Engaging NSAs in European Development Fund Programming

Involving Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the European Development Fund (EDF) Programming is one of the meaningful ways of collaboration by NSAs with the European Commission, the government and other stakeholders; it has been established in a study commissioned by the Non-State Actors Support Programme (NSASP).

            The study was commissioned by NSASP to a consultant to identify ways of strengthening and restructuring Tanzania's Non-State Actors’ involvement in the programming, implementation and monitoring of the 10^th EDF cooperation programme. Tanzania is one of the beneficiaries of 10^th EDF whose programmes and projects are contained in the Country Strategy Paper (CSP) and National Indicative Programme (NIP), which is a joint programming document covering the period of 2008-2013.

            The study also aimed at identifying tangible opportunities and recommend effective practical mechanisms that could involve NSAs effectively in the monitoring of EDF-supported development initiatives in Tanzania in the two-year period ahead by noting any major existing barriers which hinder their participation and suggest ways of overcoming them. 

            Dwelling on opportunities that can be realized as a result of NSAs' engagement, the study says most NSAs visited admitted that there were several potential entry points for them to influence the direction and speed in the EU funded development interventions.  They include, among others, increased discretionary public spending in relevant sectors, greater continuity in the financing of development programmes, strengthening national budgetary discipline, new forms of policy dialogue and increased transparency over government spending and decision-making.

            With respect to transparency, the study says that increased involvement of the legislature over executive decisions offers the prospect of creating a wider scope of transparency in various programmes. This means that links to the parliamentary and local council representatives must be established by the NSAs as one of their strategic approaches.

            The move towards output-related budgeting also provides the potential for increased transparency of government decision-making over key development targets, as spending plans are subject to parliamentary scrutiny through various parliamentary committees. The publication of both budgetary estimates and actual expenditures in specific programmatic areas of policy (in a digestible manner) needs to be demanded by NSAs to promote greater public accountability. 

            The study asserts that NSAs' engagement with the government should be given priority by making it one of the requirements for accessing EDF10 funds.