The Evolution Of Rural Policies In Tanzania

Author : Meinrad E. Banda
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (143 download)

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Download or read book Rural Development in Tanzania written by Meinrad E. Banda and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political and economic development in the rural areas is a major preoccupation of Tanzania. "Ujamaa" is a Tanzanian model of development which aims at introducing social, cultural, political and economic change in the rural areas in which about 93% of the population of Tanzania resides. The aim of this study is to describe "Ujamaa" as a model of development; to analyze critically its implementation problems; to compare Ujamaa model with current models of community development; and to propose certain modifications on the basis of principles and theories of community development. The discussion of Tanzania's historical background provides a framework of the development of "Ujamaa" model. The colonial model of rural transformation denied the peasants' participation in determining the nature of their development, and it was therefore opposed by the peasants. Their opposition to forced agricultural changes gave rise to political awareness among the peasants during the colonial era. At independence Tanzania realised that the colonial model of ruraI transformation had a shortcoming. It attempted to establish political institutions at the village level to enable the peasants to participate in the process of their social, cultural, political and economic development. The creation of the Village Development Committees and the ten-cell house system gave the peasants political power to control their village matters while the role of the government was to facilitate the process of local decision-making. During the post-independence era Tanzania has been preoccupied by the development of "Ujamaa". The introduction of Ujamaa model has great impact on the life of the peasants. The rural population has been reorganized in Ujamaa villages in response to the implementation of rural development policy. In order to effectively facilitate the development of Ujamaa village's political autonomy, the government administration was decentralized in 1972 to provide regional autonomy. A decentralized decision-making structure has been set up; the Regional Development Committee, District Development Commitee and the Village Development Committee. The study has also analyzed the implementation problems of the Ujamaa model in comparison with the Chinese model of development. The study has identified four main problems; ideological orientation, Ujamaa ideology and the concept of development, preparatory organization of the Ujamaa village, and leadership at the village level. Furthermore, the Ujamaa model has been compared with current models of community development. This thesis indicates that both the Ujamaa model and community development models are similar in their goals; that is to encourage the growth of local political autonomy which enables the local people to be responsible for their social, cultural, political and economic development. The study concludes by making a number of recommendations of which two are the most important: (1) The development of local leadership should be emphasized to ensure self-reliance in local human resources, and (2) Politicization and democratization of the peasants should also be emphasized in order to ensure the growth of ujamaa.