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2025 CSO Week Launched at CSOs Directors’ Dinner

  The 2025 CSO Week returns for its eighth year on 2nd to 6th June 2025, at Mt. Meru Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania. Known as an annual gathering that facilitates dialogue and collaboration among civil society organizations (CSOs), and between CSOs and the Tanzanian government, CSO Week has become a key platform for meaningful discussions on CSOs role in Tanzania’s development and its future. With over 5000 attendees, 350 speakers and 175 sessions in the last 7 years, CSO Week continues to set the standard for engaged, inclusive and impactful…

Participatory Grant making: A New Dawn in Local Resource Mobilisation and Putting People at the Centre of Development.

Residents of Wilunze Village in Chamwino District, Dodoma Region, have expressed gratitude for the implementation of a project in which two primary schools in the village received 140 desks, 22 teachers’ tables and 14 chairs. The project has helped solve the challenges teachers and pupils faced at the learning facilities and residents are amazed by the timely and efficient implementation of the project, thanks to guidelines provided to a local women's group that received a grant to implement the project.   The group, dubbed Ujirani Mwema, is one of two…

Foundation for Civil Society and Partners Reflect on Uraia Wetu Project Progress

  Foundation for Civil Society and Partners Reflect on Uraia Wetu Project Progress Dar es Salaam, February 8, 2024 – The Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) convened with its 15 partners implementing the Uraia Wetu project for the annual reflection session. The project aims to foster an enabling environment for civil society engagement in democratic governance in Tanzania and Zanzibar.   Mr Nicholaus Lekule, the FCS Project Coordinator, highlighted the session's objectives, stating, "At the end of the session, we will have harvested the key achievements, lessons and challenges from…

Building Partnerships for Development: Reflections from Financial Resilience Resource Hub (FRRH) Partners on Achievements and the Future of CSO Sustainability in East Africa

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in East Africa are recognizing the critical importance of effective collaboration, learning, resource generation, and management to advance social justice goals within the East African civil society ecosystem.   This sentiment was articulated during the East Africa Financial Resilience Resource Hub (EA FRRH) meeting held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on January 30th and 31st, 2024. The FRRH is a collaborative effort involving CivSource-Africa, the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS), and the Kenya Community Development Foundation, working together to support organizations navigate challenges such as shrinking…

CSO Sustainability: Aid Localization conversation at the Forefront of CSO Sector • Plan for the Future: CSOs Encouraged to Prioritize building financial resilience

In a bid to align their goals with anticipated aid funding and ensure effective utilization, civil society organizations (CSOs) must turn to innovative approaches to foster sustainability, especially in times of disaster. Discussions around the dynamics of aid localization and decolonization are at the forefront of these strategic conversations.   Allais Morindat, a member of FCSTZ, emphasized the complexities surrounding international aid, noting ongoing debates on colonial legacies and entrenched power dynamics within the aid and development industry.   ‘‘ It's crucial to strategize your goals for the year in…

Building Partnerships for Development: FCS, NAMA Foundation Dialogue to Advance Education Empowerment

The Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) recently engaged in fruitful discussions with the NAMA Foundation team from Saudi Arabia, aiming to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange within Tanzania's education and development sector.   During the meeting, our Executive Director, Francis kiwanga, and Programmes Manager, Edna Chilimo, explored various avenues for cooperation with the NAMA Foundation, which is committed to promoting sustainable development through education empowerment and civil society capacity building, with a particular focus on youth development and volunteerism.   The NAMA Foundation team comprised of Muayed Bagais - Chief…

‘Uraia Wetu’ partners receive Manage Your Grants training

The Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) conducted Manage your Grants (MYG) training for 15 civil society organisations implementing a 36-month project dubbed “Uraia Wetu” funded by the European Union (EU) and which aims to promote meaningful participation of civil society in multi-stakeholder policy processes and strengthen CSOs’ capacity to promote public accountability.   FCS launched the “Uraia Wetu” project in early May 2023. As part of the project’s implementation, FCS issued sub-grants to CSOs in both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar to undertake activities that will contribute to an improved and…

Breaking Generational Gender Patterns | Women Landowners in Meru

On Ndekusura Urio’s wedding day, she received a gift from her mother-in-law that she knew would transform her life. Her mother-in-law lovingly calls her Ndeku and considers their bond indistinguishable from that of a blood daughter. That day, she gave Ndeku a two-acre parcel of farmland to grow food for her new family near their home on the slopes of Mount Meru, Tanzania’s second-highest mountain. She had been using the land since her own husband’s death. And while indeed this parcel of land transformed Ndeku’s life, it was not in…

CSO Resource Centre: Over 600 CSOs receive training on compliance with laws and regulations governing NGO operations in Tanzania

More than 600 civil society organisations (CSOs) in 15 regions across Tanzania have received capacity-building training on compliance with laws, policies and regulations governing NGOs operations in Tanzania. Mr Nicholaus Mhozya, FCS senior programme officer, revealed this at the organisational compliance clinic and capacity strengthening workshop conducted during the Zanzibar Annual NGO Forum (ZANGOF2023) with the Zanzibar Registrar of NGOS, Mr Ahmed Abdulla. “We have made deliberate efforts to build the capacity of NGOs with regard to the NGO law and tax requirements. We are working with the registrar's office…

Capacity Building  : | 158 participants attend the Manage Your Grant Session in Dodoma

158 participants attend the Manage Your Grant Session in Dodoma * Let’s work in unity, build resilience: Kiwanga The Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) conducted the Manage Your Grants (MYG) Training in Dodoma from May 29 to 31 for 158 stakeholders from 79 partner organisations from various regions in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The training, which aimed to build the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) that are recipients of grants from FCS, highlighted factors that should be considered in the implementation of projects to achieve the intended results. In…