The Citizen featured the story on page two that highlighted all the main findings of the research. "The students' learning assessment, included in the Sauti za Wananchi findings, further indicated that Mathematics and English competence levels were disturbingly low, confirming the national examination results." This supports Twaweza's position that it is these failures in the mastery of basic skills from primary level that are the foundation for the poor secondary school results.

The government-owned Daily News also featured the findings from the brief. Here the focus was understandably on the issues around teachers (quality and motivation) rather than the responsibility of the government while the research itself highlighted both as key issues according to a majority of citizens. "... parents largely focused on teachers and various associated issues as primary reasons for the recent failures."

And finally Nipashe newspaper also presented a range of findings closing with "improving accountability, efficiency and morale of teachers are key to tackling the education challenges in our country."

Interestingly for Twaweza, the brief and its findings were less well covered by broadcast media despite the currency and relevance of the topic. Moving forward we will need to find new ways of ensuring that the value of Sauti za Wananchi in providing current, reliable views from citizens is taken on by more media.

More about the findings

The article and interview covered diverse subjects including the required change in government culture and the need to think beyond online in ensuring that citizens have access to information. The Minister says the OGP requires a cultural shift in how public servants work. Rajani talked about a new approach to governing, “government doesn’t just rule, it actually seeks to solve problems collaboratively. It recognizes that it doesn’t have all the answers. In that sense, it can also be very liberating for government, to not have to feel it has to shoulder all the responsibility and fix all the problems.”

Read the article on the SSIR website or download it below.

The brief found that residents of Dar es Salaam are dissatisfied with levels of service delivery, report rising levels of corruption and have little trust in the institutions and individuals who are meant to represent and serve them.

East Africa TV led with the lack of policy awareness shown in the brief, while Radio Free Africa focused on the high levels of trust in religious leaders. Mlimani TV reported all of the main findings from the policy brief while Clouds TV and Radio reported lack of awareness about and low levels of trust in Members of Parliament. Another Twaweza partner, Star TV was also concerned with the high levels of trust in the President and religious leaders, expressed by respondents in the monitoring exercise. And ITV was most concerned with the poor performance of Dar es Salaam’s water and electricity supply companies, DAWASCO and TANESCO. Unfortunately, the broadcast coverage is not available online.

Read details of the brief and the press release.

The brief showed that short term interventions in healthcare were gaining ground, although work still remained to be done.

The key findings were around the experiences of residents of Dar es Salaam at government and private healthcare facilities.

“The Tanzania National Nets Programme has recorded substantial success in Dar es Salaam region” notes The Daily News.

While The Guardian highlights the brief’s conclusion that “access to healthcare facilities appears to be inclusive [but] more needs to be done to ensure the quality of care and treatment at these facilities is improved…”

The brief was also referenced in The Citizen and on the BBC, as well as covered by a number of Swahili newspapers and broadcast media, each of which focused on a different aspect of the survey’s diverse findings. 

Coverage available online

Most Dar residents have bed nets but…, The Guardian
Mafanikio ya mda mfupi yamefikiwa katika huduma ya afya, Kona ya Habari
Twaweza waeleza matokeo ya utafiti waliokuwa wanaufanya katika huduma za afya, Maasinda Blog
Twaweza waeleza rushwa inatumika kupata huduma za afya dar, Mo Blog
Utafiti Twaweza, Hospitali za serikali zanyoshewa kidole, Radio Free Africa

Failure by the government to provide sufficient funds for science education, including the budgeted capitation grant, as well as a lack of accountability for results, only exacerbate the problem and could lead to a shortage of scientists in Tanzania in the coming years, Kabendera says.

The article references a Twaweza publication that contends that more qualified teachers would be attracted to and remain in rural and community schools if the government addressed the reasons that currently drive them away. Twaweza Head, Rakesh Rajani, told Kabendera that ‘the country fails because we put more efforts on inputs (classrooms, enrolment and desks)... the amount of money Tanzania spends on education today is three times more than 10 years ago and the country is being praised internationally for increasing enrolment, but evidence shows that increasing inputs doesn’t lead to better results.’

Read the full article on the problems facing ward schools, and science education in particular, here. 

In 93 percent of 88 visits, prescription medicine was sold without a prescription when asked for by name. In 92 percent of 38 visits, prescription medicines were recommended and then sold after the mystery client described her symptoms. In only nine visits of 126 did pharmacies refuse to sell medicine without a prescription from a doctor, and this in only three of the 15 areas visited.  

The results are disconcerting, as citizens could be sold wrong medicines, take incorrect dosages, or develop a dependency on a drug. Yet, in the absence of sufficent and motivated personnel as well as persistent shortages of drugs in the public health services one can see how people have no choice but to seek care directly from pharmacies.

Read the brief below in English or Kiswahili as well as media reports on the findings.

Ease of buying prescription drugs exposed in new report, The Citizen

Checks on pharmacies, The Citizen

The pharmaceutical and motorcar trade, The Citizen

Dawa zinauzwa kiholela - YITA, Tanzania Daima

The Observer says that ‘Despite poor literacy rates, there’s hope for Uganda’s schools.’ Ugandan educational experts believe that the system could be turned around and better performance seen within three years.

The East African talks of an innovative ‘cash on delivery’ model for schools: ‘Peg schools’ funding to literacy, educationists.’ Rather than fund inputs, schools should be funded based on how many students pass literacy and numeracy assessment tests, Twaweza Head Rakesh Rajani told the newspaper. ‘The last thing we should do is more of the same, expecting different results,’ he said. 

Read the reaction from other East African and international media outlets on the 2012 Uwezo report:

Most children in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya fail literacy and numeracy tests, The Guardian, UK

UPE children not learning, says UWEZO report, The Independent

Quality of learning in schools wanting-report, Saturday Nation

Ugandan pupils 'slowest' in the region- report, Saturday Monitor

Survey: Kenyan Schools churning out ‘illiterates’, Standard Digital

Uwezo's 2012 numeracy and literacy test, VijanaFM

Study shows few pupils have literacy and maths skills, The Star

Watch a video of the launch from KTN Kenya here and another video from NTV Kenya with comments from Uwezo Regional Manager Dr. Sara Ruto here.