Historical and Current Perspectives

In many tropical developing countries such as Tanzania, modern forest management has been characterized by top-down state-centric governance. But the growth of participatory management forms, with multiple stakeholders is leading to a plethora of changes to laws and organizational structures and more complex interplay between international interests and local decision making. Participatory management is generally thought to be more sustainable in terms of both local livelihoods and environmental outcomes. But research here is limited. This background paper provides the contextual background required for the New Partnerships for Sustainability (NEPSUS) project’s work on new partnerships in forestry. The background paper examines the historical trajectory in Tanzania as well as at the international context that has led to the current makeup of forest management systems in Tanzania

South-South humanitarianism:The Case of Covid-Organics in Tanzania

Tanzania’s President sent a plane to Madagascar in May 2020 to bring a shipment of Covid-Organics, a purported cure and prevention for COVID-19. The herbal remedy was described as a gift to help African countries in need. Drawing on preliminary data in English and Kiswahili from unstructured participant observation, social and legacy media available online and shared through contact channels, and ongoing conversations, we explore the Tanzanian policy response to COVID-19. What can the exemplary case of Covid-Organics in Tanzania help us to understand about South-South humanitarian assistance (SSHA) in times of crisis? We suggest that Covid-Organics has enabled the government to project a link to latent debates about Pan-Africanism and Julius Nyerere’s legacy and Madagascar’s SSHA has provided an opportunity for a public reflection on Africa’s place in the world. For some, the remedy’s ‘Africanness’ is its comparative advantage, even promising a continental renaissance. For others, the lack of scientific evidence or approval by global health authorities like WHO is delegitimizing. These findings suggest that receivers of SSHA make sense of it in both a broad, post-colonial discursive context and in a specific context of local contestation. If the promise of this particular form of aid is its ability to transcend deep divisions between North and South, the case of Covid-Organics suggests that SSHA draws on deep ideologies of Pan-Africanism; is increasingly important in crises that are global; and like other forms of humanitarianism, reflects elite politics and priorities rather than prioritizing the distribution of humanitarian goods and decreasing inequality