Tanzania has ratified the African Youth Charter, but with one reservation. The charter was developed and adopted in 2006 by Ministers of Youth and the African Union Summit, with the support of UNFPA. To date, at least 27 African countries have ratified the charter.

“It is evident that UNFPA’s support to advance youth development has been instrumental in realizing the ratification,” said Ngasuma Kanyeka, Managing Director of Capacitate Consulting Ltd. However, Tanzania’s ratification has occurred with one reservation – that of allowing girls who are pregnant to return to school. “We still have our work cut out for us, but we are celebrating every step towards progress,” Mr.Kanyeka said.

Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, UNFPA Representative in Tanzania, congratulated all UNFPA’s partners “who also worked hard to get this through despite the reservation. The issue of pregnant girls not being allowed to continue school is a significant reservation and we need to continue the advocacy around this.”

However, the Tanzanian Government is attempting through other channels to by-pass the reservation. “The Tanzania Ministry of Education is working through the Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare to get Cabinet Approval to allow pregnant girls to continue with their education after delivery,” said Christine Mwanukuzi-Kwayu, UNFPA Gender Specialist in Tanzania.

UNFPA is supporting the follow-up ratification of the Charter and implementation in African countries, according to Dr. Akinyele Eric Dairo, UNFPA Africa Regional Office Technical Adviser for Reproductive Health/Maternal Health. He congratulated the UNFPA team and all those involved in the ratification of the Charter in Tanzania. “Special thanks go to all UNFPA colleagues for their hard work and support to young people on the continent. Everywhere we turn, we see the products of UNFPA’s support to young people in Africa,” he said.

The Charter was approved by African Ministers in Charge of Youth in May 2006, and endorsed in July 2006 by African Union Heads of State and Government as a legal framework of action for African youth. The Charter provides guidance for youth development policies and programmes at the national level. The process of developing the Charter was participatory, taking into account the voices of young people from all over the continent and the Diaspora.

Through the Charter, African governments have committed to undertaking critical actions to improve the status of young people in their countries. The Charter also highlights the rights, responsibilities and duties of young people and draws from various international agreements and commitments.

Governments committed through the charter to ensure that issues affecting young people in the areas of employment, sustainable livelihood, education, health (including sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention), youth participation, national youth policy, peace and security, law enforcement, youth in the Diaspora and youth with disabilities, are adequately addressed within the framework of national youth policy and youth development programmes.

Youth in Africa are particularly challenged and vulnerable as a result of poverty, unemployment, adolescent health issues, including HIV infection and other diseases. Only effective national strategies can improve the status of the youth in the continent. Although more than half of Africa’s population comprises youths, most of them live in extreme poverty – 60.7 million young people live on less than US $1 a day.

Source:UNFPA Africa

The political leadership behind this initiative is impressive, both within and beyond Tanzania. Presidents Obama and Roussef (of Brazil) are driving things internationally, with support from Tanzania’s own Rakesh Rajani of Twaweza, representing civil society, and several countries are really pushing ambitious plans – the UK government, for example, says it wants to be “the most open and transparent government in the world”.

Here in Tanzania, President Kikwete has given the OGP his full support. He attended the launch in New York, has tasked the Minister for Good Governance to take the lead with the support of senior civil servants from State House, and discussed it personally in his monthly address in September. And Ikulu’s leadership is having an effect – I asked one civil servant how his ministry colleagues would feel about opening up key data for public access and got the answer that it wouldn’t matter how they felt, this was coming from the President so they had no choice.

The guidance from Cabinet was to focus on three key public service sectors – health, education and water – plus cross-cutting issues. This makes some sense, though it does mean some things get left out, such as cementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which the US government (for example) has made part of its Open Government Plan.

Rakesh presented some ideas (pdf) – the same presentation that was made previously to cabinet – and encouraged us to match the President’s ambition by developing an action plan that sets the standard for other countries to follow. And then the cross-ministry task force presented their suggestions for what should go into the action plan, to help get the discussions started.

On the positive side, the task force’s ideas included making waterpoint mapping data and maps public. But frankly, taken as a whole, the proposed plan was uninspiring. It consisted mainly of a series of statements to “improve”, “implement”, “speed up” or “strengthen” existing policies or processes.

The very first proposed action was pretty typical of the rest, notable mainly for its lack of ambition:

“Kuweka utaratibu wa kufanya madawati ya malalamiko yaliyoanzishwa ktk Wizara na Mamlaka za Serikali za Mitaa yafanye kazi” (To put in place measures to ensure the complaints desks that have been started in Ministries and local government work.)

Can we not have something more substantial? Perhaps we could follow the lead of Kenya, where 160 datasets have been put online at OpenData.go.ke. Or India when a powerful Freedom of Information law has been enacted. Or Brazil where all central government expenditure is published online the day after it has been spent.

I tried to persuade the meeting that we should aim a little higher, on the basis that when you aim for the stars even if you miss you might reach the moon. As I see it, the following three things would be particularly useful and would match the President’s ambition:

1. The proposal to put waterpoint mapping data online is excellent, but this could be extended to include data on school capitation grant transfers, distribution of medical supplies, water extraction permits, basic education statistics, and more, collected together as an Open Data Portal for Tanzania.

2. Better budget transparency. More specifically, a good start would be to have clear guidelines from State House / the Ministry of Finance on what budget information should be made public and in what format, covering everything from ensuring budget data on council, village and school noticeboards is published in Swahili rather than English right up to ensuring that national budget data is available in machine-readable formats.

3. And most important of all, why not include a Freedom of Information law in the action plan? We were told this was left out of the proposed plan because the process to prepare such a law has already been started and the task force were not sure whether it could be completed within 12 months, as per the OGP guidelines. But if a FoI law is being prepared, including it in the OGP action plan would only help speed up the process, so surely better to have it in than to leave it out. I made this point at the meeting, and it seemed to get support, including from the task force.

I reckon that would make a pretty good action plan. It would provide the OGP with evidence of Tanzania’s commitment to open government, and more important, it would make a real difference to accountable governance in Tanzania.

Those are just one person’s views. But among the many things to be applauded in the government’s approach to the OGP is their willingness to embrace new ways of collecting people’s ideas. A website has been set up (wananchi.go.tz), an SMS number (0658 999222) and a post box (9120 DSM), all of which can be used to send your ideas.

This will only work if we support it. So please, think about what aspect of open government would make a difference to you, or to Tanzania as a whole, and send your ideas. If you like the ideas I’ve posted here, then say so. If you think something else is more important, then say so too. And best of all would be if you persuade other people to send their ideas as well. Tell them at home and at work, tell them on facebook. The government is doing a good thing here and giving you a chance to have your say.

Let’s support them by making as much use of the opportunity as we can.

You can send ideas in three ways:
- By post, to PO Box 9120, Dar es Salaam
- By SMS, to 0658 999222
- Online, at wananchi.go.tz – click on “Tuma” or “Wasilisha Hoja”

There’s not much time – ideas sent by the end of November are much more likely to be considered. And as part of encouraging others, why not add a comment below to say that you’ve sent an idea.

Written by Ben Taylor

Source: Daraja