AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATION IN IMPROVING THE LIVING STANDARD OF PEOPLE

IN ARUSHA DISTRICT COUNCIL

JUSTIN LEVERAN MUSHI

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER’S OF

HUMANITARIAN ACTION, COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA

2020
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CERTIFICATION

The undersigned certificates that he has read and hereby recommends for acceptance

by The Open University of Tanzania, a dissertation entitled; “An Assessment on

Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Improving the Living

Standards of People in Arusha District Council”in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of Degree of Masters in Humanitarian Action,

Cooperation, and Development. (MHACD)

……………………………………….
Dr. Emmanuel Mallya
(Supervisor)

………………………………….
Date
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COPYRIGHT

No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or

otherwise without prior written permission of the author or The Open University of

Tanzania on that behalf.

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DECLARATION

I, Justin LeveranMushi,do hereby declare that this dissertation is my original work

and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University

for a similar or any other degree award.

…………………………………….
Signature

……………………………….
Date
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DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to the following people and institutions for their efforts

and contribution to my life and the lives of poor people.To my mother, beloved

mother, Janeth Moshi, the greatest inspiration for love and humanity which inspired

my academic focuses on humanitarian courses.

To my beloved wife, Beatrice Mushi the source of my focus, inspiration, created a

loving home which directed my focus on this work. To my friend, mentor and

spiritual Father Rev. GodblessMamkwe and the family, the moral, spiritual and

financial support of yours, created in me the sense of helping others, volunteerism

and the great love for mankind.

To all effective Non-Governmental Organizations, those strive to change the poor

living condition of people in both rural and urban areas, and trying to create the

better environment for human race. Your effort counts a lot to the lives of poor

people.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Everything we accomplish in life is a combined efforts and product of many people

who have contributed to what we have done and who we have become. This work is

the result of the very fact aforementioned. I am profound grateful for all great people

who have made this work possible. I want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the

following people toward accomplishment of this work:

My supervisor Dr. Emmanuel Mallya, for his guidance, encouragements, academic

critics, and being the academic role model, his efforts are vast. It was in need a

pleasure and time to remember working under his supervision. To the Staffs in the

department of political science and public administration of the Open University of

Tanzania, for their guidance and tireless effort on teaching and coordinating all the

academic activities which facilitated the successful completion of the coursework.

Reverend GodblessMamkwe and his family, for his financial support during my

secondary school studies; the support enabled me to become what I have become

today. To all my research participants who devoted their time to answer my

questioners and interviewed; I thank you, without your devotion this work would

have been impossible. Finally but with great importance, I would like to thank God

Almighty for putting in place the aforementioned people in my life, I would also like

to thank God for my friends, classmates and staff mates for their support and

encouragement.
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ABSTRACT

NGOs for years have become trusting entities for fostering development in

developing countries. Countries have continued cooperating with these entities and

mainstreaming their agendas of development with these NGOs. The aim of this

study, therefore, was in line with the trust and consideration given to NGOs towards

development. The Arusha District Council was used as a case study to study the

effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living standards of people in rural areas.

Random Purposive sampling was used in which 80 people from NGOs, Public and

government officials were selected as the subjects of the study. The study used

questionnaires, documentary reviews, and interviews as its research instruments. The

descriptive analysis of the data was used to analyze the data collected. The findings

of the study revealed that NGOs are effective in improving the living standards of

people in Arusha District Council. It has been also shown that the effectiveness of

these NGOs operating in Arusha District Council were due to the factors such as the

serious follow up of the NGOs on the projects they initiated, cooperation of the

community leaders in the implementation of the projects on their areas, the good

relationship between government and NGOs, and the willingness of the community

members to engage in the programs of NGOs. However, the good and effective use

of funds by NGOs is not satisfying as 32% of the beneficiaries are still with doubts

on the fund management by NGOs, there is still unsatisfying participation of the

ordinary people in community to identifying areas for NGOs to focus on their

efforts, NGOs lack enough financial resources to carter the administrative needs.

Lastly, the NGOs with the same mission are overcrowded on one area and leave

other areas with limited operations or without their operations at all.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION .................................................................................................... ii

COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................................ iii

DECLARATION .................................................................................................... iv

DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................... vi

ABSTRACT vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .........................................................................................viii

LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................xiii

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xiv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .....................................................................................xv

CHAPTER ONE...................................................................................................... 1

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ............................................................................. 1

1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1

1.2 Profiles of NGOs Studied ........................................................................... 2

1.2.1 Ace-Africa................................................................................................... 2

1.2.2 The Convoy of Hope .................................................................................. 4

1.2.3 SOS- Village Children’s Tanzania (Arusha) ................................................. 6

1.2.4 Pact-(Kizazi Kipya Project) ......................................................................... 7

1.3 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................... 8

1.4 Research Objectives................................................................................. 10

1.4.1 General Objective .................................................................................... 10

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1.4.2 Specific Objective..................................................................................... 10

1.5 Research Questions ................................................................................. 11

1.6 Scope of the Study ................................................................................... 11

1.7 Significance of the Study ......................................................................... 12

1.8 Limitation of the Study ............................................................................ 12

1.9 Delimitation of the Study ........................................................................ 13

1.10 Chapter Summary .................................................................................... 13

CHAPTER TWO................................................................................................... 14

LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................... 14

2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 14

2.2 Theoretical Literature Review ................................................................. 14

2.2.1 Non- Governmental Organization ........................................................... 14

2.2.2 Organizational Effectiveness ................................................................... 16

2.2.3 The Standard of Living ............................................................................ 18

2.2.4 History of Non – Governmental Organizations in Africa ......................... 20

2.2.5 Legal Personality of NGOs in Tanzania .................................................... 21

2.2.6 The Relationship between state and Non-Governmental Organization . 21

2.2.7 Non-Governmental Organization and Development .............................. 23

2.2.8 Rural Development and Empowerment .................................................. 25

2.3 Empirical Literature Review ..................................................................... 27

2.4 Synthesis and Research Gap .................................................................... 30

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2.4.1 Synthesis .................................................................................................. 30

2.4.2 Research Gap ........................................................................................... 30

2.3.3 Conceptual Framework............................................................................ 31

CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................ 32

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 33

3.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 33

3.2 Research Design .......................................................................................... 33

3.3 Study Location ............................................................................................. 34

3.4 Study Population ......................................................................................... 35

3.5 Sample Selection ......................................................................................... 36

3.5.1 Sample Size.................................................................................................. 36

3.5.2 Sampling Technique .................................................................................... 36

3.6 Sources of Data ........................................................................................... 37

3.6.1 Primary Source ............................................................................................ 37

3.6.2 Secondary Source ........................................................................................ 37

3.7 Data collection and Instrumentation .......................................................... 37

3.7.1 Questionnaires ............................................................................................ 37

3.7.2 Interview ..................................................................................................... 38

3.7.3 Documentary Review .................................................................................. 39

3.8 Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 39

3.9 Ethical Consideration ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

3.10 Informed Consent of Respondents ............................................................. 39

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3.11 Confidentiality of the Information Sources................................................. 40

3.12 Chapter Summary........................................................................................ 40

CHAPTER FOUR.................................................................................................. 41

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................................ 41

4.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 41

4.2 Demographic Features of the Respondents................................................ 41

4.2.1 Number of Years of the Respondents in the Office .................................... 42

4.2.2 Academic Qualification of the Respondents ............................................... 43

4.3 The extent to which NGOs have been effective in improving the living

Standards of People in Rural Areas in Arusha District Council ................... 43

4.3.1 Awareness of the Community Members on the Activities of NGOs in

their Localities ............................................................................................. 44

4.3.2 Commitment of NGOs in Serving the Interest of the Public ....................... 45

4.3.3 The Benefits of NGOs’ Activities to the Community ................................... 47

4.3.4 The Effective Management of Funds by NGOs ........................................... 47

4.3.5 The Involvement of the Community Members in the Identification

Processes of NGOs’ Programs ..................................................................... 48

4.2.6 Participation of the Community Members on the Programs of NGOs ....... 49

4.3.7 The Relationship between NGOs and Government .................................... 49

4.3.8 General Views of the Public on the Extent to Which NGOs Have

Been Effective in Improving the Living Standards of People in ADC........... 50

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4.4 Strategies Employed by NGOs in Realizing their Objectives in

Arusha District Council ................................................................................ 52

4.5 The Sustainability of the NGOs Outcomes in Improving the Living Standard

of People in Arusha District Council ............................................................ 54

4.6 Challenges facing NGOs in Implementation of Their Activities

Effectively in Arusha District Council .......................................................... 55

4.7 Discussion of Research Findings .................................................................. 56

4.7.1 The Extent to which NGOs have been Effective in Improving the

Living Standards of People in ADC .............................................................. 57

4.7.2 Strategies Employ by NGOs in Arusha District Council that makes them

Effective in Improving the Living Standards of People in ADC .................... 63

4.7.3 Sustainability of the NGOs Activities in Improving the Living

Standards of People in ADC......................................................................... 65

4.8 Chapter Summary........................................................................................ 66

CHAPTER FIVE.................................................................................................... 67

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................... 67

5.1 Introduction................................................................................................. 67

5.2 Summary of the Study ................................................................................. 67

5.3 Summary of the Findings............................................................................. 68

5.3.1 The extent to which NGOs have been Effective in Improving the

Living Standard of people in Arusha District Council .................................. 68

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5.3.2 The Strategies Employed by NGOs in Realizing their Objectives in

Arusha District Council ................................................................................ 72

5.3.3 Sustainability of the NGOs Activities in Improving the Living

Standards of People in ADC......................................................................... 72

5.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 73

5.4 Recommendations ...................................................................................... 73

5.4.1 Recommendations for Action ..................................................................... 74

5.4.2 Recommendations for Further Research .................................................... 75

REFERENCE ........................................................................................................ 76

APPENDICES ...................................................................................................... 79

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Respondents Distribution ......................................................................... 36

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: SOS Children’s Village Impact .................................................................... 7

Figure 2.1: Framework for Wellbeing Indicators ....................................................... 19

Figure 3.1: Arusha Region Administrative Map ......................................................... 35

Figure 4.1: Distribution of Respondents on the Number of Years in their

Offices ...................................................................................................... 42

Figure 4.2: Distribution of Academic Qualification of the Respondent ..................... 43

Figure 4.3: Distribution of Respondents on the Involvement of the Community

Members in making Decision over the Programs Initiated by NGOs in

their Areas ............................................................................................... 48

Figure 4.4: the Distribution of Respondents on the Relationship between NGOs and

Government in ADC ................................................................................. 50

Figure 4.5: Distribution of the Respondents on their views on the extent to

which NGOs have been effective in improving the living standard

of people in .............................................................................................. 51

Figure 4.6: The Distribution of Respondents on the Follow up of NGOs on

their Projects............................................................................................ 54
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ADC Arusha District Council

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

PPP Public Private Partnership

UN United Nations

WCDO Ward community development officer

WEO Ward executive officer

WHO Ward Health Officer

SES Socio-Economic Status

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CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1.1 Introduction

Tanzania, like many developing countries, has its segment of problems associated

with developing its rural areas where the majority of its population lives. Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGO’S) have shown a contribution to the

development processes of these rural areas. Their initiatives, strategies, and

programs have changed the lives of many people in these areas. Helmet (2005)

argued that non-profit organizations have become a part of community building and

empowerment.

Tanzania NGOs’ report of 2015, reported that the NGOs have continued to play a

very crucial role in complementing the government efforts on improving the living

standard of people in different sectors. The contribution of NGOs in its reality is of

the highest importance as the NGOs are involved in almost all sectors of the

economy.

Several examples can be drawn around the world showing the significance of the

NGOs on development. Helmet (2005) identifies that policymakers and rural and

urban planners use NGOs and community organizers for development. In other

words, the contribution of NGOs is vast and has to be studied very closely for it to

be more effective and contribute more on the development processes of the people

and especially to the people in rural areas in which data suggest that the rural areas

are much populated as compared to the urban areas and they have a large number of
 2

poor people. For example in Tanzania the rural areas have got the number of 31.6

million people as compared to the urban areas which are populated by the number of

13.3 million people; this is according to the national bureau of statistics (NBS).

And according to the World Bank (2011/12) around 12 million people are still below

the poverty line in Tanzania, out of which 10 million people are in rural areas. For

any initiative to end poverty in a country such as Tanzania with the above-mentioned

facts much concentration has to be put on the rural areas. In other words, if NGOs

intend to end poverty and improve the living standards of people in developing

countries the focus should be on the rural areas. This study is, therefore,

concentrating on the effectiveness of these NGOs in improving the living standards

of people in rural areas by taking Arusha District council as a case study.

NGOs in Tanzania are operating under the NGOs Act of 2002 and its amendment of

2005. There are about more than six thousand NGOs operating in Tanzania. Majority

of which are urban-based. These NGOs are coordinated under the ministry of health,

community development, gender, elderly and children. This ministry has got a

department that is responsible for all the activities done by the NGOs among which

are the registration of these NGOs. Apart from this governmental framework, NGOs

have by themselves organized under the umbrella of TANGO which is the Tanzania

Non –Governmental Organizations.

1.2 Profiles of NGOs Studied

1.2.1 Ace-Africa

Ace Africa is NGO that has operated in Kenya since 2003 and in Tanzania since
 3

2008. Ace operates with the community, government and local partners to improve

health, education and economic development. So far Ace has served 1,650,325

children and their families in all countries with its activities. (Ace website 2020)

What is Ace-Africa doing?

Ace Africa works with defenseless, marginalized people in Kenya and Tanzania. It

builds resilient, inclusive communities, helping them access social services. It

improves food and economic security, health and education by developing long-term

sustainable solutions in three programming areas: Child Development, Community

Health & Wellbeing and Community Livelihoods.

Ace-Africa aids children, women, men, young people and communities where

poverty, food insecurity and high rates of HIV/ AIDS are rampant. It works where

children are defenseless and access to government services is imperfect or

nonexistent.

Ace Africa has already reached over 50,000 direct beneficiaries since it commenced

its work in Tanzania 2008. In its Annual Review (2018) it indicated that, with the

partnership with the Ministry of Health it was the largest provider of HIV testing

services in Arusha District, testing 9,591 people. It offered to over 15,000 school

children with life skills and sexual health education. By using Child Protection

Program, Ace-Africa educated 22,000 people on child rights and protection. It has

also, Child Protection Teams through which 3,104 cases of abuse were reported and

82 per cent were resolved.

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Ace –Africa has three programs areas;

i. Child Development – deals with improving the health and well-being of

children, and protecting their rights.

ii. Community Health & Well-being- deals with improving access to quality

health care services.

iii. Community Livelihoods- aimed at improving food security and income to

defenseless children and their families.

1.2.2 The Convoy of Hope

In 1994 the Convoy of Hope was founded by the Donaldson family. In the present

day, more than 130 million people have been served all over the world by the

Convoy of Hope. The organization operates through churches, businesses,

government agencies, and other nonprofits to provide assistance and hope to those

who are helpless and vulnerable.

In Tanzania, the feeding program and other programs by the Convoy of Hope were

established in 2013, and at this time the organization is feeding more than 3,030

children at seven program centers, Arusha District Council is included. It has also

implemented Girls’ Empowerment and Economic Empowerment programs. The

Economic Empowerment programs in Tanzania provide women with monetary

education, vocational training, cooperative saving groups, and start-up capital.

Convoy of Hope reaching the vulnerable through;

Community event: this is an act of compassion aimed at helping families in need.

The events include local churches, businesses, community service, and health
 5

organization collaborating with the Convoy of Hope to provide health services, a

hot meal, groceries; new children’s shoe, veteran services, a kid’s zones,and much

more. Roughly $1 million worth of goods and services are provided to the 5,000 to

10,000 people with needs.

Children’s Feeding: The Convoy of Hope has a conviction that feeding children

nutritious meals unlocks doors to provide them and their families with education,

clean water, job and agricultural training, a sense of hope, and much more. At the

moment more than 300,000 children are benefiting in eighteen countries in Africa

and Asia, Tanzania included. (As of 31/12/2019)

Disaster services: the Convoy of Hope through its eight international warehouses

with specialization in disaster response employ their highly –trained teams of staff

and volunteers in responding quickly and effectively. Millions of people affected by

natural and man-made disasters are served every year.

Women’s empowerment: Convoy of Hope supports women around the world to

appreciate their value and reach their prospective through job training and

education. As a consequence, many joiners in Women’s Empowerment program are

now own businesses that allow them to better feed and care for their children. 9,043

Women's Empowerment program participants in 2019 and 19,400 women trained in

ten countries in which there are women empowerment initiatives Tanzania included

specifically Arusha rural.

Agriculture: Through Agriculture program, Convoy of Hope equips vulnerable

farmers and families with the skills, tools, and seeds they need to produce life-

sustaining crops. Each year tens of thousands of meals are harvested each for

children’s Feeding program, which in turn generates income for local farmers.
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1.2.3 SOS- Village Children’s Tanzania (Arusha)

SOS Village Children’s was started operating in Tanzania in 1991 where the first

children were able to move to their new families in SOS Village. Currently, there are

four SOS Children’s Villages in Tanzania. Apart from these villages the organization

in cooperation with local agencies, runs family strengthening programs to allow

families to effectively care for their children. The support rendered varies according

to the local desires but includes: food packages, basic vocational training, and

income generating projects, and legal advice and assistance.

SOS Children’s Village Arusha

The SOS Children's Village Arusha is located on the border of Arusha City Council,

some 13 km away from the city centre, on the highway to Nairobi, Kenya. Village

has 10 family houses. It has also Primary and Secondary School in which SOS

Village children are schooling. If working to capacity, up to 500 students can be

taught in the secondary school.

Generally, SOS Children Village Arusha has 4063 beneficiaries. The organization

has the following four approaches for helping the deprived;

Quality Care:These are alternative Care and strengthen family

Safeguard Children: committed to safeguard children, report a child safety concern

Advocacy: children’s rights, sustainable features and youth participation.

Teaching and training: child-centered education, youth employability and opening

doors to education.

Emergence: protecting children in emergencies.

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Figure1.1: SOS Children’s Village Impact

Source: SOS Children’s Village Arusha- Website

1.2.4 Pact-(KizaziKipya Project)

Pact’s work in Tanzania focuses on improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable

children, especially those affected by HIV and AIDS. With the unique integrated

approach, the efforts are also strengthening families and local economies, institutions

and organizations – impacts that will benefit Tanzania for generations to

come.Because the majority of Tanzania’s vulnerable children live in female-headed

households, Pact employs award-winning WORTH model, in which small groups of

women save together and make low-interest loans to one another that help them

launch or expand small businesses. With increased income – plus business and other

training provided by Pact – women are better able to care for their children.
 8

Pact is also improving access to health and HIV services for children and

adolescents, including those who are hard to reach. Pact has built the capacity of

local authorities and community organizations to manage services for vulnerable

children and helped launch trained vulnerable-children committees and district child

protection teams.

The KizaziKipya project, or New Generation, is working to transform the lives of

vulnerable Tanzanian children and young people, particularly those affected by HIV.

This five-year project builds on years of collaboration between Pact and USAID in

Tanzania that already has made a significant, measurable difference for the country’s

youth. KizaziKipya's planned outcomes include better financial resources for parents

and caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as improved

access to health and HIV services for children and adolescents, including those who

are hard to reach. The project is working across all regions of Tanzania. Partners

include the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation,

Railway Children Africa and the Ifakara Health Institute. KizaziKipya reached

812,666 OVC, as well as their caregivers with at least one service. Services aim to

build self-sufficiency of households to provide for their needs without the need for

future donor support. Independence is measured when the entire household can be

deemed healthy, safe, schooled and stable.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Tanzania has witnessed the emergence of many NGOs in different areas of life;

health, education, water, environment, capacity building and advocacy for women

empowerment. These NGOs for years have been said to improve the lives of people
 9

in different spheres of life. Researches have been done to examining the

contribution of these NGOs in improving people’s lives. Melenya (2016) commented

that NGOs remained a principal channel for donors’ investment and hence one of the

crucial sources of information and expertise on poverty and poverty alleviation.

Melanya also noted that urban poverty alleviation has become a major area of

attention for the international donors’ community. NGOs have been receiving high

attention in the international community and by the donors as an agent of social

change and hence receive a lot of assistance to realize the changes in people’s lives.

Lewis (2016) argued that NGOs influenced the lives of people through the world and

hence it is important to look into their work and understand what impacts they truly

have. Lewis also argued that the work done by these NGOs may not be sustainable

but it often does provide people with the material need they otherwise would not

have.

REPOA (2007) commented that NGOs are with the feelings that they were having a

largely positive impact on policy making and implementation processes. It was also

reported that over 80% of surveyed NGOs considered their work to be closely

aligned to poverty reduction efforts or socio-economic development. Mushi (2011)

wrote a thesis that examined the contribution of NGOs in the development of

Tanzania through the engagement in policy influence in which the focuses were on

answering five questions one of which was on the extent to which NGOs are leading

people to real social change and sustainable development. In this work, he

commented that people in reality do not know exactly what NGOs are doing
 10

although the NGOs themselves claim to be speaking for the people. He had the

feeling that nothing is happening and NGOs staffs cannot deliver.

Apart from these studies being made, little has been examined on the effectiveness

of these NGOs in changing people’s lives and improving their living standards

(poverty reduction) especially in rural areas in Tanzania. As was stated earlier, any

efforts toward changing people’s lives especially in third world countries in which

the majority of their population are rural base the focus should be on these rural

areas. The studies cited above have concentrated on the work of NGOs in general

without focusing closely on the rural area. They have also put much attention to

NGOs themselves without having another closer look at the beneficiaries of these

NGOs activities and operations.

Consequently, this study is trying to fill in the gap of knowledge about the

effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living standard of people in Rural Tanzania.

An increase of this knowledge will help the policymakers making more effective

policies when focusing on improving the living standards of people.

1.4 Research Objectives

1.4.1 General Objective

The study was mainly intended to assess the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the

living standard of people in rural areas.

1.4.2 Specific Objective

Specifically, the study was intended at achieving the following objectives:

i. To examine the extent to which NGOs have been effective in improving the
 11

living standard of people in Arusha District Council.

ii. To examine the strategies employed by the NGOs in realizing their objectives

in Arusha District Council.

iii. To examine the sustainability of the NGOs programs in improving the living

standard of people in Arusha District Council.

1.5 Research Questions

In aligning with the specific objectives; the study was intended to answer the

following questions;

i. To what extent have NGOs been effective in improving the living standard of

people in Arusha District Council?

ii. What are the strategies employed by the NGOs in improving the living

standards of people in Arusha District Council?

iii. How sustainable are NGOs programs in improving the living standards of

people in rural areas?

1.6Scope of the Study

The overall objective of the study was to study the effectiveness of Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in improving the living standards of people in

rural areas. The study studied community leaders and beneficiaries of Kiutu,

Oltrumet, Moivo, Kimnyaki, Olerien and Kiranyi wards of Arusha District Council

and four NGOs working in Arusha District Council. The NGOs studied were; The

Convoy of Hope, Arusha SOS Village, Ace-Africa and Pact-Under “KIZAZI

KIPYA PROJECT”. These NGOs are affiliated with Education, Health and Capacity
 12

Building.

1.7 Significance of the Study

The study was intended to examine the effectiveness of the NGOs in improving the

living standard of people in rural areas by using the Arusha District Council as the

case study. This study is therefore significant in the following ways; firstly, the study

maybe a useful tool for making some policies that may affect the rural areas’ people.

In other words, the policymakers will have the reference point for the effectiveness

of the NGOs in development initiatives and hence be in a very good position of

whether incorporating NGOs in the developmental programs or not.

Also, the findings of this study are expected to help the NGOs’ donors and

government on viewing the activities of the NGOs in changing the people’s lives

especially in rural areas and to find better ways of making them more effective.

Secondly, the study will be serving as the literature for the researchers who want to

research the activities of NGOs or those who want to do more study on the

effectiveness of NGOs in rural areas. Thirdly, the study has identified some of the

challenges facing the NGOs in the implementation of their objectives. The

challenges identified will enable the stakeholders of the NGOs to find some ways of

addressing them to make these organizations more effective in dealing with their

activities of improving the lives of people through different areas of life.

1.8 Limitation of the Study

One of the serious limitations of the study was the poor response and delay from the

respondents as the majority of them were busy with the day to day activities of their
 13

offices especially government officials, NGOs staffs and local leaders. Another

limitation was the strict protocol on getting data from both government departments

and Non-Governmental organizations. However, in spite of the avowed limitations,

the researcher was able to obtain the required information that answer the key

research questions by following the protocols required, being patient and waiting for

the respondents’ reasonable time thus satisfying the objectives of the study.

1.9 Delimitation of the Study

Researcher used Arusha District Council as a case study to minimize cost due to the

limited budget of studying all rural areas in Tanzania. The following NGOs, The

Convoy of Hope, Ace Africa, Pact- “Kizazi Kipya Project” and SOS-Village Arusha

were selected so as to minimize cost due to their activities falling on all the threes or

on two scopes of this study which are Education, Capacity Building and Health.

1.10 Chapter Summary

The chapter highlighted the background of the study, and a brief profile of the Non-

Governmental Organization in Tanzania, the statement of the problem and the study

objectives. The chapter that follows is the review of the literature relating to the

study and the theoretical framework.

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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

The chapter presents a theoretical literature review, empirical study, the

conceptualframework under which major concepts are discussed and defined these

includes Non-Governmental Organizations, the effectiveness of an organization, the

standard of living, NGOs in Tanzania, Legal Personality of NGOs in Tanzania, State

and NGOs, NGOs and Development, Development and empowerment of rural areas.

2.2Theoretical Literature Review

2.2.1 Non- Governmental Organization

NGOs Act (2002) defines Non- governmental organizations as the voluntary groups

of individual or organizations which are free, not align with any political party, not

for profit-making and organized whether at local, national or international level for

the aim of promoting economic, environmental, social or cultural development and

lobbying or advocating on different issues of the public interest.According to the

amendment of 2019 on the NGOs Act of 2002, NGOs are now defined as;

“a voluntary grouping of individuals or organizations which is non-partisan

or non-profit sharing established and operates for the benefit or welfare of
the community or public, organized at the local, national or international
levels for the purpose of enhancing or promoting economic, environmental,
social or cultural development or protecting environment, good governance,
law and order, human rights and lobbying or advocating on such issues”

In other words, NGOs have got some characteristics that differentiate them from

other organizations. These characteristics are that they must be formal, private, non-

partisan; non-profit making, self-governing or independent and voluntary and the

 15

amendments of 2019 inserts that NGOs’ activities have to be for the benefits and

welfare of the community.

Helmut (2005) commented that the nonprofit sector is the sum of private, voluntary

and nonprofit organizations and associations and they sometimes known as the third

sector. The NGOs are sometimes known as the third sector as the first sector is

considered to be government and its institutions and the second is the private sector.

Issa (2004) on his thesis commented that NGOs do play an intermediary role

between the poor, the private sector and the state. And that they are aiming at

providing services which the poor lack. In other words, the NGOs are for the

common good, the structure and organize themselves to meet the common good in a

way that they do not involve themselves in the struggle for governmental power, and

making a profit.

World Bank defines NGOs as private organizations whose activities are to relieve

sufferings, promote the wellbeing of the poor, safeguard the environment, offer basic

social services or promote community development. Under the view of the World

Bank, the NGOs are defined by their activities, which are mainly based on the very

crucial role of helping the poor and advocating for development. This very role and

the structure of these organization as mentioned earlier are the salient features which

differentiate NGOs from other organizations which performing the same roles as

explained by the World Bank (WB).

Hilary (2012) describes NGOs as independent of both the government and the

business sector and that their mandate is to promote the public interest and serve the
 16

public good rather than make a profit or advance the interests of a narrow group of

people. An effective NGO is one that is serving the interest of the public and the one

which is not designed for profit-making. In other words, an effective NGO is

measured through the way it advances the interests of the public.

2.2.2 Organizational Effectiveness

The term effectiveness according to Oxford English Dictionary 3rd edition is

successfully producing the results that you want. The effectiveness of NGOs is on

producing the results that are needed. In other words, NGOs are governed by their

objectives; the essence of their being and so to be effective is to meet that essence. In

other words, NGOs can be categorized as effective only if they do meet their desired

objectives.

According to Oghojafor et al (2012) organizational effectiveness is a multifaceted

and argumentative concept as no two authorities agree on what constitutes

effectiveness or on how it is measured; although they all agree that it involves,

attention to goals and satisfaction of beneficiaries and relationship with the external

environment. Generally, effectiveness refers to the extent to which an organization

is able to achieve its goals.

Giti et al (2012) came up with four approaches for measuring the effectiveness of an

organization. These are:

Goal Approach: This is the first extensively used approach in organizational

effectiveness; its focus is on the output to figure out the essential operating

objectives like profit, innovation and final product quality. The approach is looking
 17

at the essence of the organization being; the reason for the organizational existence.

In this, there should be a general agreement on the specific goals and the people

involved should feel committed to fulfilling them.

The system resource approach:This approach explains the effectiveness from the

point of view of the ability to obtain necessary resources from the environments

outside the organization. The system resource approach can be effective if there is a

relation between the resources which an organization receives and the goods or

services it produces. In other words, this approach is trying to figure out whether the

organization is able to mobilize resources outside the organization to fulfill its

objectives and goals.

The process approach: The third approach is known as the process approach which

pays attention to the transformation process and is dedicated to seeing to what extent

the resources are officially used to give services or produce goods. The focus here is

to measure the use of the resources mobilized in attaining the desired goals of an

organization.

The strategic constituency approach: the strategic constituency approach deals with

the effect of the organization on the main stakeholders and their interests. Based on

this approach, effectiveness refers to the minimal satisfaction of all of the strategic

constituencies/beneficiaries of the organization. Strategic constituency/ beneficiaries

involve all the people that are somehow connected to the organization. These people

may have different roles such as the users of the services or products of the

organization, the resource providers, and facilitators of the organization’s output, the

main supporters and the dependents of the organization. In this study,the focus will

be put on the above-discussed approaches in examining the effectiveness of NGOs in

 18

improving the living standards of people in rural areas; these approaches are goal

approach, system resources approach, the process approach and strategic

constituency approach.

2.2.3 The Standard of Living

According to the Tanzania vision 2025, on the standard of living or high quality live

hood state that;

“a nation’s development should be people-centered based on

sustainable and shared growth and be free from abject poverty; For
Tanzania, this development means that the creation of wealth and its
distribution in the society must be equitable and free from inequalities
and all forms of social and political relations which inhibit
empowerment and effective democratic and popular participation of
all social groups (men and women, boys and girls, the young and old
and the able-bodies and disabled persons) in the society.”

In other words, the standard of living can be defined as based on the highlights given

under the Tanzania vision of 2025 in which the standard of living must be achieved

through people-centered and that the creation of wealth and its distribution in the

society must be equitable and free from inequalities. It is an undeniable fact that the

standard of living is related much to human development. In which for the

community to have at least a satisfying human development education and health

should be included in the measurement.

New Economics Foundation (2008) defines the living standards of people (well-

being) as a dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential,

work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others,

and contribute to their community. This is when an individual is able to realize his

personal and socialgoals and achieve a sense of purpose in society.

 19

OEDCD (2013) describes three pillars for understanding peoples’ well-being or

standards of living as follows:

Material living conditions (or economic welfare), which determine people’s

utilization possibilities and their domination over resources.

Quality of life, which is defined as the set of non-monetary attributes of individuals

that shapes their opportunities and life chances, and has an intrinsic value under

different cultures and contexts.

The sustainability of the socio-economic and natural systems where people live and

Work; which is important for well-being to last over time, sustainability depends on

how current human activities impact the stocks of different types of capital (natural,

economic, human and social) that underpin well-being.

Figure 2.1: Framework for Wellbeing Indicators

Source: OECD (2011

 20

The study is mainly focused on examining the effectiveness of NGOs on improving

the material conditions of people- their command over nature, their sustainability on

soci0-economic and natural systems and their quality of life.

2.2.4 History of Non – Governmental Organizations in Africa

World Bank (1991) suggested that:

“Although NGOs have only recently emerged into the development of

limelight, they are not a recent phenomenon. Nor is their relevance to
national development processes recent. If we accept that all
nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations are properly classified as
NGOs, we may safely conclude that they were the earliest form of human
organization.Long before there were governments, people organized
themselves into groups for mutual protection and self-help”

This reveals that NGOs were there ever before the emergence of government; they

were there as long as a human being is not fully sufficient but requires some

assistance in one way or another. Non – governmental organization has a long

history in Africa. The official and recognized presence of NGOs in Africa dates back

to the colonial era where they provided social welfare services to those people who

are neglected by the state.

Michael (2014) in this era Africans who were not provided with social services by

the colonial governments were provided with them by the NGOs operated in Africa.

The presence of NGOs in Africa is relating much to the existence of NGOs in

Tanganyika and later on in Tanzania. Besides, Michael commented that the NGOs

in this era were best known as missionary society based. They were associated much

with the work of missionaries and much of their work was on charitable activities

more than on advocacy.

 21

Davis (2014) argued that the acronym NGO dates back during the establishment of

the United Nations (UN) system in 1945. This suggests that NGOs were under

operation in Africa even before the establishment of the United Nations (UN), in

other words, the establishment of the UN gave the activities of NGOs more credit

and make their activities official. In other words, if NGOs got their genesis from the

charitable works or helping others spirits we could say that even before the coming

of European in Africa, Africans were helping one another in different sectors of

lives. What missed in the African charitable activities was just the name, Non-

Governmental Organization.

2.2.5 Legal Personality of NGOs in Tanzania

NGOs in Tanzania are regulated and managed by the legislation of 2002, titled

NGOs Act of 2002 and its amendments of 2019 under Miscellaneous Act No. 3 of

2019.This act has stipulated the administration and coordination of NGOs, the

procedure of their registration, level of registration and the authority of

registrar/director and minister responsible for the NGOs. In reality NGOs in

Tanzania have got some mandate to operate freely but with some strong restriction

and monitoring from the government. This is evident from the power given to the

minister responsible for NGOs whose power is to give some directives on the

registration of NGOs. In other words, the registrations of NGOs are just determined

by the minister’s decision and this endangers the activities of the NGOs in Tanzania.

2.2.6 The Relationship between state and Non-Governmental Organization

In Tanzania, the relationship between NGOs and the government keeps on

improving. Theresearch done by REPOA (2007) reported that the relationship

 22

between NGOs and the government of Tanzania is expanding and improving;

characterized by increasing communication, interaction, and trust. This expanding

relationship is vividly evidenced by the improving effectiveness of the NGOs in

different areas. In another way round this relationship is commented by different

scholars to be not as good as it’s supposed to be. Miriam and Costa (2013)

commented that the relationship between state and NGOs has not been friendly

always; the relationship has been of lack of mutual relationship and trust. In another

way, they argued that;

“The fact that NGOs have had a significant impact in Africa, a

partnership between the state and NGOs can realize sustainable
development through working together. The state should provide a
favorable environment for NGOs to operate and work in
collaboration with the state in service provision in critical areas”.

The significance of the NGOs in Africa and particularly in Tanzania in improving

the living standard of people in different areas of lives have to be in line with the

positive relationship with the state. The partnership between the state and the NGOs

could facilitate the effectiveness of NGOs. As Campbell (1996) said;

“The relationship between the host country and NGOs is and that
determine the scope which an NGO can reach”

The positive relationship between the state and the NGOs in its essence enables

NGOs to perform their activities effectively and realize their objectives and goals.

However, it has been argued that the relationship between the state and the NGOs is

in jeopardy due to the fear that has been generated by most of the government

toward the hidden objectives of the NGOs as Miriam and Costa (2013) said;

“NGOs are accused of being responsible for foreign penetration

based on allegations that they pursue political interests of their home
countries or those of the international community as their agenda”
 23

The challenge of the relationship is the fear of losing the sovereignty of a particular

country. The majority of these nations failed to realize that, governments in today’s

world have to share some of her powers for the betterment of the populace.

Consolidating powers that led to the restriction and control of NGOs to a larger

extent led to the ineffectiveness of the NGOs in their operation. Therefore, the

effectiveness of NGOs can be the result of a mutual, friendly and partnership kind of

relationship. State with its powers upon the NGOs if intended to restrict NGOs

would, in reality, prohibit the effective operation of NGOs especially in changing

and improving the living standard of people.

2.2.7 Non-Governmental Organization and Development

Non- Governmental Organization for a long time in the history of developing

countries have contributed a lot to the development process by being the gap filler on

the gap left by the incapacity of the governments of the developing countries on

providing social services and stimulating the development. Nicola B. and David H.

(2012) across the developing world, states with limited finances and riddled by poor

governance and corruption have failed to lead to development for all their citizens.

Nicola and David continued to comment that with this context, an alternative form of

development has been pursued, and since the 1980s, non-governmental organizations

(NGOs) have been increasingly advocated as a means through which the gulf

between citizens’ needs and existing services can be bridged. In reality, the NGOs

have helped in stimulating the development in developing nations and to some extent

managed to minimize the gap between the services provided and the needs of the

people.
 24

Mwansa (1995) the NGOs’ contribution has been demonstrated by the extent to

which they have empowered the disadvantaged at personal, group or community

levels. Mwansa continued to say that;

“On certain occasions, NGOs have provided services for which the
needs persist even beyond the public services or have developed
programs to meet emerging needs not yet within the scope of the
public services”

The relationship between Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) and

development is evidently on the activities done by the NGOs from the grassroots

levels to the national and even global levels. The activities of NGOs that are relating

to relief services though may not be seen strongly as the contribution toward

development but the real sense; the relief services are developmental activities in its

silent form. In which the relief services enable the affected populace with immediate

help after a disaster which is the near-future enable the populace to sustain it.

Another activity of the NGOs is on the provision of services like health and

education in which these services contribute much toward the development of

serviced people.

The services like education create skilled labor and stimulate other sectors of the

economy to contribute to development; health services keep people out of diseases

which are one of the greatest barriers to development. The advocacy and capacity

building, on the other hand, does the same in the development of the people. As

Mwansa commented the activities of NGOs tend to focus on the poor, disadvantaged

or marginalized segment of the population especially in rural areas. In other words,

development on the view of the NGOs is the improvement of the living standard of

people especially the poor and disadvantageous people.

 25

In other words the effectiveness of their activities has to be measured by using the

criterion of how well they have contributed on the improvement of the living

standard of people and end or minimize suffering to the lives of people in which to a

majority the sufferings are created by the poverty- inability to sustain their lives.

2.2.8 Rural Development and Empowerment

The rural development refers to the increasing capacity of production and

improvement of the living standards of people in rural areas. The rural development,

in other words, is connected to the improvements in different areas of socio-

economic affairs of the people in rural areas. As has been identified earlier, rural

areas lead in terms of the number of poor people, that is to say, the rural areas

contributed to highest the poverty rate of the nation –Tanzania.

Concerning the level of poverty in rural areas, it is a convincing argument to argue

that these areas require some mechanism to empower the populace who are dwelling

in poverty. Rural people need to be empowered in different areas of the economy.

NGOs on one side are engaging in the very task of empowering the rural people with

different initiatives like providing different training, capacity building and providing

direct social service.

According to Lubawa (1985), rural development involves a process of mobilizing

and organizing the rural population to undergo socio-economic changes that enable

change in the living conditions of people in these areas. The people are both subjects

and the objects of the development processes. According to Lubawa, rural

development should be people-centered that every strategy to improve their lives

 26

should be coming from the people. The involvement of people in their development

makes them more engaged and makes a serious concern on every approach planned

for development.

Moreover, Johnston and Clerk 1982 as cited in Lubawa (1985) pointed out three key

areas for rural development, these areas are;

i. Production-oriented intervention deals with agriculture development and

rural employment opportunities

ii. Consumption- oriented interventions, dealing with health, nutrition and

family planning

iii. Organization- oriented interventions, dealing with rural institutional

structures and managerial procedures.

This is what NGOs and other agencies for development should focus on improving

the living standards of people in rural areas, they should pay attention to production

that is maximizing productions in rural areas and hence enabling the populace to

manage their own lives with minimal support from these agencies of development.

Also, another focus should be directed towards consumption in which the words of

Johnston and Clerk are to be interested in the issues of health, nutrition, and family

planning. Health, nutrition, and family planning in its essence are to improve the

manpower in these areas so that they could be in a very better position to engage in

production. Lastly, is on leadership and management in which the focus is directed

towards improving the mechanism that is necessary for production – the supervision

mechanism. Here, institutional structures and managerial procedures are of the

 27

highest interest

2.3 Empirical Literature Review

The following are collections and analysis of data based on direct observation or

experience on effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living standards of people.

Khamis (2012) conducted a study on the assessment of the contribution of the NGOs

in the delivery of health services in Zanzibar. The results of the study explained that

the involvement of the NGOs in the delivery of the health services has improved the

quality, equity and accessibility of health services. Hence, NGOs can be more

effective, more efficient and cost-effective than government in performing certain

services especially in reaching the poor and vulnerable societies.

Mganilwa (2018) has done a study on the fund management practices in NGOs in

the Tabora region in Tanzania. Thefindings indicated that fund management practice

at NGOs was regular and funds aremanaged well. The fund management is the

revelation of the effectiveness of NGOs in adhering to their goals and objectives.

Kanza (2014) researched on the evaluation of the feasibility of NGO activities to

strengthen Socio-Economic Status of youth living with HIV, A case study of

PASADA in Temeke Municipality.

The study had the following objectives: (i) establishing the methods used by the

NGO to prepare youth living with HIV to become economically independent (ii)

finding out challengesfaced by the NGO in supporting youth living with HIV/AIDS

economically and to gather views of youths living with HIV/AIDS on activities and

micro-projects that is of benefit to their social-economic well- being. The study

 28

revealed that HIV/AIDS is a social, cultural, and economic problem, with which the

young people are in particular severely affected by the epidemic, and the NGO’s

capacity to assist youths living with HIV was about 70% but, it was learned that

PASADA’s source of support was to come to an end in 2016.Hence, concluded that

locally sought Community Based Support has a better chanceof improving SES of

youths living with HIV at a community level.

Malambughi (2017) conducted a study on the contributions of NGOs to students

with hearing impairments in inclusive secondary schools in Mufindi district,

Tanzania. The findings of the study revealed that NGOs are contributing to

educational materials, however, the materials do not cater to all of the educational

needs required. The active contribution of the NGOs in Mufindi to the students with

impairments is another testimony on the effectiveness of NGOs in addressing

challenges facing the community they serve. This is to serve the common goal of

every NGO which is to provide protection –assisting the needy.

Ali Haji (2015) set out a study on the resource mobilization capacity of local NGOs

in Mkoani district- Pemba, Tanzania. The results of the study were that 73.3% of

local NGOs are lacking in resource mobilization capacities in terms of human,

financial, material, policies and guidelines as well as office space. Whereas 26.7%

have average resource mobilization capacities as a result, they fail to deliver on their

programming. The mobilization of resources is the ability of NGOs to access fund,

which enables them to finance different activities and reach their goals and

objectives.
 29

Eliraha (2017) conducted a study on the factors influencing family planning projects

implementation success by NGOs in Arusha Region. The study finding shows that

(83%) of the participants are familiar with the family planning project

implementation success within the Organization. Apart from the findings, the

researcher recommended that Organizations should re-consider the importance of

sharing the project progress through both meetings and reports.

Mary Mwangi (2014) studied the effects of financial accountability on the efficiency

of the Non-Governmental Organization in governance sector in Nairobi County.The

study recognized that financial accountability has encouraging and significant effect

on the effectiveness of nongovernmental organizations in the governance sector in

Nairobi County. Moreover, the study found that individually and combined, financial

accountability, staff experience, and organization of NGOs have a positive effect on

NGO efficiency.

KainunulaPriscus (2014) studied the influence of NGOs in the Vulnerable Children,

Youth above 20 Years Bicycle Assembling and Selling Project in Nshamba and

Biilabo Wards Muleba District. The results of this study found that the support

provided by NGOs to vulnerable children has brought changes even though it is not

enough to satisfy all needs. As now vulnerable you are able to access social services

which prior to the project it was difficult.

Henry KarutiKanyinga (1990) conducted a research on the role of Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in creating local capacity for development:

 30

The case of Meru District- Kenya. The results of this study were that NGOs' projects

beneficiaries are involved in the projects in different ways as according to the

circumstances at hand.

2.4 Synthesis and Research Gap

2.4.1Synthesis

This chapter presented the theoretical review on the effectiveness of NGOs on

improving the living standards of people in rural areas. Also, it tells about the

general history and trends of NGOs’ activities and its contribution to society,

especially the marginalized ones. Finally, some empirical examples from different

research which explain that most of the NGOs are dealing with different activities

with different capacities in improving the living standards of its beneficiaries were

cited. The study on the empirical review section was mostly concentrated on one of

the NGOs’ contributions be it on health, education or capacity building and sight

their contributions with minimal focus on their effectiveness- adhering to their

essence of being in general. So the focus of this study was to assess the effectiveness

of NGOs in improving the living standards of people in rural areas through

education, health and capacity building.

2.4.2 Research Gap

In searching for the empirical studies about this study, most of the research revealed

that NGOs have seen contributing to improving the living standards of people in

different areas of life specifically; none of the studies above has studied the

effectiveness of these contributions given by NGOs in different sectors of life. This

indicates that there is a problem because these studies are dealing with what is given
 31

by NGOs with little concentration on their effectiveness.Therefore this study was

specifically focused to assess the effectiveness of NGOs on improving the living

standards of people in rural areas, specifically in the Arusha District Council.

2.3.3 Conceptual Framework

In examining the effectiveness of NGOs, the major yardsticks were used is to

measure the outputs of the organization that correlate with the essence of its

existence. The outputs, however, are achieved after the various inputs into the

NGOs undergo what is referred to as administrative and organizational processes.

The inputs into NGOs include finance, staff, materials, transport means,

equipment/facilities, and information as to mention the few. Thus, the NGOs

outputs, in this case, denoted by the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living

standards of people in rural areas; if the NGOs are determined to adhere to their

missions and the essence of their being (effective) then output (improvement of the

living standards of people in rural areas) should be realized and vice versa. This

study seeks to establish the relationship that exists in the effective operation of

NGOs’ activities and their mission and the bearing it has on the improvement of the

living standards of people in rural areas.

Keywords are outputs, improvement of the living standards of people in rural areas

and outputs (finance, trained staff, transport means, facilities/materials, and

information) output is influenced by how NGOs inputs interact. In conceptualizing

the researcher will attempt to point out how the interaction of the NGOs’ inputs

(finance, trained staff, transport means, facilities/materials, and information) with

 32

rural people may affect the NGOs’ outputs (improvement of the living standards of

people in rural areas

INPUTS

Human resources

Financial resources

Office equipments

Information

-Designing programs that can improve lives.

- Implement the designed programs

-Making a follow up
PROCESS

- Maintaining a good relationship with government.

- Involving the community on the programs

- Encourage participation of the beneficiaries

- Effective management of funds

- Resource mobilization

-Reporting on the activities done

OUTPUTS

-Improved, quality and accessible education

-improved health service delivery

-empowered people
\
 33

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter shows the methods and approaches used in the study. These methods

and approaches are the ones that enabled this work to be possible. The study was

intended to investigate the effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations

(NGOs) in improving the living standard of people in rural areas by using the Arusha

District Council as the case study. The questions intended to be answered in this

investigation were three:

i. To what extent NGOs have helped in improving the living standards of

people in the Arusha District Council?

ii. What are the strategies employed by the NGOs in improving the living

standards of people in the Arusha District Council?

iii. Is the work of the NGOs improving the living standards of people in rural

areas sustainable?

The study used questioners, interviews and documentary reviews to answer these

questions.

3.2 Research Design

Saunders et al (2009) defined research design as a general plan of how you will go

about answering your research question(s). That is to say, the research design is a

plan on how and where data can be collected, and how can be analyzed; Saunders et

al argued again that the research design specifies the sources from which one intends

to collect data, and consider the constraints that one will inevitably have like the
 34

access to data, time, location and money as well as discussion over ethical issues.

The study employed a case study by using the Arusha District Council to assess the

effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in improving the living

standard of people in rural areas. The choice of this design was motivated by the

fact that this design incorporates the in-depth investigation of the subject matter, the

researcher who is focusing on the effectiveness of something has to choose a design

that will enable his work to investigate the subject deeply for the aim of coming up

of the shreds of evidence on effectiveness or ineffectiveness. Kombo and Tromp

(2006) suggested that:

“The case study seeks to describe a unit in detail, in context and

holistically”.

The study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the NGOs in improving the

living standard of people in rural areas; hence due to the vastness of the rural areas in

Tanzania it was important for a particular area to been chosen for the study in which

with its characters may suggest the realities in other rural areas in Tanzania; hence

the Arusha District Council was chosen as the case study. Although the case study

does not always give out the reality on the other cases which were not studied in

some cases it does. As the Collin F. et al (2010) commented:

However, it is not true to claim that case studies lack generalisability.

The power of the case study lies in its capacity to provide insights and
resonance for the reader.

3.3 Study Location

The study location is an area meant for sampling subjects for a study. Kombo and

Tromp (2006) suggested that the selection of a research site or location is essential as
 35

it influences the usefulness of the information produced. The study was carried out

in the Arusha Region, Tanzania. The purposive sampling was used to select the

Arusha District Council as the study site since it is located in rural areas and has

enough number of NGOs operating in the sectors of education, health and capacity

building.

3.4 Study Population

The study population is the group of subjects from which samples are taken for

being studied. Kombo and Tromp (2006) a population is a group of individuals,

objects or items from which samples are taken for measurement, it refers to an entire

group of persons or elements that have at least one thing in common. The Arusha

District Council comprises 27 wards with an estimated population of 323,198

according to the census of 2012from which 6 wards (Kiutu, Oltrumet, Moivo,

Kimnyaki, Olerien, and Kiranyi)leaders were taken as subjects. In these wards, more

than 10 NGOs are actively operating in different sectors of socio-economic.

Figure 3.1:Arusha Region Administrative Map

 36

Source: Domestic Tourism Safari

3.5 Sample Selection

3.5.1 Sample Size

Kothari (2004) defined the size of the sample as the number of items to be selected

from the universe to constitute a sample. Kothari also comments that the size of the

sample should neither be excessively large, nor too small. It should be optimum. The

study studied 20 respondents from Non-Governmental Organizations which are The

Convoy of Hope, Ace Africa, Pact- “Kizazi Kipya Project” and SOS-Village Arusha

(Education, Health and capacity building affiliated NGOs) and 20 respondents from

governmental officials (officials from the department of community development in

the level of the district, Ward executive officers (WEO), Ward Education Officers,

Ward Health Officers (WHO) and Ward Community Development officers (WCDO)

and 40 respondents from the general community – Beneficiaries.

Table 4.1: Respondents Distribution

1. Government Officials 20
2. NGOs affiliated with Education, capacity 20
building, and health
3. Beneficiaries 40

Total 80
Source: Researcher 2019

3.5.2 Sampling Technique

The sampling technique was solely purposive. People who were studied were picked

purposively. These were government officials, NGO workers and people from the

public (beneficiaries). All subjects studied were aware of the activities performed by

the NGOs and the contribution of NGOs in people’s development. The knowledge

demonstrated and the information given by these people were very essential to this
 37

study.

3.6 Sources of Data

3.6.1 Primary Source

Primary data these are data originated directly from the actual respondents being

studied. Kombo and Tromp (2006) commented that the primary data is information

gathered directly from respondents. These are through the questionnaire, interviews,

focused group discussions, observation, and experimental studies. The study used

questionnaires and interviews to collect the primary data from Non –Governmental

Organizations, government officials, and beneficiaries.

3.6.2 Secondary Source

These are the data that are named by Kombo and Tromp (2006) as “Desk research”

in which the information stored in documents or on electronic devices is studied.

The study collected the information documented on the activities of the Non-

Governmental Organization (NGOs) in the Arusha district council and from the

respective NGOs studied. The information provided enough information relating to

the activities of NGOs and their contribution toward improving the living standard of

people in rural areas.

3.7 Data collection and Instrumentation

3.7.1 Questionnaires

According to Kothari questionnaire technique of collecting data is defined as;

“A number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form

or set of forms. The questionnaire is mailed or given to respondents
who are expected to read and understand the questions and write
down the reply in the space meant for the purpose of the
 38

questionnaire itself.”

The respondent in the study was provided with the questionnaire to respond to some

questions which were intended to meet the objectives of the study which was to

study the effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) in improving the

living standard of people in the rural areas. 80 questionnaires were provided to

respondents as follows; 20 were given to respondents from government, 20 to the

NGOs’ officials and 40 to the beneficiaries. The rationale of using questionnaires

based on the benefit of the method as explained by Kothari (2006) as follows:

i. There is a low cost even when the universe is large and is widely spread

geographically.

ii. It is free from the bias of the interviewer; answers are in respondents’ own words.

iii. Respondents have adequate time to give well thought out answers.

iv. Respondents, who are not easily approachable, can also be reached conveniently.

v. Large samples can be made use of and thus the results can be made more

dependable and reliable.

3.7.2 Interview

An interview is a discussion between two or more people over a certain matter, this

discussion is always purposive. The discussion which is not purposive over a certain

matter is just a discussion and not an interview. Although an interview is just a

discussion between two or more people it has to be planned prior. Saunder at el

(2009) use of interviews can help a researcher to gather valid and reliable data that

are relevant to the research question(s) and objectives. Kothari (2014) the interview

method of collecting data involves presentation of oral-verbal stimuli and reply in

 39

terms of oral-verbal responses. The study employed an interview method in which

30 people from NGOs, Government and beneficiaries were interviewed. Their

responses nourished the study greatly. These interviews strengthen the results

obtained from the questionnaires as all of the interviewees answered questionnaires

also.

3.7.3 Documentary Review

The documentary review method was employed to study the secondary data,

publications such as reports and other documents which were relating to the research

objective of studying the effectiveness of Non- Governmental Organization (NGOs)

in improving the living standards of people in rural areas by using Arusha District

Council as the case.

3.8 Data Analysis

Kombo and Tromp (2006) data analysis refers to examining what has been collected

in a survey or experiment and making deduction and inferences. The information

acquired was both qualitative and quantitative. Hence, explanatory, confirmatory and

cross-tabulation methods of analyzing data were used. But mostly, the explanatory

method was much used due to the nature of the research which was mainly

qualitative.

3.9 Informed Consent of Respondents and Ethical Consideration

After collection of research clearance letter from the University headquarter, the

letters was channeled to respective subjects for the study and make an appointment

basing on their consent. Respondents communicated with the researcher and make

an appointment for the investigation or study planned.

 40

The collection of data seriously considered human rights and the respect of human

dignity. None of the subjects was violated his/her rights during the process of

collecting data. All research ethics were of the highest consideration during this

study.

3.10 Confidentiality of the Information Sources

The researcher promised all respondents that the information given will be treated

confidentially. And the promise was kept, in which none of the respondent names is

mentioned in the study and if necessary the initials are used to keep the source of the

information confidential.

3.12 Chapter Summary

The chapter, in a nutshell, focuses on the methodology which was used in the study.

The chapter highlighted the research design in which the case study was used, the

sample size, population, the research instruments – questionnaires, interviews, and

documentary reviews were used.

 41

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

This chapter represents analyses and discusses the data collected in the field relating

to the effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) in improving the

living standards of people in localities. As pointed earlier three data collection

techniques questionnaires, interviews, and documentary reviews were used and

descriptive data analysis was used to analyze the data. The presentation, analysis,and

discussion of the collected data were done in line with the following specific

objectives of the research.

i. To examine the extent to which NGOs have been effective in improving the

living standard of people in Arusha District Council.

ii. To examine the strategies employed by the NGOs in realizing their objectives

in Arusha District Council.

iii. To examine the sustainability of the NGOs programs in improving the living

standard of people in Arusha District Council.

4.2 Demographic Features of the Respondents

An understanding of the demographic characteristics of the people involved in the

study is very important as it adds value to the results of the research. The responses

given were highly determined by the demographic characteristics of the respondent.

Due to this fact the demographic characteristic of a number of years of the

respondent in the office, gender and education were investigated.

 42

4.2.1 Number of Years of the Respondents in the Office – (government and

NGOs)

The number of the years of the respondents (from NGOs and governmental offices)

in the office was studied for the aim of validating the responses as the more the

number in office more the experience on the issues relating to NGOs operation. Out

of all respondents, those work under their current offices for 0- 2 years were 18.3%,

2-4 years were 23.3 %, 4-6 years were 20% and 6 years and above were 39%.This

signifies that the majorities of the respondent studied are highly experienced in the

issues of Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and were the right subjects for

the study. 81.6% of the respondents worked in their offices for more than two years

and 18.4% worked for their offices for less than two years. This is shown in Figure

4.1.

Figure 4.1: Distribution of Respondents on the Number of Years in their Offices

Source: Field data (2019)

 43

4.2.2 Academic Qualification of the Respondents

The respondents that were studied were having the following distribution on their

academic qualification; those who have the Bachelor’s degree were 23%, diploma

23%, certificate 13% secondary 25%, and 16% is for those with masters’ degrees.

This distribution suggests that the majority of the studied subjects were having a

reasonable education and hence provided accurate data on the study as intended. The

distribution is clearly shown in figure 5.

25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%
Masters'
Bachelor
Diploma
degree Certificate
Secondary

Axis Title

Figure 4.2: Distribution of Academic Qualification of the Respondent

Source: Field Data (2019)

4.3 The extent to which NGOs have been effective in improving the living

Standards of People in Rural Areas in Arusha District Council

This section represents the views of the respondents on the extent to which NGOs

have been effective in improving the living standards of people in the Arusha

District Council. In its essence, the section tries to answer these questions “To what
 44

extent have NGOs been effective in improving the living standard of people in

Arusha District Council”

Here the researchers assumed that NGOs have been effective in improving the living

standards of people in rural areas and especially in ADC. Therefore, the researcher

posed different questions to explore to what extent NGOs have been effective in

improving the living standards of people in the Arusha District Council.

4.3.1 Awareness of the community members on the activities of NGOs in their

localities

The researcher was interested to assess the awareness of the community members on

the activities being implemented by NGOs in their areas. Be it in Protection-

Providing relief to victims of disaster and support the poor, Prevention- Reducing

people’s vulnerability through income diversification and reserves, Promotion-

increasing people’s chances and opportunities and lastly transformation-redressing

social, political and economic exclusion or oppression. It has to be known that NGOs

are for the public and their activities should be on serving the public and hence

effective NGOs, its’ program and activities are known to the public it serves. Only

beneficiaries were studied on their awareness of the activities and programs of

NGOs in their areas.

The respondents were requested to tell whether they are aware of the activities of

NGOs going on their areas and if responding affirmatively to the question they were

requested to point out those activities and programs in their areas. 90% of the

respondents responded that they were aware of the activities and programs of NGOs
 45

going on in their areas. While 90% were affirmative to the question only 55.5% of

those who were affirmative to the question were able to point out some of the

activities of NGOs going on in their areas and 44.4% were unable to point out.

Awareness on the activities of NGOs by the

beneficiaries
60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Pointed the
Failled to
Activities by
point out
NGOs
activities by
NGOs

Figure 4.3: Distribution of awareness of the public on the activities of NGOs in

their areas.

Source: Field Data (2019)

4.3.2 Commitment of NGOs in Serving the Interest of the Public

Basing on the essence of being of the NGOs, it is very essential for them to be

committed on serving the interest of the people. The commitment on serving the
 46

interest of the people enable NGOs to realize their objectives and hence being

effective on serving the public as the public is on the center of the NGOs’ programs

and agenda. Hence, in assessing the extent to which NGOs have been effective in

their role their commitment has to be in line for the assessment. The respondents

were requested to air their views on the commitment of NGOs in their areas on

improving the living standard of people in ADC. All of the respondents were the

beneficiaries (public) of the activities of NGOs.

The respondents were requested to assess the commitment of NGOs in improving

the living standard of people (Serving the interest of the public) in ADC. 75% of the

respondents said that NGOs are committed to serving the interests of people and

25% of the respondents commented that NGOs are never committed to the interest of

the people. The results reveal that the majority beneficiaries of the NGOs’ activities

are satisfied with the commitment of NGOs in improving the living standard of

people in ADC; however, few others who are not satisfying with the commitment of

the NGOs in improving the living standard of people in ADC.

NGOS are commited NGOs never commited

0% 0% 0%

25%

75%

Figure 4.4: Distribution of respondents on the commitment of NGOs in serving

the public.

Source:Field Data (2009)

 47

4.3.3 The Benefits of NGOs’ Activities to the Community

Thirdly, NGOs are effective if the public is benefiting from their activities and their

program is making sense to the public, thus in assessing NGOs’ effectiveness, it is

ideal to test whether the community members are benefiting from the NGOs’

activities and NGOs programs making sense to the public. Also, in this, the

beneficiaries of NGOs were studied and requested to tell whether the NGOs’

programs are making sense to them. This question aimed to test if NGOs’ activities

have an impact and make sense to the lives of people as a means to assess NGOs’

effectiveness. 95% of the respondents responded that NGOs’ programs and activities

make sense to them and 5% commented that the NGOs’ activities make no sense to

them. The respondents who said NGOs activities make no sense were requested to

tell why they think these activities do not make sense. Their responses were; NGOs

activities do not make sense because “most of their activities do not touch the lives

of all people butthe few”, “NGOs are located in some places while other areas are

not affected by their activities,” “Their activities are specifically for some issues in

the community and other serious issues are not given consideration”

4.3.4 The Effective Management of Funds by NGOs

Fourthly, it is on the funds allocated on the different projects. Are they effectively

used? The respondents were requested to assess the good use of NGOs finance as the

instrument of assessing the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living of people

in ADC. Here, only beneficiaries were studied and responded as follows; 67.5% of

the respondents commented that there is a good use of financial resources in NGOs

and 32% commented that there is no good use of financial resources in NGOs.
 48

4.3.5 The Involvement of the Community Members in the Identification

Processes of NGOs’ Programs

The idea here is that people who are served by NGOs are the ones who are aware of

their sufferings and where to be assisted and helped to improve their lives. The

respondents in this responded as follows, 18% of the respondents responded that to a

very large extent the community members are participating in deciding on initiating

the programs that affect their lives, 48% commented that to a large extent

community members are participating in making decision, 17% of the respondents

responded that in a moderate extent the community members are involved in making

the decisions relating to the programs initiated by NGOs, 17% of the respondents

responded that to a small extent the community members are involved in making

decisions over the programs initiated by NGOs in their areas. Figure 6 below

summarizes the results.

Figure 4.5:Distribution of Respondents on the Involvement of the Community

Members in making Decision over the Programs Initiated by NGOs in their
Areas
Source: Field Data (2019)
 49

4.2.6 Participation of the Community Members on the Programs of NGOs

Another important area of investing the extent of the NGOs effectiveness in

improving the living standard of people in ADC is on the participation of the

community members on the programs initiated by the NGOs; the respondents’

responses suggested that the community members are willing to take part in on the

programs initiated by NGOs to a large extent as illustrated here in details. Those who

responded that community members are willing to a large extent were 50% of the

respondents, very large extent 25, moderate extent was 16.6%, small extent was

8.3% and none of the respondents gave a response to comment that community

members to a very small extent participate in NGOs programs.

small extent
8% 0%

moderate extent
17%

large extent
50%

very large
extent
25%

Figure 4.6: Distribution of respondents on the participation of community

members on the programs by NGOs

Source: Field Data (2019)

4.3.7 The Relationship between NGOs and Government

 50

An additional area that can test the extent of NGOs’ effectiveness in improving the

living standard of people in ADC is on the relationship between NGOs and the

government. The good relationship between NGOs and government is very essential

in ensuring the effectiveness of NGOs. The poor relationship can hinder the

effectiveness of NGOs in realizing the objectives. In this the responses were as

follows; 81% of the respondents responded that the relationship between government

and NGOs is to a very large extent friendly, 13% responded that the relationship is to

a large extent friendly, 6% the relationship is to a moderate extent friendly. This data

suggests that there is a good relationship between the government and NGOs which

help the NGOs to be effective in implementing their objectives see Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.7: the Distribution of Respondents on the Relationship between NGOs

and Government in ADC
Source: Field data (2019)

4.3.8 General Views of the Public on the Extent to Which NGOs Have Been

Effective In Improving the Living Standards of People in ADC

In general, the researcher was interested on general view of the public and NGO

officials on the extent to which NGOs are effective in improving the living standards

of people in ADC. The respondents responded as follows; 23% of the respondents

 51

commented that to a very large extent NGOs are effective in improving the living

standards of people in ADC, 29% responded that to a large extent NGOs have been

effective in improving the living standard people in ADC, 25% commented that

NGOs to a moderate extent have been effective in improving the living standard of

people in ADC, 24% responded that NGOs in small extent have been effective in

improving the living standards of people in ADC. The results suggest that the public

is of the view that NGOs are effective in improving the living standard of their lives.

Figure 4.8: Distribution of the Respondents on their views on the extent to

which NGOs have been effective in improving the living standard of people in
Arusha District Council (ADC
Source: Field Data (2019)

This is also suggested in the study done by Kweyamba (2018) on Non-Governmental

Organizations’ Funding and its implication for service delivery in Moshi

Municipality, Tanzania. The finding of the study suggested that individual

beneficiaries of NGOs had a positive attitude towards service delivery by NGOs.

Delivery of service on time and services targeting recipients’ needs were the most
 52

important factors shaping the attitude of beneficiaries towards service delivery.

4.4 Strategies Employed by NGOs in Realizing their Objectives in Arusha

District Council

For an NGOs to be effective has to have strategies in place that enabled it to realize

it is objectives. Therefore, on studying the effectiveness of the NGOs in improving

the living standards of people in the Arusha District Council the researcher was

interested to know the strategies used by the NGOs in realizing their objectives in

Arusha District Council. Some of the strategies mentioned by the officials in the

NGOs were the use of training, direct provision of the required services, renovating

the government programs, training services providers through seminars, project

follows up, reporting to donors and adhering to their reasonable requirements,

mobilizing resources, good use of the resources and building capacity to social

services providers.

This is in line with the study conducted byMukanga (2011) on the sustainability of

strategies adopted by international NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya in which Mukanga

showed the following strategies that are employed by NGOs; building a stronger

partnership between the public and private sector, having well-defined policies and

procedures, a good relationship with donors by improving donors reports and

comply with donors requirement which guarantees donors support, engage in

income-generating activities (resource mobilization), staff training and development,

institutional building, good management practice, remaining on core business area of

the organization, linking with government, regular proposal development and cost
 53

reduction.

The interviewed participants (10 NGOs’ staff and leaders) as mentioned above,

highlighted some of the strategies they employ in improving the living standards of

people in ADC. They were with the view that if the strategies mentioned are in place

NGO can be effective in attaining its objectives and mission. Apart from the

responses given by the interviewed NGO leaders and staff the researcher also,

investigate some of the strategies which are visible to the public to test their

reliability by studying the beneficiaries especially on the follow up of the NGOs

projects by the NGOs.

The responses of the respondents on the follow up of the projects by the NGOs were

as follows; 68% commented that to a very large extent the NGOs make a follow up

on the projects in the implementation and already implemented, 22% commented

that to a large extent NGOs are making follow up on the projects, 10% of the

respondents commented that NGOs to a moderate extent are making follow up on

the projects they have initiated and those in implementation. None of the respondents

commented that NGOs are to a small or a very small extent making follow up on the

projects initiated or in implementation. The results are illustrated in details below;

 54

Figure 4.9: The Distribution of Respondents on the Follow up of NGOs on their

Projects
Source: Field Data (2019)

The data suggest that NGOs are very serious follow up on projects put in place hence

contribute to the effectiveness of NGOs in ADC.

4.5 The Sustainability of the NGOs Outcomes in Improving the Living

Standard of People in Arusha District Council

For NGOs to be effective, the sustainability of their impact or outcome is

compulsory. It is expected that NGO outcomes should be impactful and sustainable

to the beneficiaries. The main objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness

of NGOs in improving the living standards of people in the Arusha District Council

(ADC); one of the indicators of the effective NGO is its long-lasting impact

(sustainability) to the society. Here, beneficiaries and public officials were studied

and their results were; 87% of the respondents responded that the outcome of NGO

programs has a long impact on the lives of people and 13% responded that NGO

outcomes have got no long impact on the lives of people in ADC.Apart from the
 55

views by the beneficiaries also NGOs pointed out their strategies that enabled their

impacts to be sustainable. Some of these strategies are; coming up with projects that

maximize the ability of people by empowering them to act on their own and having

constant trainings and financial assistances to the group of people who have received

trainings to start up their own businesses or activities.

4.6 Challenges facing NGOs in Implementation of Their Activities Effectively in

Arusha District Council

Apart from the core objectives of the study as their findings presented above, the

researcher was interested to know the challenges that are affecting the effectiveness

of NGOs in the Arusha District Council. It was revealed that although NGOs are

trying tirelessly to accomplish their objectives they are faced with a lot of challenges

that make them less effective. The researcher investigated the NGOs staff through

interview and they pointed out the following as the challenges that affect negatively

the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living standards of people in Arusha

District Council:

Difficult to access rural areas due to poor infrastructures and hence make these areas

too remote: Arusha District Council is facing the challenge of having poor

infrastructures this challenges has impaired the activities of the NGOs as these

NGOs need to reach to these areas and identify the issues which are to be addressed

also to make a follow up on ongoing projects in these areas.

Serious government interference and hence minimize the capacity of NGOs to

perform their activities as planned and with freedom: one of the challenge raised by

the NGOs was that there is strictly protocol and serious government procedure’s for
 56

the NGOs activities which sometimes led to the postponement of the activities

planned

NGOs with the same programs crowded on one area and leave other areas

unreached: In Arusha District Council majority of NGOs are much concentrated on

North western parts and leave other areas with a very little focus apart from the truth

that even the rest of the areas are in need of the services rendered by NGOs.

Lack of reliable data on the activities of NGOs and on the areas that need NGOs’

attention; reliable data on the activities of the NGOs would be much helpful in

making NGOs more effective and also, minimize concentration of many NGOs on

one area or on projects that are already under implementation.

The problem of lacking enough fund; NGOs have pointed that one of the challenge

is lack of enough funds which in turn made them failed to realize their objectives and

serve interest of the public.

Lastly, the researcher was interested to know generally from the people studied

whether NGOs have effectively improved the living standards of people in rural

areas. Out of 80 respondents, 78 respondents responded that NGOs has been

effectively contributing to improving the living standards of people in theArusha

District Council. This validates the above-presented data on different issues relating

to the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the people’s living standards in the

Arusha District Council.

4.7 Discussion of Research Findings

This section provides a discussion of the findings. The section presents the findings

of the study in brief and further discusses these findings concerning the literature
 57

reviewed in this study. Generally, there is a high degree of coincidence between the

study findings and the literature which has been reviewed.

4.7.1 The Extent to which NGOs have been Effective in Improving the Living

Standards of People in ADC

Under this objective of assessing the extent of NGOs’ effectiveness, there were

seven areas of focus. These areas were;

4.7.1.1 Awareness of the Community Members on the Activities of NGOs in

their Localities

On the awareness of the community members on the activities being implemented in

their areas, the beneficiaries were studied (40 respondents). The finding was that

90% of the beneficiaries responded that they were aware of the activities

implemented on their areas by NGOs, while 10% were unaware of the activities

implemented in their areas. While 90% of the respondent responded that they were

aware of activities by NGOs implemented in their areas, 44.4% failed to point out

some of the activities by NGOs in their areas. This corresponds with the findings of

the study done byRehema S. (2017) on factors influencing family planning project

implementation success by NGOs in the Arusha Region. The findings suggested that

(83%) of the participants are conscious with the family planning project

implementation success within the Organization. The familiarity of the project

implemented or activities of NGOs by the community members and NGOs staff is

very essential in making the NGOs effective in implementing their objectives and

mission. NGOs need to keep on ensuring that their activities and programs are well
 58

familiar to the community or beneficiaries so that they could participate actively in

the implementation and hence achieving the goal intended.

4.7.1.2 The Commitment of NGOs on Serving the Interest of the Public

NGOs in its essence are in the mission of serving the interest of the public. Under

this, the findings were that 75% of the respondents commented that NGOs are

serving their interests and are committed while 25% responded that NGOs are never

committed to serving the public. This is in line with the results of the study done by

Priscus (2014) on the Influence of NGOs in the Vulnerable Children, Youth above

20 Years Bicycle Assembling and Selling Project in Nshamba and Biilabo Wards

Muleba District.

The result of this study found that the support provided by NGOs to vulnerable

children has brought changes even though it is not enough to satisfy all needs. The

changes brought by the support by the NGOs suggest the commitment of NGOs in

improving the living standard of people. The findings of the study reveal that NGOs

are serving the interest of people and that although their assistance is not enough and

reaching everyone in the society it has a positive contribution to the society in

general. It can be suggested that because the support of NGOs seems not enough and

catering to the needs of all; NGOs are advised to put in action programs that can

touch the majority in the society so that to have a very large impact on the lives of

people.

4.7.1.3 The Benefits of NGOs Activities to the Community

Are community members benefiting from the NGOs’ activities and programs? The
 59

findings were 95% of the respondents reveal that they are benefiting to the activities

and programs of NGOs while 5% they are not benefiting from the activities and

programs of NGOs due to the following issues they pointed out; Most of the

activities do not touch the interest of the many but few, Location of NGOs – the

majority are not touched due to the remoteness of NGOs in their areas, selection of

social issues by NGOs and leave other important issues untouched. This is also in

line with the research done by Priscus (2014) on the Influence of NGOs in the

Vulnerable Children, Youth above 20 Years Bicycle Assembling and Selling Project

in Nshamba and Biilabo Wards Muleba District.

The result of this study found that the support provided by NGOs to vulnerable

children has brought changes even though it is not enough to satisfy all needs. The

findings of this study and that of Priscus (2014) suggest that the community

members are benefiting from the activities of the NGOs in their areas. The support is

given to vulnerable children; although it does not benefit every individual, in

particular, it benefits the community in general. The benefit of a certain group in a

society is the benefit of the entire society if it helps to minimize the burden of

society in assisting that group or in addressing the challenges brought by the group.

The clear fact is that the problem of one member in a society is the problem of all

indirectly. However, as suggested above, NGOs have to come up with programs that

affect the majority so that to have a large impact and a rapid transformation of the

society they serve.

4.7.1.4 The Effective Management of Funds by NGOs

Under this quest, the beneficiaries of NGOs were studied and were with the
 60

following responses 67.5% of the beneficiaries of NGOs responded that there is a

good use of funds and 32% responded that there is bad use or misuse of funds. This

correlates with the research done in one of the East African cities (Nairobi) by Mary

(2014) on the effects of financial accountability on the efficiency of Non-

Governmental Organizations in the governance sector in Nairobi County. The study

found that financial accountability has a constructive and significant effect on the

effectiveness of non-governmental organizations in governance sector in Nairobi

County.

Moreover, the study found that individually and combined, financial accountability,

staff experience, and organization of NGOs have a positive effect on NGO

efficiency. NGOs with flat hierarchy were found to have a better flow of information

which promotes financial accountability and consequently the efficiency of the

NGOs. The findings of this study reveal the importance of financial accountability to

the effectiveness of NGOs. The NGOs are not for profit-making hence the resources

accumulated have to be utilized in line with the objectives of NGOs and their

essence of being. NGO leaders have to be very keen on managing the resources

donated and mobilized for the aim of maintaining their being and support from

donors whom in turn led to the effectiveness in helping and addressing vulnerable

people’s challenges. The 32% of the respondents who have pointed out that NGOs

resource are not well used or there is a misuse of resources is an alarming alert to

NGOs. NGOs have to restructure and improve their fund management systems so

that to stop if any the misuse of the fund mobilized.

4.7.1.5 Involvement of the Community Members onthe NGOs’ Programs

 61

On the involvement of the community members on the NGOs’ programs in initiating

and/or in participating in making decisions over the programs initiated by NGOs in

their areas; the findings were 18% of the respondents responded that to a very large

extent the community members are participating in making decisions, 48%

commented that to a large extent the community members are involved in making

decisions, 17% to moderate extent community members are involved in making

decisions, 17% to small extent community members are involved in making

decisions. This corresponds to the study by Kanyinga (1990) on the role of Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in creating local capacity for development.

The study has found that NGOs' projects beneficiaries are involved in the projects

mainly through their resource contributions. Their involvement has been found to

have some bearing or constructive relationship with the making of local capability,

even though participation alone is not the utmost factor in the making of local

capability. The participation of the community member in identifying their priorities

and assistance they need is vital in counting the effectiveness of NGOs; an NGO can

initiate a project which is not needed by the community.For NGOs to be effective

they have to know what are the real needs of the society they want to serve and plan

to carter to those needs this is possible only if there is clear participation of the

community members in identifying their priorities and initiating the programs. As

suggested by the findings of this study in Arusha NGOs they are in good track as the

majority of participants revealed that they do participate in the initiation of the

projects implemented by NGOs in their areas. However, more has to be done in the

issues of participation in identify areas for assistance, as it seems that the other large
 62

number is left out in the process.

4.7.1.6 Participation of the Community Members on the Programs by NGOs

On the participation of the community members on the programs initiated and

implemented by NGOs in ADC; the study reveals that community members are

participating in the programs initiated by NGOs in their areas. The result is in line

with the conclusion made on the study conducted by Mwansasu (2011) on the

sustainability of NGO Support Water Supply Projects: The case of ELCT Konde

Diocese shallow wells projects in the Mbozi, District, Tanzania. The study

concluded that the people in Mbozi District with the collaboration of their village

government leaders play a vital role and are highly responsible for the management,

more of the shallow wells project. In that, they feel part and parcel of the project.

The efficiency of NGOs relies on the participation of people in their programs, as the

findings reveal NGOs in Arusha DC has the advantage of having good participation

of beneficiaries on their programs initiated. This is a capital for NGOs in Arusha DC

to use it to their advantage for them to reach many people in these areas and to

contribute effectively to the improvement of peoples’ lives.

4.6.1.7 The Relationship between NGOs and the Government

Under the relationship between NGOs and government in Arusha District Council;

the findings of this study reveal that there is a friendly relationship between NGOs

working in Arusha District Council and the government in ADC. This corresponds

with a study done by Mallya(2009) on Civil Society Organizations, Incompetent

Citizens, the State and Popular Participation in Tanzania, here he reveled that NGOs,
 63

have compromised their autonomy, becoming close allies and partners of the state.

The predicament is that if they do not do this they cannot help the people they claim

to help and if they do they are seen to be usurping the power of the people. Hence,

focus and the order of today are that NGOs are trying to their level best to maintain a

positive relationship with the government so that to attain their objectives of serving

the people. Generally, the findings suggest that NGOs are effective in improving the

living standards of people in the Arusha District Council. The positive relationship

between NGOs and Government in Arusha DC is the asset to be utilized effectively

by NGOs in realizing their mission in these areas.

4.7.2 Strategies Employ by NGOs in Arusha District Council that makes them

Effective in Improving the Living Standards of People in ADC

It has been noticed that NGOs in Arusha District Council, are having different

strategies for ensuring their effectiveness in improving the living standards of

people. The findings suggested that NGOs in ADC are using the training of both

their officials and public official for them to provide services, training the public on

a variety of issues, renovating government projects, making a close follow up on the

projects initiated, reporting accordingly to donors and adhering to their reasonable

requirements so that to guarantee their continuous support, campaigning over

different issues, keep on maintaining a good relationship with the government,

mobilizing resources and maintaining good use of the resources.

The above strategies are essential for any NGO for it to be effective in meeting its
 64

objectives and mission. For instance, the maintenance of a good relationship with the

government and the assurance of good relationship of NGOs and their donor helps

much in ensuring a smooth implementation of the NGOs programs which contributes

to NGOs’ effectiveness.The strategies employed by NGOs in Arusha District

Council results in sustainable improvement.

90% of the community leaders studied commented that even after the end of NGOs’

support villagers continued with their lives as if NGOs were still supporting them.

This pointed out another success of NGOs and proves their effectiveness. People

being able to sustain their lives even with no longer support from NGOs is the

success that can draw the attention of development partners and the government to

invest more in NGOs’ activities morally and financially.

In checking whether what has been said by NGOs is what they are doing in their

field the researcher took one of the strategies mentioned by NGOs’ staffs (making

follow up on the project initiated and those completed) and ask the beneficiaries if

that is what NGOs their doing. The findings were; 68% of the beneficiaries said that

NGOs are at very large extent making a follow up on their project either in progress

or the completed ones, 22% of the beneficiaries commented that NGOs to large

extent making a follow up on their projects in progress and those completed, 10%

commented that NGOs in a moderate extent there are doing follow up on their

projects completed ones and those in progress. It has been noted that the NGOs in

Arusha District Council have a very satisfying mechanism for making follow up on

the project initiated.

The habit or culture of making a follow up to the projects initiated is one of the
 65

necessary factors for effectiveness. Follow up gives feedback which is an essential

tool for improvement and creativity. NGO that makes follow up ensures its survival

as it can improve itself regularly. Hence, if NGOs in Arusha District Council are

making follow up as the findings suggest; are in action ensuring their effectiveness

in serving the public.

4.7.3 Sustainability of the NGOs Activities in Improving the Living Standards

of People in ADC

It has been found that, from the beneficiaries and public officials, NGOs’ outcomes

or activities are sustainable. In other words, they have a long- lasting impact on the

community. 87% of the respondents responded that NGO outcomes/activities have a

long-lasting impact on their lives and to the lives of the community members. This is

in line with the study done by Khamis (2012) on the assessment of the contribution

of NGOs in the delivery of health services in Zanzibar. The result of the study

revealed that NGOs has improved the quality, equity, and accessibility of health

services. Also, in the study by Kainunula Priscus (2014) on the influence of NGOs in

the vulnerable children, youth above 20- year bicycle assembling and selling project

in Nshamba and Biilabo wards Muleba District. The results revealed that the support

by NGOs has brought changes, with this support vulnerable youth are now able to

access social services. The improvement of health services in Zanzibar and the

access to social services by vulnerable youth in Muleba District signify the

sustainability of NGOs in these areas. The sustainability of the outcome of the

NGOs as revealed shows that NGOs are sustainable and helps much in improving

the living standards of people in these areas and have a long impact to people lives.
 66

4.8 Chapter Summary

This chapter has the analysis of data, presentation of research findings and

discussion. Research objectives were used to present the findings. Tables, charts, and

percentages were used for the presentation of the research findings. The research

objectives enabled to establish how NGOs have been effective in improving the

living standards of people in Arusha District Council.

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CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1Introduction

This chapter will present a summary of the purpose, methodology, and results of this

study.Then, conclusions will be discussed based on researcher insights gained

concerning study findings and limitations.Besides, the recommendation is presented.

5.2Summary of the Study

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the

living standards of people in rural areas. The study used a case of the Arusha District

Council. The study studied 80 subjects, with the following distribution; 20

government officials/leaders, 20 NGOs staff, 40 beneficiaries. To achieve the

objective of this study the following specific objectives were formulated: to examine

the extent to which NGOs have been effective in improving the living standard of

people in Arusha District Council, to examine strategies that make NGOs effective

in realizing their objectives and to examine the sustainability of the NGOs programs

in improving the living standards of people in Arusha District Council.

To achieve the specific objectives, the following research questions were employed

to guide data collection for the realization of specific objectives: to what extent

NGOs have been effective in improving the living standards of people? What are the

strategies that make NGOs effective in improving the living standards of people?

How sustainable are NGOs’ activities in improving the living standards of people?

The data collected in each of the research questions contributed to the assessment of
 68

the specific objectives. These, in turn, contributed to the assessment of the general

objective of the study. In general, the NGOs are effective in improving the living

standards of people in the Arusha District Council according to the sample that the

researcher used to reflect the whole community.

5.3 Summary of the Findings

The following were the findings of the study presented as per study objectives and

research questions:

5.3.1 The extent to which NGOs have been effective in improving the living

standard of people in Arusha District Council

The first research objective sought to examine the extent to which NGOs have been

effective in improving the living standards of people in ADC. The researcher in

assessing the extent of effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living standards of

people in ADC posed different questions to explore the extent to which NGOs have

been effective in improving the living standards of people in the Arusha District

Council.

5.3.1.1 Awareness of the Community Members on the Activities of NgOS in

Their Localities

The data from questionnaires from beneficiaries (40 respondents) revealed that:

i. The beneficiaries of the NGOs’ activities are aware of the activities going on

in their areas. This means that NGOs are truly working in these areas and

touch the lives of people in these areas.

 69

ii. Basing on the fact from the respondents who were aware of the activities by

the NGOs in their localities; it was revealed that 44.4% of those respondents

who were aware of the activities by NGOs in their areas were unable to point

out some example of the NGOs activities found in their areas. This revealed

that; although people are confident with the NGOs working in their areas,

their activities are not directly affecting their lives. They see NGOs’ impact

on the lives of others.

iii. Also, 55.5% of the respondents who were aware of the activities by NGOs in

their localities were able to point out the activities of the NGOs in their areas.

This reveals that 55.5% are either touched directly by the NGOs’ activities or

they are eyewitnesses of these activities on their areas.

5.3.1.2 The Commitment of NGOs on Serving the Interest of the Public

The data from the questionnaires administered to beneficiaries of the NGOs

activities and documentary review revealed that;

i. NGOs are committed to serving the interest of the public as 75% of the

beneficiaries commented that NGOs are committed. Hence, are satisfied with the

services rendered by the NGOs in their areas.

ii. While 75% of the respondents are satisfied with the services and commitment of

NGOs, 25% are never satisfied with how NGOs are working and their

commitment.

iii. The commitment of NGOs is seen on their plans and programs that are seriously

addressing the challenges faced by the community members and find a solution

and a way to minimize the intensity of the problems this is evidence from the

documents studied from these NGOs and government offices.

 70

5.3.1.3 The Benefit of NGOs’ Activities to the Community

The results from the questionnaire and interviews on the benefit of NGOs’ activities

to the community reveal that;

i. Community is benefiting from different activities and programs by NGOs

and hence, the NGOs are serving the interest of the public.

ii. While 95% of beneficiaries revealed that NGOs activities are beneficial to

the community, 5% revealed that the NGOs activities are not beneficial due

to some issues that they raised out, which are most activities of NGOs are

touching few members of the community- the selected few, few issues in the

community are selected as the target of the NGOs and many other issues are

left out, and NGOs are located distant from their communities and hence do

not know what to put as their agenda they just get their agenda from people

who do not know the real needs of the people.

5.3.1.4 The Effective Management of Funds by NGOs

The questionnaires were administered to the beneficiaries of the NGOs’ activities to

get their views on the management of funds by NGOs. The results revealed that

i. 67.5% of the beneficiaries commented that NGO funds are well managed

while 32% of the beneficiaries commented that NGO funds are not well

managed.

ii. The above results point that NGOs are well managing their funds, although

there are still some doubts in the community.

iii. The effective management of these funds enabled NGOs in this area to be

effective in serving the public.

 71

5.3.1.5 Involvement of Community Members on the NGOs Activities/Programs

The questionnaires were given to beneficiaries to assess their involvement in NGO

activities, especially in project identification. The results revealed that;

i. Community members are involved in making a decision and project

identification initiated and implemented by NGOs in their areas either

directly or through their representatives (leaders)

ii. Although there is an involvement of the community on NGOs’ activities, few

normal people are involved. The majority of those involved are the leaders in

these areas due to some factors like education and technical know-how.

5.3.1.6 Participation of the Community Members on the Programs by NGOs

The results of questionnaires, documentary review and interview revealed that;

Community members are actively participating in the activities initiated and planned

by NGOs in their areas. The participation of the people in the activities initiated by

NGOs contributed much to the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living

standard of people in the Arusha District Council.

5.3.1.7 The Relationship between NGOs and the Government

The interview and questionnaires administered to NGOs official and government

officials and readers revealed that;

i. The relationship between NGOs and Government is friendly which smoothed

the activities of NGOs in ADC.

ii. NGOs are determined to maintain a good relationship with the government so

that to reach the targeted population easily and effectively serving the public.
 72

5.3.2 The Strategies Employed by NGOs in Realizing Their Objectives in

Arusha District Council

The second objective of the study was to examine the strategies employed by NGOs

in realizing their objectives in ADC. The NGOs officials were studied and the results

revealed the following;

i. NGOs are training public servants, NGOs staffs and the selected portion of

the general public on varieties of issues.

ii. Renovation of the existing or the end projects of the government and making

them more impactful to the public.

iii. NGOs have a close follow-up of their projects which in reality has increased

its efficiency.

iv. NGOs are reporting accordingly to their donors and adhering to their

reasonable requirements for mobilizing resources.

v. NGOs are doing campaigns over different issues in the community for the

aim of making people aware of the issue in question.

vi. NGOs are striving on keeping maintaining a good relationship with the

government to ensure their smooth operations.

5.3.3 Sustainability of the NGOs Activities in Improving the Living Standards

of People in ADC

The third objective of the study was to examine the sustainability of the NGOs’

programs and activities in improving the living standard of people in ADC. The

beneficiaries and public officials were supplied with the questionnaires and

interviewed. The results revealed that; 87% of the respondents responded that
 73

NGOs’ activities are sustainable that is they have a long impact on the lives of

people

5.4 Conclusion

This research aimed to examine the effectiveness of NGOsin improving the living

standards of people in the Arusha District Council. Based on a quantitative and

qualitative analysis of the findings it can be concluded that NGOs in ADC are

effective in improving the living standards of people on education, health and

capacity building. The results indicated that to a great extent NGOs in Arusha

District Council are effective in improving the living standards of people and that

people are benefiting from the programs and activities by NGOs, the strategies

employed by NGOs help in realizing their objectives (Improving peoples’ lives) and

that the outcomes of the NGOs activities have a long impact to the lives of people.

The findings of this study are in line with the views the researcher had on the

effectiveness of NGOs in improving lives before conducting this study. The findings

of this study imply that NGOs are trusting development partners and they have a

great contribution to improving lives. The sustainability of their projects and the

outcomes guarantee the transformation desired in most of the developing countries

and especially in their rural areas in which the majority of its inhabitants are poor

and depending on one sector of the economy.

5.4 Recommendations

Basing on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following recommendations

for action and further research are made:

 74

5.4.1 Recommendations for Action

i. More programs that can touch many more people have to be identified and

formulated so that the people like the 5% of the study who do not see the

work of NGOs directly affecting their lives they can be touched and affected

positively by the NGOs.

ii. The NGOs has to strengthen their fund management systems in increasing

transparency on the use of fund to minimize the negative attitudes of some

people in the community about the use of funds.

iii. NGOs have to use effectively the trust they have from the community by

maximizing their activities in terms of the number of the marginalised people

served and issues they address and reaching more vulnerable and

disadvantageous people.

iv. NGOs should continue working closely with the community leaders and the

government in general in serving the public and on project identification.

v. One of the challenges pointed out by the NGO officials is the lack of enough

funds. NGOs are recommended to strengthen their fund mobilization

campaign and reaching more people who are willing to involve in support

NGOs, also government under the Ministry of Health, Community

Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children has to identify the NGOs that

are effective, and publishing their activities and their impact to the

marginalized people so that they could attract more donors.

vi. Ministry responsible for NGOs (Ministry of Health, Community

Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children) has to continue giving out

reports on the activities by NGOs but their reports should based much on
 75

how these activities and outcomes of NGOs have a long-lasting impact to the

community and marginalized people as the majority of reports given are on

the performance of NGOs with little concentration on the sustainability of the

outcomes.

5.4.2 Recommendations for Further Research

In light of the study findings, the following recommendations are presented for

further research:

i. This study assessed the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living

standard of people in Arusha District Council; hence, it limited itself on the

effectiveness of NGOs on education, health and capacity building and the

NGOs studied are affiliated to these areas, it is therefore recommended for

the same study to be conducted on specifics (either Education, Health,

Capacity building). This will give a depth picture of how NGOs are effective

in improving the living standards of people in rural areas.

ii. On assessing the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the living standards of

people in Arusha District Council, the study was having the objective of

examining the sustainability of the activities of NGOs; hence, it just studied

the sustainability in a general picture, it is therefore recommended for the

study on the sustainability of the activities done by NGOs on the same study

location- Arusha District Council.

 76

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Campbell, W. (1996) The potential for donor mediation in NGO-State relations: An

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22/07/2019

David L. and Nazneen K. (2009), Non-Governmental Organization and

Development, Routledge, Tyler and Fransis group, London &New York

Eliraha, Rehema S. (2017) The Factors Influencing Family Planning Projects

Implementation Success by NGOs in Arusha Region. Masters thesis, The

Open University of Tanzania

Ernest, KainunulaPriscus (2014) Influence of NGOs in the Vulnerable Children,

Youth above 20 Years Bicycle Assembling and Selling Project in Nshamba

and Biilabo Wards Muleba District. Masters thesis, The Open University of

Tanzania

Helmut K, (2005), Non-Profit Organizations- Theory, Management, Policy,

Routledge, Tyler and Fransis group, London &New York

Henry KarutiKanyinga (1990) The role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

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in creating local capacity for development: The case of Meru District-

Kenya. Masters thesis, University of Nairobi

Issa, H (2004), The Present and Potential Role of Non-Governmental Organizations

in Agricultural and Rural Development in Tanzania. PhD Thesis, University

of Bremen, Germany

Kombo and Tromp (2006), Proposal and Thesis Writing,Paulines Publications

Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

Kothari (2004), Research Methodology-Methods and Techniques, New Age

International (P) Ltd. Publishers

Kweyamba T (2018), Non-Governmental organizations’ funding and its implication

for service delivery in Moshi Municipality, Tanzania. PhD thesis, Sokoine

University of Agriculture. Morogoro, Tanzania

Lubawa,(1985)."Rural Development Strategies: The Case Of Tanzania," Graduate

Research Master's Degree Plan B Papers 11186, Michigan State University,

Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.

Mallya,E.T(2009). Civil society organizations, incompetent citizens, the state and popular

participation in Tanzania. Journal of African Elections, 8(2), pp,102/122

Mary WaceraMwangi (2014) The effects of financial accountability on the efficiency

of Non-Governmental Organization in governance sector in Nairobi County.

Master’s thesis, University of Nairobi

Miriam H and Costa H (2013), State-NGO Relation in Africa.Mediteranian Journal

of Social Sciences vol. 4 No. 10

Mwadini, Ali Haji (2015) Assessment of Resource Mobilization Capacity of Local

Non-Governmental Organizations: The Case of Mkoani District –

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Pemba. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania

Mwansa, K (1995), Participation of Non-Governmental Organizations in Societal

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Nicola B. and David H. (2012), The Role of NGOs and Civil Society in Development

and Poverty Reduction. University of Manchester

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Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth, OECD

Publishing, Paris.

REPOA(2007), Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organisations - Their Perceptions of

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Their Role in Poverty Reduction and Development, MkukinaNyota

Publishers, Dar es Salaam

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Tanzania NGOs Act of 2002 with its amendments of 2019

Tanzania vision 2025

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1:

Questionnaire for Non-Governmental Organization staff

Section A: Background information

1. What is your highest academic qualification?

a) Degree ( )

b) Diploma ( )

c) Certificate ( )

d) Secondary ( )

e) Other (s) specify ………………………………………………………………

2. How long have you been working with this NGO?

a) 0-2 years ( )

b) 2-4 years ( )

c) 4 -6 years ( )

d) 6 and above ( )

SECTION B:

The effectiveness of NGO in improving the living standard of people in rural areas;
 80

Case of Arusha District Council, Tanzania (Please respond as instructed on each

question)

3. To what extent of the relationship between NGOs and the government is

good/friendly? (Tick (V) where appropriate.

To a very large ( ), To a large extent ( ), To a moderate extent ( ), To a small

extent ( ) To a very small extent ( )

4. What are the strategies employed by your organization in realization of its

objectives?

a) …………………………………………………………………………

b) …………………………………………………………………………

c) …………………………………………………………………………

d) …………………………………………………………………………

e) …………………………………………………………………………..

f) ………………………………………………………………………….

5. Has NGOs improved the living standards of people in Arusha District Council?

Yes ( ) No ( ), Specify your answer, How?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

6. What are the challenges facing your organization in being effective in improving

the living standard of people in rural area?

…………………..…………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Thank you for your participation!

 81

Appendix 2:Questionnaire for Government Officials

Section A: Background information

1. What is your highest academic qualification?

 Degree ( )

 Diploma ( )

 Certificate ( )

 Secondary ( )

 Other(s)specify

………………………………………………………………………………………

2.How long have you been working in this office?

e) 0-2 years ( )

f) 2-4 years ( )

g) 4 -6 years ( )

h) 6 and above ( )

3. How many NGOs are there in your area? …………………………

SECTION B:

The effectiveness of NGO in improving the living standard of people in rural

 82

areas in Arusha District Council (please respond according to the instruction

given on every question)

4. To what extent of the relationship between NGOs and the government is

good/friendly? (Tick (V) where appropriate).

To a very large ( ), To a large extent ( ), To a moderate extent ( ), To a small

extent ( ) To a very small extent ( )

5. Do you think NGO’s programs and activities having long impact on the lives of

people in your area? Yes ( ) No ( ) (tick v where appropriate)

If Yes How? ………………..

6. Is there a commitment of NGOs in improving the living standard of people in

your area? ……………………..

7. Do you think that NGOs activities making sense to the lives of people in your

area? Yes ( ) No ( )

If yes, tell how……………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………..

8. Is the community members involve in identification of NGOs programs in your

area? Yes ( ) No ( )

If yes how are they involved? ……………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

9. Is there a participation of the community members on the activities of NGOs?

Yes ( ) No ( )

If yes, how are the community members participate on the NGOs’ activities?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

10. Has NGOs improved the living standards of people in Arusha District Council?
 83

Yes ( ) No ( ), Specify your answer, How?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank you for your participation!

Appendix 3: Questionnaire for Beneficiaries of NGOs activities

Section A: Background information

1. Please indicate your gender.

a) Male ( )

b) Female ( )

2. What is your highest academic qualification?

a) Degree ( )

b) Diploma ( )

c) Certificate ( )

d) Secondary ( )

e) Other(s) specify ………………………………………………………

SECTION B:

The effectiveness of NGO in improving the living standard of people in Arusha

District Council (Tick the appropriate)

3. Do you know the activities of NGOs going on in your areas? Yes ( ) if yes what

are they? ……………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………
 84

………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………….

No ( )

4. Do the programs of NGOs make sense to you? Yes ( ) No ( ) if No state why?

………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………….

5. is there a general community participates in initiating the programs implemented

by NGOs that affects their lives? Yes ( ) No ( )

6. To what extent have the outcomes of NGOs programs achieved? Very large

extent ( ) Large extent ( ) Moderate extent ( ) low extent ( )

7. Are the outcomes of NGOs activities have long impact on the lives of people?

Yes ( ) No ( )

8. Are the services given by NGOs are of quality? Yes ( ) No ( )

9. How many are benefiting on the activities of NGOs? Many people ( ) Few

people ( ) Very few ( ) No one in my community ( )

10. There is a good use of financial resources by NGOs. Yes ( ) No ( )

……………….Thank you for your participation!!!!!!……………

 85

Appendix 4: DOCUMENTARY REVIEW GUIDE

Type of information Details Comments

required
 The impact of NGOs in  The number of
the lives of people. people served and
 The profile of NGOs benefited from the
studied activities of NGOs
 Contribution of NGOs in  Profile of NGOs
development studied- Ace-
Africa, Pact-
KizaziKipya
Project, Convoy of
Hope, SOS
Children Village –
Arusha.
 86

Appendix 5: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE FOR NGOs STAFF

1. Sex: .............................................

2. Position: …………………………..........................................................

3. Job experience: ........................................................................................

4. What are your objectives and mission?

5. How are you realizing your objectives? Is there any specific strategies?

6. How is your relationship with the government of Arusha District Council?

7. Do you think the NGOs contributions are adequate to meet the needs of vulnerable

people? YES / NO. Give reason(s) for your response

8. How many people have been supported by your organization in ADC?

9. What do you think are the challenges facing NGOs in improving the living

standard of people in Arusha District Council?

13. What can be done more to improve the effectiveness of NGOs in improving the

living standards of people in Arusha District Council?

14. Any other comment(s)?