Swiss Speaker hails civil society’s work


Speaker of the Parliament of Switzerland, Ms Maya Graff, has commended the work by civil society organisations in Tanzania in empowering the people, particularly marginalised groups.

Speaker of the Parliament of Switzerland, Ms Maya Graff

“You have been doing a very good job and I am very much interested in your efforts to assist the people. We are looking forward to continuing working with civil society organisations,” Ms Graff said in Dar es Salaam.

The visiting Swiss Speaker said she would during her stay in Tanzania visit Ifakara and Dodoma to see how civil society organisations have been supporting health and agriculture sectors.

Ms Graff made the remarks in Dar es Salaam during a brief visit to the Foundation for Civil Society offices to learn about its activities. She was accompanied by General Secretary of the Swiss Parliament, Mr Phillip Schwab and the Swiss Ambassador in Tanzania, Olivier Chave.

In a presentation earlier, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Civil Society, Mr John Ulanga, said CSOs were stronger today in terms of the number and services they offer compared to the past ten years.

He noted that the Swiss government, through the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), was the third largest funder of the Foundation after the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the government of the Netherlands.

“Since the Foundation started its operations in the year 2003, SDC has availed us with funds amounting to 8 million US dollars,” Mr Ulanga said.


Mr Ulanga said CSOs were going to be more important in the coming years than they were before to ensure equitable growth, peace and stability in Tanzania.

Representatives of the Women Legal Aid Centre (WLAC) gave testimony to how they had benefited from the grants provided by the Foundation, to assist vulnerable women through the provision of legal aid.

They told Ms Graff how they had supported women countrywide to access justice through legal representation at courts, as well as enabling the establishment of gender desks at police stations.

The Speaker seemed much interested, however, in the training the WLAC has been providing to the police force with the aim of establishing gender desks at police stations to help women who had been abused.

The Foundation for Civil Society is one of the largest organisations in East Africa that provides grants to civil society organisations and thus enhance their capacity.

By ALVAR MWAKYUSA, Tanzania Daily News

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