2009 Tanzania: An Assessment of the Impact of Village/MTAA Resource Teams (BRTs) on the Activation of the Systems and Process in the Community within the Local Government Set-Up.

Introduction

Back in 2009, the United Republic of Tanzania implemented Village Resource Teams (VRTs) within smaller local governments. These groups were meant to improve the socioeconomic and health status of its citizens. This report is meant to assess the impact of the program and determine the future role of these VRTs.

Purpose

There was speculation about the effectiveness of this program, which initiated the necessity of this evaluation.  The objective of this report is to find out if the trained VRTs are active within the community, to verify whether VRTs are affective in promoting development activities in the communities, to explore on how VRTs are interacting with the existing community structures, to capture the actual contribution of VRTs at household level, and to identify key issues for sustainability and propose appropriate measures for sustainability of VRTs.

Methods

This report collected data primarily through interviews and questionnaires. Researchers relied on the experiences from district councils and sectors. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the questionnaire responses.

Results & Next Steps

Part of the conclusion was that “RTs members are active partly due to the majority of them being aware of development opportunities and implementation of child mortality. The gained awareness helped them to apply on a number of issues including conducting village meetings and integration on existing natural resources.” In general, VRT members were effectively able to interact with the community and promote healthy development in people’s lives. This report recommends that the next steps for VRT is to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure that VRT members have the necessary equipment, tools, and resources to continue to benefit the community. Through successful implementation, next steps would include establishing efficient communication and ensuring that VRTs have adequate resources.