USAID/Tanzania Public Sector Systems Strengthening Plus Success Story October 2021

National legislation in Tanzania recognizes CSOs as essential partners in ensuring accountability, transparency, and integrity in public affairs. By law, CSOs have the right to review and report public expenditures by local government authorities (LGAs). However, CSOs often faced difficulties accessing publicly available financial information from LGAs. LGAs were reluctant to share financial information with CSOs, perceiving them as troublesome and looking to fault the government. Some CSOs had to use the offices of the anti-corruption bureau to access public expenditure information from LGAs. A few CSOs were fearful to publish public expenditure reports without the approval of LGAs. To address these challenges, USAID's PS3+ Activity and the Presidents' Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) oriented CSOs on strengthened local government planning and financial systems. The strengthened systems included PlanRep and Facility Financial Accounting and Reporting System (FFARS). PS3+ also trained CSOs to use high-quality, detailed information on local government plans, budgets, and spending for their oversight role. With this new knowledge, CSOs have tapped evidence from the strengthened systems to monitor public expenditures and identify tangible steps for improving the use of public resources to better serve citizens. Central and local governments are now using CSOs' public expenditure monitoring to respond to citizens' complaints about quality or lack of public services. CSOs report that LGAs are now more willing and quicker to share information. For example, in Lindi region, ROWODO conducted the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey and discovered non-execution of water projects in three villages. After ROWODO's findings, the central government responded to villagers' concerns and allocated TZS 50 million to complete these water projects serving more than 5,000 people. ROWODO's report also spurred the government anti-corruption bureau to investigate the missing funds. The strengthened public sector planning, budgeting, reporting, and financial management systems have improved CSOs' access to quality public service and expenditure information. This has enabled CSOs to effectively monitor public expenditures and identify areas for improvement, ultimately leading to better service delivery to citizens.