A Dissertation Submitted to Mzumbe University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of Masters of Public Administration of Mzumbe University. 2014The war on poverty is Tanzania’s priority and a challenge. Many poverty reduction programs have been established in Tanzania in an effort to overcome poverty. However, poverty reduction projects have had little impact on the poverty profile of the country. Poverty continues to be pervasive, intractable, and inexcusable. This study was conducted in Kibaha District with the aim of examining the impact of good governance on poverty reduction in Tanzania. Very specifically, the study was undertaken to address the following issues: To identify specific good governance principles that are key to poverty reduction and how can they help in the fight against poverty in Tanzania; To examine the extent to which citizens are involved in the design and implementation of poverty reduction plans; and to identify the power of citizens to hold public officials accountable. The study employed convenient sampling technique, a non-probability sampling whereby 60 respondents (20 from government officials and 40 from citizens) were involved. This technique was convenient because of the availability and willingness of the respondents for the interview. It was found that, access to justice was little among poorer citizens; lack of transparency in expenditure of community members ‘monetary contributions and allocation of materials including medicines; participation in decision making was little due to many community members not attending meetings in which the decisions were being made; and there was late completion of construction works and distribution of agricultural inputs. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the above problems exacerbate poverty. Therefore, it is recommended that the second phase of the NSGRP (2011-2015) should give more weight on governance issues, including the above ones, lest they constrain the pace towards the attainment of TDV 2025