Educational policymaking in the Tanzanian postcolony: authenticity, accountability, and the politics of culture

Abstract

In this article I explore the political event of the Tanzanian government's interdiction of a prominent educational civil society organization in order to theorize the emerging policy heterarchy in Tanzania. In the context of the ensuing public debate about the interdiction, I ask two questions: (1) what tensions are emerging from the democratization reforms embedded in national iterations of international EFA policies and (2) to what end are such reforms taking place? I address these questions with ethnographic, documentary and interview data collected as part of a broader study of participation in development between 2004 and 2007 in Dar es Salaam and the Singida region of central Tanzania. My analysis draws on critical, anthropological and postcolonial theories to explore the tensions of policy making in the context of the Tanzanian postcolony and how such tensions carve out a political topography in Tanzania that delimits and demarcates how policy travels.

Keywords:

• comparative and international education
• educational policy
• globalisation and internationalisation
• neoconservatism/neoliberalism
• postcolonial theory
• qualitative research methods

Acknowledgements

I am especially grateful for the time and energetic engagement of representatives of NGOs, CSOs, government ministries and international agencies who contributed to this article and to the gifted cartoonist Nathan Mpangala for permission to re-print his cartoon. I also offer thanks to Professor Amy Stambach for her encouragement to dig more deeply into my original analysis. For the funding of this research I am indebted to grants from Fulbright-Hays Program for Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA); the US Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS); the Spencer Foundation; the University of Virginia's Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies; and the departments of Anthropology and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Notes

1. In Swahili, HakiElimu is the amalgamation of two words, rights and education, meant to signify the ‘right to education’, ‘rights in education’ and ‘education about rights’.

2. In 2006 a re-shuffling of Ministry organizations occurred and the name of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) was changed to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT).

3. Despite the interdiction, HakiElimu continued its work throughout this period.

4. While the debate about the interdiction of Hakielimu was profiled in national media, it also passed unnoticed by a considerable number of Tanzanians. Among the people of rural northeastern Singida, I queried about the incident in 2006 and 2007, most were unaware of the organization and its interdiction.

5. Participant-observation included one meeting of the Basic Education Development Committee (the PEDP decision-making structure) and participation in daily life where the HakiElimu prohibition and government education reforms emerged in the course of everyday conversations. Document analysis included a review of Swahili- and English-language newspapers and an analysis of the HakiElimu PEDP review and media spots.

6. In October 2007, the organization came under new leadership. Given that reports and publications have slowed and the website has been under construction for several months, I am not able to comment here on its current approach and directions.

7. All HakiElimu's media spots were presented in Swahili. The rough translations offered here are my own.

8. In 2007, members numbered 20,000; at present, approximately 34,000 (Rajani, personal communication, 16 April 2011). While certainly more well-known in urban areas, they also managed to mobilize some rural communities. Their posters and materials were distributed throughout rural schools in Tanzania.

9. In 2010 ruling party Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) reigned with a much smaller margin: President Kikwete's percentage of the popular vote dropped from 80 to 61% and CCM lost 50 constituent seats – both signs of significant growth in political opposition.

10. Previously published accounts of the Hakielimu interdiction (for example, International Budget Partnership, n.d.) have tended to gloss over such tensions within the Tanzanian public.

11. And given the radical growth in opposition politics during the 2010 elections, one might argue Hakielimu's public stance has effected such a transformation. This however extends beyond the scope of my study.

12. A HakiElimu source noted that the student in fact said, ‘If the government is sending money to the districts, and it is getting stuck there, then the government should send the money straightaway to the community and community groups’.

13. For more on the long history of the Asian population in Tanzania and the politics of race in Tanzania, (see Nagar, 1996).

14. Many NGOs and CSOs were boycotting the upcoming education sector review as a show of support for HakiElimu, who had been prohibited from participating. Donors were concerned that without participation from CSOs the review would be deemed illegitimate.

15. See also Vavrus and Seghers (2010) who note that the ‘partnership’ terms of Tanzania's poverty reduction strategy papers discursively ‘commit’ communities and the government to action, while government and community documents do not similarly commit the World Bank and IMF.