SPECIAL CONFERENCE

PROPOSAL FOR THE PROPOSED
SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON 5th JUNE, 2010 ON THE FATE OF NGORONGORO
DISTRICT AND LIVELIHOOD OF ITS PEOPLE
1.0 About NDUSA
NDUSA Means Ngorongoro District University Students Association including
undergraduates and graduates born or living in Ngorongoro. Ngorongoro Elites
Association (NDUSA) is a professional forum comprised of all elites born or living in
Ngorongoro. NDUSA is non profit and non political association registered in 2008 under
NGO Registration Act with registration number 00NGO/00002720.NDUSA was officially
launched in 2009 at Loliondo by the then Ngorongoro District Commissioner Jowika
Kasunga. Our vision is to have united elites of Ngorongoro District, who’s our
togetherness, shall be a tool for fast tracking development in Ngorongoro District. The
registered office of NDUSA is located in Loliondo the headquarter of Ngorongoro District
but as the name denotes (NDUSA) its members are students and alumni who are
currently working or study in different parts of the country or abroad.
VISION
NDUSA seeks to have united elites of Ngorongoro district, who's our togetherness shall
be a tool for fast tracking development in Ngorongoro district.
MISSION
NDUSA shall create a united forum of elites in Ngorongoro out of which through
advocacy, laws and policy analysis/lobbying and community participation in all matters
affecting our livelihood, a free, self reliant and prosperous district whose people control
their economy, respect and promote principles of human rights and ensuring that
Tanzanians exercise permanent sovereignty over their natural resources will be born.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF NDUSA
In furtherance of the above Vision and Mission, NDUSA shall endeavour to achieve the
following aims and objectives:
1. To create a united and determined community.
2. To act as good ambassadors of Ngorongoro District.
3. NDUSA to a large extent seek to unite all university alumni and undergraduates
to form a single and vibrant district forum for district development and integrity.
4. To see a large number of indigenous communities in Ngorongoro understands
and attain the knowledge of their socio-economic rights and civic rights as
provided by constitutions and related international instruments.
5. To create a spiral network between elites in Ngorongoro, NGO'S and
Government that aims to provide transparency and efficiency in all development
programs within the District purposes.
6. To open up floor for discussion between elites and community in general.
7. NDUSA in collaboration with NGO'S, District council and community shall
conduct public expenditure tracking survey/system(PETS) to ensure good
governance and proper collection, allocation and proper use of resources within
the District.
8. NDUSA as group of elites shall as well advocate and lobbying for good laws and
national policies that favour the nature of people living in Ngorongoro.
FUNCTIONS
1. To provide a forum for discussions, debates and reflections on policy and
development issues to members, academics, public officials and members of the
business community, as well as members of civil societies such as CBO's and
NGO's and the public in general;
2. Regarding that, most of indigenous societies are living in or around areas rich of
natural resources like national parks and mining centres, we shall use our best
endeavour to educate them to benefit from tourism and natural resources around
them.
3. We shall conduct various researches on indigenous life styles and their
economics to reveal the main obstacles to sustainable development and
entrepreneurship skills among indigenous communities.
2.0 About the Conference
The conference will be held in Dar es Salaam. The conference will address the current
problems resurfacing in Ngorongoro by supplying durable solutions from various
stakeholders invited to the conference. The forum will also influence current students
and graduates in Ngorongoro District to join association for the welfare of our people.
Likewise, the forum will add effort to the work being done by other organizations in
Ngorongoro and outside Ngorongoro on issues related to natural resources, human
rights and educational problems.
2.1 Background Information
Ngorongoro District is famous both in Tanzania and worldwide due to variety of wildlife
species. It is also in this District where the Ngorongoro crater is found, which has been
categorized as the world heritage sites The District divides into three Divisions, which
are Loliondo, Ngorongoro, and Sale. Ngorongoro District is one of the five districts in
Arusha Region of Tanzania It is bordered to the north by Kenya, to the east by the
Monduli District, to the south by the Karatu District and to the west by the Mara
Region.The district has 37 registered villages, six government secondary schools and
one private school.
It is not at all surprising that resource-based conflicts constitute one of the major
development challenges in Ngorongoro. Indeed, this is consistent with the reality all
over the dry lands of Africa where conflict has become endemic. District is defined by
competition for access to land and natural resources underpinned by competing land
uses and livelihoods. The land use competition, which often translates into conflict, has
been classified into four major categories;
• Conservation versus pastoralism,
• Natural resource and conservation-related investments versus pastoralism,
• Farming versus pastoralism, and
• Pastoralism versus pastoralism
The livelihoods of members of the Maasai pastoral community within the Loliondo
Game controlled area in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region has of late become
threatened by the antics of a certain foreign hunting companies operating in the area
like Ortelo Business Cooperation. Loliondo Game Controlled Area occupies 41 per cent
while Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) was allocated 59 per cent of the total land
in the District. This shows that the land in Ngorongoro District is for wildlife purposes.
An unlawful occupation by Maasai was alleged by Government officials to be main
reasons for the 2009 malicious and awful operation in Loliondo. In 983, the villages
within the District were also registered legally? Then it’s ridiculous to here such
allegations from government officials. Human rights NGO’s operating in Ngorongoro
have been vehemently condemned by the government official as trouble mongers.
The District is rich of natural resources but surprisingly the people on the land still live in
extreme poverties. This is what has been baptized as Resource curse. Resource curse
represents enormous impediments to development, yet it is important to understand that
natural resources is not a problem, rather it is lack of good governance and democracy.
Therefore remedying this institutional failure we need change of law, policy and
attitudes towards pastoralism.For fifty years now the Masaai community felt as
persecuted and unlucky people in the world. We see people carrying out various
projects and implementations of unknown policies without being even allowed to make
any inquiry. Community development activities and livestock services practically
stopped and security became a serious issue. Following their parochial perceptions of
pastoralists, governments in Africa and elsewhere in the world where these people are
found, have introduced policies and practices which have resulted in marginalization of
the people, environmental degradation, and disintegration of the pastoral economy.
There is little empathy among the Government officials and the NCA Authority staffs
towards pastoralism as a livelihood and land use system.There are serious problems
with the representation of the interests of the local communities in the NCAA. The legal
and political situation of the NCAA has created a constitutional void in as far as the local
communities are concerned, denying them certain basic citizenship rights to which they
are entitled under the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.
With regard to education there are problems and constraints on educational
development in Ngorongoro. The district has fewer Secondary schools with poor and
ramshackle facilities. The district doesn’t have even a single school with advanced
secondary level. These problems include long distances which must be covered to and
from school, very little pressure exerted for women's education, many teachers not
being properly paid to work in the pastoral areas, and a general negative attitude of the
community towards schooling as a whole, children who are enrolled in school are every
day dropping out before completing their studies. There is also the problem of poor
educational facilities which characterizes virtually all the schools. Most children of the
pastoralists and agro pastoralist in Ngorongoro do not perform well in the National
Examinations in Standard Seven and Secondary school results. Despite the fact that
the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is "a prestigious world heritage site and biosphere
reserve, that nets at least Tsh 40 Bill per Month , many students can’t afford to attend
their schools due to lack of money.
It is therefore sounds easy to say, despite the fact that Ngorongoro is rich in natural
resources; still there is bleak future for its people. Many people know the district only
because of its wonders. The district is famous in natural resources and internationally
recognized. This conference will enable members of NDUSA and all invited guests to
get the other side of the story about the District and its people. The district is taking a
lead in violations of human rights in Tanzania. Papers to be presented will summarize
the status of education in the District and the trend of violations of human rights in
Ngorongoro from 1959 up 2010. Villagers want back their ancestral land both for their
survival as well as for the sustainability of their livelihood system. They want to fairly
benefit from the natural resources in their areas. Further, there is a strong demand for
the government’s accountability in all decisions that impact on the livelihood of the
people.
2.2 Objectives of the Conference
• The conference has been structured to address two common problems
(Resource based conflict and educational problems) resurfaced in Ngororongoro
for decades.
• To implement the objectives of NDUSA by open up floor for discussion between
elites, academics, public officials, members of the business community, as well
as members of civil societies, development partners and the public in general.
• To provide a free and participatory horizon for all members of NDUSA and other
invited guest including policy makers ,public officials ,the media, Civil societies
and all well wishers of the Ngorongoro District to critically discuss the root causes
of the said common problems and their possible solutions.
• To create a spiral network between elites in Ngorongoro, NGO'S and
Government that aims to provide transparency and efficiency in all development
programs within the district purposes.
• The discussions and recommendations will be structured to address policy and
strategic issues that have a bearing on pastoral livelihoods.
• Many of the current reforms at the national level have serious implications for the
livelihoods of pastoralists in Ngorongoro and elsewhere, and if we do not
participate in them actively, then we stand to lose substantially. In this
connection, the conference will draw attention to all current processes relating to
the land management reform processes in Ngorongoro.
2.3 Activities During the conference
(i)Paper presentation on Status of Education in Ngorongoro
Participants in general had apple time discuss the situation of education in Ngorongoro,
the poor performance of primary and secondary schools, frequent school drop outs
were among of the problems pointed out by members during the Meeting. Other
problems related to state of education in Ngorongoro were also discussed; these were
the lack of relevant and adequate policies, psychological torture, and corruption, poor
management of education programs, financial constraints and cultural attitudes.
However, to prove these allegations it was resolved that; there should be NDUSA
education committee; to conduct a mini research on the current state of education in
Ngorongoro District. The select committee was assigned to collect all relevant
informations to reveal the education state in Ngorongoro. The findings of the
committee will in turn be presented during the conference for critical analysis and policy
recommendation thereof. The Committee is composed of Members of NDUSA who are
currently college students and other members of NDUSA who works in Ngorongoro and
other places.
(ii)Resource Based Conflict in Ngorongoro
The steering committee had also a time to deliberate on various problems facing the
District. Resource based conflict was noted to be the common problem in the District.
The District is rich of natural resources but surprisingly the people on the land still live in
extreme poverties. The meeting found out that resource-based conflict constitutes one
of the major development challenges in Ngorongoro.
In this regard another committee was formed named NDUSA resourced based select
committee. The select committee was assigned to collect all relevant information to
reveal resource based conflicts in Ngorongoro. The findings of the committee will in turn
be presented during the conference for critical analysis and policy recommendation
thereof. The Committee is composed of Members of NDUSA who are currently college
students and other members of NDUSA who works in Ngorongoro and other places.
(iiI) General discussion and recommendations
(iv) Resolutions
2.4 Expected Results
Ø Permanent committees will be formed to carry out more studies and
research on pertinent issues arose during the conference.
Ø Another Conference will be born, the conference will be done in Loliondo
and involve people at grass root level to inform the community all the
stapes taken by NDUSA to address our common problems.
Ø The conference is expected to yield policy recommendations on how to
end common problems facing people in Ngorongoro.
Ø The conference is expected to gather all Organizations operating in
Ngorongoro and other funders of development related projects or
development partners in order to give out their practical experience from
the District.
Ø We expect spiral network among Ngorongoro elites will expanded at the
benefit our people.
3.0 Available Resources
Ø The only available resource from NDUSA is human resource.
4.0 Required Resources
Ø Conference Running Cost
5.0 Tentative Budget
Item Amount Total
Conference Hall 1,000,000/= 1,000,000/=
Bites and soft drinks 10000x 200 people 2,000,000/=
P A System 400,000/= 400,000/=
Decoration 200,000/= 200,000/=
Communication 100,000/= 100,000/=
Preparations expenses 300,000/= 300,000/=
Media 200,000/= 200,000/=
TOTAL 4,200,000/=
The table above shows required amount of money to make the event
materialize.NDUSA is the recently student’s initiatives association which is nonprofit
making and non political organization which depends solely on its members fees to run
some of its activities. Therefore, for NDUSA to be able to make the proposed special
conference effective, participatory and fruitful, we kindly send to you this proposal
seeking any sort of support from you/your office.
For your contributions or any clarification please contact the following Delegates of
NDUSA
1.Onesmo Olengurumwa NDUSA Vice President +255717082228/0783172394
2. Valentine Ngorisa NDUSA Chief Mobilizer 0714-662040
3. Gidion Mokiwa NDUSA Financial Manager
4. Geofrey Humbe NDUSA Sectretary
The Account to be used is NDUSA Account number 4111600301 NMB
Yours Sincerely
Ngorongoro Elites Association
Onesmo P.K Olengurumwa
Vice President NDUSA
PATRIOTISM IS OUR CULTURE