Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has called on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to consider matching their projects with the Third Five-Year National Development Plan 2021/22 – 2025/26.
She says the move will ensure timely implementation of the development agenda and propel economic growth at all levels. Speaking in Dodoma yesterday during the Annual NGOs forum, the president reaffirmed the government’s commitment to engage civil societies in pushing forward the development agenda.
“NGOs should harmonise their activities to match with the Third National Development Plans Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP III),” she said, while also requesting NGOs to read the plan and clearly understand what the country is seeking to achieve. In the forum themed ‘Enhancing NGOs Contributions Towards National Development’ President Samia also called on NGOs to be more transparent and accountable in discharging their duties across the country.
She said most NGOs are inactive and some disappear because their activities are based on the existing agendas.
“If the word discussion is on environment then, most of them will be registered purposely for environment,” she noted, suggesting NGOs to establish their core duties in line with the national development agenda or the sustainable international goals.
“They seek registration just to secure money from donors, such organisations are the ones that do not know what to do when donors leave,” added the president.
The Head of State also expressed the government’s appreciation of the contributions that NGOs play on national development. She noted that apart from development projects, the NGOs also play a crucial role in creating employment opportunities for Tanzanians.
According to the president, a total of 17,836 Tanzanians have secured employment from 4,663 out of 11,603 NGOs that have been registered in the country.
Expounding further, the President said the audit conducted last year, established that the NGOs operating in the country had spent 1tri/- out of their collections that amounted to 1.2tri/-.
“This is a positive contribution to the country as the government is striving to address the unemployment challenge,” she said.
The president also used the occasion to explain the government’s initiatives to create a conducive environment for smooth operation of all NGOs registered in the country.
Ms Samia instructed the regional secretariats to issue a needed support to all the NGOs in implementing various projects in their respective areas.
“The NGOs are playing a crucial role in pushing forward development projects particularly on education, health, water, energy, good governance and legal sector,” noted further President Samia.
She said the government is in the final stage to release guidelines on tax exemption for NGOs that are working on charitable projects.
According to her, the government has already addressed a concern over delay in issuance of work permits for foreigners coming to work in the country.
“Right now, the Immigration and Labour Department in the Prime Minister’s Office has established an online portal to ease application of work permits,” she said.
“Right now work permits are being issued within 24 hours if the applicant has attached all the needed documents,” she added. President Samia also asked the NGOs to support government efforts on educating members of the Covid-19 and the national census that will be conducted next year.
Earlier the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr John Jingu mentioned dependency on foreign aid as the main challenge facing most NGOs operating in the country.
For her part, the Chairperson of National Council of NGOs (Nacongo) Dr Lilian Badi reiterated the commitment to continue working together with the government on implementing development projects in various sectors.
She also raised concern on the bureaucracy of most regional secretariats, especially on issuing permits for NGOs to run projects in their respective areas.
