COOPERATION AND TRUST IN THE CONTEXT OF DECENTRALIZATION REFORMS IN RURAL TANZANIA

Year 2014, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 139 - 156, 01.06.2014

Zacharia S. Masanyiwa Anke Niehof Catrien J. M. A. Termee

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of decentralization reforms on cooperation and trust at the village level in Tanzania, using a gender perspective. The paper draws on survey and qualitative data from ten villages in two rural districts. The findings show that the reforms have revitalized 'formal’ cooperative efforts and social networks and groups aimed at improving public services and poverty reduction. Citizen’s participation in decision-making processes and users’ satisfaction with public services are significantly related to social and political trust, in which gender plays a role as well. There is a two-way interface between trust and decentralization reforms. ‘Good’ decentralization outcomes generate trust while ‘bad’ outcomes decrease trust

Keywords

Decentralization, cooperation, gender, political trust, social trust

References

• Beall, Jo (2001), Valuing social resources or capitalizing them? Limits to pro- poor urban governance in nine cities of the South. International Planning Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp.357-375.
• Bezanson, Kate (2006), Gender and the limits of social capital. Canadian Review of Sociology, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp.427-443.
• Blind, Peri K. (2006), Building trust in government in the twenty-first century:
• Review of Literature and Emerging Issues. 7 Global Forum on Reinventing Government Building Trust in Government 26-29 June 2007, Vienna Austria. th
• Bouckaert, Geert and Steven van de Walle (2003), Comparing measures of citizen trust and user satisfaction as indicators of ‘good governance: Difficulties in linking trust and satisfaction indicators. International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol. 69, No.3, pp.329-343.
• Braathen, Einar, Amon Chaligha and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (2005), Local governance, finances and service delivery in Tanzania: A summary of findings from six councils. Joint Report NIBR/CMI/REPOA.
• Breeman, Gerald E. (2006), Cultivating trust: how do public policies become trusted? PhD Thesis, Leiden: Leiden University.
• Cleaver, Frances (2005), The inequality of social capital and the reproduction of chronic poverty. World Development, Vol. 33, No.6, pp.893-906.
• Conyers, Diana (1990), Decentralization and development planning, (in: Peter de Valk & K. H. Wekwete -Eds., Decentralizing for participatory development? Comparing the experiences of Zimbabwe and other Anglophone countries in Eastern and Southern Africa), Aldershot: Avebury, pp.15-33.
• Essau, Michelle (2008), Contextualizing social capital, citizen participation and poverty through an examination of the ward committee system in Bonteheuwel in the Western Cape, South Africa. Journal of Developing Societies, Vol.24, No.3, pp.355-380.
• Evans, Peter (1996), Government action, social capital and development: reviewing the evidence and synergy. World Development, Vol.24, No.6, pp.1119
• Field, Andy (2009), Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. Third Edition. London: Sage.
• Fisher, Robert J. (1999), Devolution and decentralization of forest management in
• Asia and the Pacific. FAO Corporate Document Repository. Groenewald, Sytske F. (2012), Social limitations to livelihood adaptation:
• Responses of maize-farming smallholder households to neoliberal policy reforms in Morelos, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. PhD Thesis. Wageningen: Wageningen University. Grootaert, Christian, Deepa Narayan, Veronica Nyhan Jones and Michael Woolcock (2004), Measuring Social Capital. An Integrated Questionnaire. World
• Bank Working Paper No. 18. Washington, D.C: The World Bank. Hiskey, Jonathan, T. (2010), The promise of decentralised Governance, (in: Ed Connerley, Kent Eaton & Paul Smoke. Making Decentralization Work: Democracy, Development and Security), London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp.25-46.
• Jacobsen, Dag Ingvar (1999), Trust in political-administrative relations: the case of local authorities in Norway and Tanzania. World Development, Vol. 27, No. 5, pp.839-853.
• Kuenzi, Michelle T. (2008), Social capital and political trust in West Africa: A comparative series of national public attitude surveys on democracy, markets and civil society in Africa. Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 96.
• Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, Monica Di Gregorio and Nancy McCarthy (2004), Methods for studying collective action in rural development. CAPRi Working Paper No.3.
• Mendoza-Botelho, Martin (2013), Social capital and institutional trust: Evidence from Bolivia's popular participation decentralisation reforms. The Journal of
• Development Studies, pp.1-19. Molyneux, Maxine (2002), Gender and the silences of social capital: Lessons from Latin America. Development and Change, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp.167-188.
• Moser, Caroline O.N. (1993), Gender Planning and Development: Theory,
• Practice and Training. London: Routledge. Msonganzila, Margareth (2013), Gender, cooperative organisation and participatory intervention in rural Tanzania. A case study of different types of cooperatives and Moshi University College’s support to rural women. PhD
• Thesis. Wageningen: Wageningen University. Narayan, Deepa and Lant Pritchett (1999), Cents and sociability: household income and social capital in Rural Tanzania. Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 47, No.4, pp.871-897.
• Nombo, Carolyne I. (2007), When AIDS meets poverty: Implications for social capital in a village in Tanzania. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
• Patulny, Rodger V. and Gunnar Lind Haase Svendsen (2007), Exploring the social capital grid: bonding, bridging, qualitative, quantitative. International Journal of
• Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 27, No. 1/2, pp.32-51. United Republic of Tanzania (1998), Policy Paper on Local Government Reform.
• Local Government Reform Program. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government. Local Government Reform Programme. United Republic of Tanzania (2009), Local Government Reform Programme II
• (Decentralization by Devolution): Vision, Goals and Strategy July 2009–June
• Dodoma: Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government.