What is Twaweza
Twaweza means “we can make it happen” in Swahili. It is a ten year citizen-centered initiative, focusing on large-scale change in East Africa. Twaweza believes that lasting change requires bottom-up action. We seek to foster conditions and expand opportunities through which millions of people can get information and make change happen in their own communities directly and by holding government to account.
"Ni Sisi!": The idea that “It’s us!”
This promotes the idea on which Twaweza is founded, namely, that citizens of East Africa can bring about change themselves, rather than waiting for governments, politicians, donors or NGOs to do it for them. We are kicking off our work in this area by developing a “wake-up call”, a series of public service announcements (12 in both TV and Radio, Swahili and vernacular mix) designed to encourage a shift in thinking and a recognition that improved services and accountability will only be brought about if the people themselves take responsibility and act (i.e. “exercise agency”).
Twaweza works to provide practical information to everyone, to foster quality independent media and citizens monitoring services. By addressing these issues through its partner organizations, Twaweza works to foster what it calls an “ecosystem of change”, through building on, as well as triggering, the actions of citizens to make a difference, and by scaling up such actions through brokering and supporting partnerships. Twaweza has three core areas: Brokering partnerships; Uwazi; and Learning and Communication.
What are our goals?
Real change takes time. We are not keen to just do easy activities and check implementation boxes. That is why the Twaweza initiative has a ten year time frame, with two goals. First, we seek to enhance ‘citizen agency’, by which we mean the ability of men, women and young people to get better information more quickly, cheaply and reliably; monitor and discuss what’s going on; speak out; and act to make a difference. This is important for its own sake, because every person should feel a sense of empowerment or control over their own lives. It is also important because it contributes to our second goal: which is to enable many more people to enjoy quality basic education, health care and clean water.
How do we work?
We do not believe that sustainable change comes through establishing little projects here and there. Neither do we believe that people in the capital city are best placed to bring change in thousands of communities across the region. Therefore we will not set up lots of Twaweza projects. Instead we will work through large networks and institutions that already reach people and are important to their lives – such as mass media, mobile phones, religion, and consumer goods networks. We will broker ‘win-win’ partnerships, where each partner can simultaneously achieve its goals and support citizens by doing what it does best. And by linking up different partners who might not otherwise cooperate – such as teachers’ union with the church or mobile phone companies – we hope to leverage a greater ‘ecosystem effect’ of change on the ground. See our criteria for partnerships.
Why do we make such a big point about learning and evaluation?
Like elsewhere, East Africa is littered with lots of development activities that were well meaning but that achieved little or did not last long. We therefore have a fierce commitment to learning and sharing lessons. What is the evidence for impact? Which parts worked well and which did not, and why? What key factors explain success or failure, and under which conditions? Throughout, we will foster a culture of learning and self-critique, and document and share lessons in creative and accessible formats. We have commissioned several independent evaluators to undertake a rigorous evaluation of Twaweza over its first five years, and will use these lessons to inform internal practice and global knowledge.
Where are we so far?
We have gotten off the ground. During 2009 we focused on doing research, establishing the organization, recruiting staff and setting up systems. In 2010 we developed relationships with key partners, often using innovative approaches across Tanzania and Kenya, and established a new office in Uganda. Our Uwazi unit produced 21 policy briefs on key issues, many of which triggered public debate and in some cases contributed to direct impact. Our ambitious learning and independent evaluation agenda, despite challenges at the beginning, was firmly established with researchers from MIT/Princeton and AIID (Amsterdam) universities forming its core teams.
These are still early days though in a ten year vision, plenty remains to be done. There are many signs of success already, as well as indicators of where we have failed or done less well. The commitment is to keep thinking, keep doing, keep learning. Though our website is not as informative and nimble as we'd like it, yet, we hope to use it to communicate with you. Your candid feedback will keep us real, keep us honest, and keep us going.
