis of local needs 1 trainer� 2 daysModi®cation/preparation of materials 4 trainers� 1 dayCourse delivery 4 trainers (minimum)� 3 daysEvaluation/report 2 trainers� 2 days

Total � 22 trainer days

Support Required

In addition to the resources required for the delivery of the programme itself,consideration would need to be given to the provision of:

. copies of relevant regulations, government circulars, etc. for distribution tocouncillors;

. creating within the training team a capability to review the ongoing trainingneeds of councillors and to design a run-speci®c updating trainingÐthis might becombined with training for council o�cials.

Timescale of TrainingÐPossibility of Further Pilot Programmes

It is not clear exactly when the next local government elections will be held, but sometime in late 1999 or 2000. It would not be feasible to train all 3000 councillors beforethat date and would possibly be wasteful, since many of these may lose their seats.Coupled with this, there is also the suggestion that two pilot programmes are notenough and the run-up to the next elections could be more usefully used carrying outup to, say, a further 20 pilot programmes. This would allow further development of thetraining team and permit amuchmore systematic evaluation of the design and deliveryof the programme in di�erent types of councils, especially in those councils where thebalance of power between the ruling party, CCM, and opposition parties is moreevenly balanced. Then, following elections, a national programme of councillortraining, based on extensive piloting, could be launched with more con®dence, andcouncillors would have nearly a full term of o�ce to reap the bene®ts of the training.The extra time would also allow some possibility of donor co-ordination as outlinedbelow.

Co-ordination of Donor E�orts

In the course of the needs analysis it was discovered that there are other donorsworking in the area of councillor training. The Dutch, Germans, Irish, SouthAfricans and the UN have all taken limited initiatives in this area. Hence, before a



decision is taken on national replication, a full audit of all other donor e�orts shouldbe carried out and an evaluation of their experiences conducted. Furthermore, ifpossible, a donor co-ordination meeting should be held to consider whether and towhat extent a joint approach might be possible.

REFERENCES

Burnell, P. (1997). Foreign Aid in a Changing World, Open University Press, Buckingham.Campbell, C. (1998). `Special issue on training course/programme evaluation: principles andpractice', Journal of European Industrial Training, 22(8), 323±344.

Cassen, R. (1994). Does Aid Work?, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Garavan, T. (1995). `Stakeholders and strategic human resource development', Journal ofEuropean Industrial Training, 19(10), 11±16.

Gills, B., Rocamera, J. and Wilson, R. (1993). Low Intensity Democarcy: Political Power in theNew World Order, Pluto Press, London.

Government of Tanzania (1996). `Local government reform agenda 1996±2000'.Ilgen, D. R. (1998). In Cooper, C. L. and Argyris, C. (eds), The Concise BlackwellEncyclopedia of Management, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 266±267.

Macarthur, J. (1997). `Stakeholder analysis in project planning: origins, applications, andre®nements of the method', Project Appraisal, 12(4), 251±265.

Max, J. (1991). The Development of Local Government in Tanzania, Educational Publishers andDistributors, Dar-es-Salaam.

Plowman, S. (1994). `Time to close open learning?', Training and Development, 12(8), 17±24.Robinson, M. (1993). `Will political conditionality work?', IDS Bulletin, 24(1), 58±66.Stokke, O. (ed.) (1995). Aid and Political Conditionality, Frank Cass, London.Taylor, H. (1995). `From general training to projectisation: implications for learning processesand the roles of trainers', Public Administration and Development, 15, 481±494.

Turner, M. and Hulme, D. (1997). Governance, Administration and Development: Making theState Work, Macmillan, London.

APPENDIX. DETAILED CONTENT OF PROGRAMME

Numerous groups indicated what they felt the content of the programme should be,and there was a degree of consensus on the key areas that were essential for treatment.The following grouping into four main areas appeared to be the most meaningful wayto divide up the diverse content of the programme (Tables 1±4).

Table 1. Area 1Ðoverview of the councillor's role

Topic Suggested treatment

1. Government reform in Tanzania in general andin local government speci®cally

Guest speakers plus discussion groups

2. Stakeholder analysis of roles and relationshipsof councillors

Practical group exercise

3. Sources and limits of power and authority ofcouncillors

Case study/discussion

4. The ethics and values of `good governance' asapplied to councillors

Exercise on application of `goodgovernance' principles to LG

90 H. Taylor


Table 2. Area 2Ðconstitutional and legal position of elected councillors


1. Sources of legal authority of local government inTanzania, i.e. Constitution; Acts of Parliament; standingorders and procedures; codes of practice

Short presentations followedby discussion/exercise/role-plays

2. Legal position of councils vis-aÁ -vis other authorities, i.e.central government, ministries and commissions;regional and district administration; political parties;constituents

Short presentations followedby exercises and discussion

3. Legal rules governing conduct of council activities, i.e.basic functions and duties of councils; committeestructure and decision making; procedure for councilmeetings; ®nancial and budgetary rules; making of by-laws; election procedures

Short presentations followedby case studies/exercises androle-plays

4. Conduct of individual councillors, i.e. extent and limitsof authority; working relationship with council sta�,including recruitment, promotion and discipline;mobilization, development and civic education ofconstituents

Short presentations followedby case studies/exercises

Table 4. Area 4Ðthe practicalities: leadership skills


1. Educating and mobilizing constituents Short formal presentations followedby cases, exercises, role-plays, etc.

2. Advocacy and representation

3. Leadership styles

4. Managing relations with council sta�

Table 3. Area 3Ðthe practicalities: technical skills


1. Finance, budgeting and revenue collection Short formal presentations followedby cases, exercises, role-plays, etc.

2. Overall planning and strategy (includingprivatization of services)

3. The development process at local level

4. E�ective meetings



Documents

Training of local councillors in Tanzania: learning ‘good governance’