Implementation of Tanzania's Development Vision 2025: local government authorities' endeavours and challenges

This paper contributes to the discussion of efforts made by local government authorities (LGAs) to execute Tanzania's Development Vision 2025. LGAs’ endeavours have revolved around the following areas: establishment of the Women, Youth and People with Disabilities Revolving Fund; the ‘opportunities and obstacles to development’ planning process for increased participation; conducting elections to increase accountability; the furtherance of good governance; and education and health services improvements. Despite their efforts, however, LGAs face continuing dependency on central government, poor capacity for economic management (including mobilisation and administration of revenues), failure to put policies and programmes into practice, deficiencies in governance and inadequate human resources. These have resulted in LGAs’ meagre contributions to Vision 2025 realisation, which have contributed to the country’s limited progress overall. While there is still one year left before the Vision’s 2025 time limit, LGAs will likely only contribute minimally until then. However, the government of Tanzania is in the process of creating a new Vision for 2050, and must ensure that LGAs participate effectively, by granting them autonomy, and effectively boosting their capacity to realise the projected Vision’s goals.