"The DECI saga and our reaction" who is not serious!

This week was not a good one to some of us, In Tanzania there was then a new mini financial crisis at least to some of our fellow Tanzanian.

It all started with a statement that the financial company that started by capitalizing on the fact that over 80 percent of the population are in one way or another involved in agriculture which is characterised by sowing the seed and waiting for the right time to harvest. The company then came up with a phrase "sow and leap" which was well crafted that people rushed to the offices as opposed to the field to sow their cash. As we all know you cant sow sorghum and and harvest rice so people made sure that they sow money to their expectations of getting money plus as opposed to maisha plus.

The philosophy

enriching people with wealth has always been our slogan at least with the advent of multi party system and ever since the terminology has become synonymous with good politics as every politician claims to make people rich should they open a door for his entry in the political arena. And one would ask, what is wrong with making people rich anyway? as our fellow DECI company did or other politicians have been trying to. by the way DECI comes from Development Entrepreneurship Community Initiative a well chosen phrase I suppose , with clear vision and philosophy of making people rich by their own standards.

However with its good intentions, it transpired from the BIG BANK that DECI was violating the financial regulations and engaging on business it wasn't registered for, which may be true at least from one of the big guys from the BIG BANK of Tanzania, but what was surprising -was the reaction from people - the supposed beneficiaries, sympathisers and DECI management- that there were people who were not happy with their success. Blames from both side has something that remain to be desired. they went to the press to seek support from the mass. And the mass (WE) as we have always been we supported the call.

It was very surprising as even the "intellectuals at the hill" blamed that BIG BANK but did not give sound suggestions or best option to get out of the mess.

Tanzania is indeed a good country, a country with a long history of simply trusting, we don't query but support what comes up regardless. We all (at least some us) know khow the financial crisis started in West where Obam resides- we are told that there was too much trusting which in the end backfired in the US. But for DECI to operate for such a long period of time without the BIG BANK reacting timely also shows how weak we are in terms of M&E and we always remain vulnerable. It was as well very wrong for DECI to go on AIR (press) without consulting the BIG BANK it was not a good idea and it will never be; to seek support from the President simply because one is doing business in the name of supporting the president's call - poverty reduction. I want surprise to hear that they will remain defiant and continue with the business, what is wrong then with following the procedure, this is our country. seeking the president to intervene is extremely wrong, there is a question of ethical way of doing things, we need to focus on purity and keep a clean sheet as was the case with Barcelona yesterday 4-0 against Buyern otherwise we are not serious with following protocols, rules and regulations and we will not be patriotic in the process. But there then who is not serious in doing his/her job! we (the mass)?, DECI or the BIG BANK?

for more information see

www.bot-tz.org/Advert/PressRelease

Client Oriented Research and Developmnet Management Approach (CORDEMA) - _ Changing the Mind set

The government of Tanzania has been undrtaking reforms in the agricultural sector- aiming at improving service delivery. The catchy word is "business unsual" and tells the minstry's intention to adopt new ways of conducting its day to day activities and working with partners. What is striking about the approach is the focus on changing the mindsets of staff though trainng giving rooms for feedback through implementation of CORDEMA

What is real CORDEMA?
Thia is an approach that helps agricultural research organization to improve their level of client orientation for effective and efficeint research. It entails the facilitation of comprehensive organizational change and affects both research managers, scientists, support staff donors and other partners of the agricultural research such as NGOs and farmer organizations.

Under the approach it is believed that change is gradual but continous and that every research organization has certain degree of client orientation. As said earlier CORDEMA's goal is to increase the level of client orientation of agricultural research centres through improved management and organization. The goal can be achieved by fulling the five purposes also known as the five management areas of CORDEMA

1. ensuring the availability of qualified staff through improved human resource management within
agricultural research centres.
2. enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability of agricultural research institutes through
improved financial management
3. ensuring long term viability of agricultural research institutes through improved external relations,
collaboration and demand-driven research
4. guarantee implementation of quality research projects through improved research planning,
co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation
5. increasing the impact of agricultural research on rural development through increased output
production and information dissemination

For each management area/ purpose there is set of activities that in needed to achieve a certain set of expected output (or management capacities i.e abilities that are required to achieve an objective defined in each CORDEMA area). aslo for each management capacity there are sets of management activities.

Looking at the overall concept and the sets of activities necessary to achievel the goal (internal organization of research institute and the relation ship between research centres and other stakeholders) I believe it is time that our research system in Tanzania can move farmers to a new level but also attract global attention and take a lead role in supporting smallholder farmers what we need is comitments and moving from business as usual to business unsual. " I believe we can"

For more information about CORDEMA and ASDP can be observed at
http://www.kit.nl/
http://www.kilimo.go.tz/ .

Green Revolution in Tanzania

This year's message on the just started Farmer Agricultural Shows "NANE NANE" reads " Green Revolution will liberate our people". The message by our standards is timely since over 90 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. The message is also timely in the sense that Tanzania has an immense potential for the agricultural sector to stimulate and support the growth of processing industries and also boost trade.

Reading on the paper the statement sounds good, but what brings about Green Revolution is the main challenge. In recent years we have seen concerted efforts to try to lure foreign investment in the agricultural sector as a means of improving food production. Certainly not,according to Hamilton, the then Director of Population and Human Resources department of the World Bank, Improved productivity requires not only Capital investment but also a workforce with the flexibility to acquire new skills, and this is determined by the level of competence of the country's skilled workers and technicians. These are responsible for enhanced quality and efficiency in product development.

In a country like Tanzania, although there might be a urge in translating the above message, the means to achieve the said Green revolution will take some time, at the moment it is in no way near. Turning the Country green with field of quality crops need the presence of trained water experts in the field of irrigation and related discipline, we also need crop and livestock experts, we need good infrastructure we also need social scientists and supporting disciplines like economics. When these are in place we need to support our expert with resources to execute their duties and turn their ideas into reality and lastly we need to provide appropriate policies and conducive environment for our experts to work.

Such policies and good infrastructure will attract investment from both within and outside the country. The signs of good intention in effort to bring the green revolution will be reflected in the budget allocate to Agriculture and support Ministries, we would also an increase in the number of scholarships for our scientists to acquire new knowledge abroad, we would see politician working closely with our experts and making use of their advices, we would see consultative workshops dominated by scientists and their ideas acted upon.

We would see concerted efforts to improve farmers access to credit institution and assisted to acquire credits. This can not come over night, we need to plan we need to have a clear vision of what we want to be 10 year to come (like, MDGs, or vision 2025). We also need to spell out how do we reach where we want to be, we need to identify the resources (trained people, good policies and better infrastructure of all types). This is when we can think of a proper green revolution other wise it will remain a dream- A big dream on paper at least for now