A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Leadership and Management (MLM) of Mzumbe University
The overall objective of this study was to investigate what civil society organizations are doing to address shrinking civic space in Tanzania. The shrinkage of civic space and intimidations of CSOs has been increasing in all parts of the world including Tanzania which affects both, government and private sectors. In most cases, Civil Society Organizations have become the main confronted group particularly those that deal with human rights advocacy. This study used Descriptive Design which helped to describe various aspects of the phenomena and behavior of the population on what CSO are doing to address shrinking in civic space in Tanzania. The results revealed that CSOs uses several methods to address the shrinking of civic space in Tanzania such as raising awareness, capacity building, networking as well as uses of social media. Moreover, results indicated that the existence of ashrinking civic space in Tanzania is perceived differently by the actors, such as government organs and non-governmental organs. On the government side civic space is perceived to be existing and enough. Non-governmental organs such as CSOs perceived the shrinkage of civic space as currently being higher than the past years. However CSOs claim that the government uses various mechanisms to suppress civic space such as establishment of restrictive laws, uses of threats, proclamations and violence or attacks. The revealed effects are categorized into three main groups; these are effects to ordinary citizens, effects to politics and effects to civil society organization. The reported incidences to the individuals as well as their initiatives regarded as the indicators to the shrinkage of civic space. Conclusively, CSOs should make a critical analysis on the effectiveness of their methods together with cooperation with other stakeholders to promote civic space in Tanzania.