ARGENTARIUS
FOUNDATION
[English below]
24/5/2008
Kwa wanamtandao wa African Communities Dar es Salaam
Wapendwa wanamtandao
Nawandikia barua ili kuwapa kiwango tulichofikia sasa hivi wa mpango wa Foundation kwa ajili ya kufadhili mtandao.
Mnaelewa kwamba Foundation inakuwa inaguswa kwa ajili vikundi vinavyotumia ruzuku ya kusaidia watoto kwa ufanisi,
ruzuku yetu tunaotoa kwa mtandao hazionekani kuwa inatumika vizuri.
Nilitembelea Dar es Salaam mwezi wanne na nilikutana na vikundi ambayo ruzuku yao ya 2008 ilishtishwa na pia nilikutana na wanamtandao wote.Mkutano ilionekana kuwa na ufanisi. Pia nilifanya mikutano mengine 3 tofauti na maafisa wa mtandao,Jacka,Shabani na Steven.
Kwa kuwa Donatian Marusu ana kazi ya kudumu,kwa hiyo anakosa muda kwa kazi ya mtandao, tulitangaza nafasi ya mratibu.
Kwa kufuatilia kuja kwangu Dar, nilipendekeza kwa maafisa kwa pamoja tuaandike barua kwenu nyote kueleza matatizo yaliyotokea hapo awali na namna ya kukabiliana nayo.Barua hiyo pia ingeeleza taratibu zitakazokubalika ambapo:
- Foundation yetu itoe mapema ruzuku ya robo ya pili (2nd quarter grant) ili kugaramia shughuli zote za mtandao zinazoisha Juni 2008
- Maafisa watakutana ilikuweka vigezo katika uendeshaji wa mtandao
- Kama vigezo hivovitakuwa vimefikiwa hapo mwisho wa Juni 2008, Foundation watatoa ruzuku kwa mtandao kwa nusu ya pili, 2008, na ikiwa vitakuwa vimefikwa tena hapo mwisho wa 2008 basi Foundation itatoa ruzuku wa mwaka mzima wa 2009 ambapo ni mwaka wa Mwisho wa mpango wa program wanne Tanzania.
Ninaambatisha na barua hii barua ya mwisho ambao ni ‘draft’ ya barua ambao nimetuma kwa maafisa.Kwa bahati mbaya, baada ya kuhangaika na ‘drafts’ hizo mbili hapa na pale hatujakubaliana kuhusu barua ambao tutaandika.La muhimu zaidi, maafisa wenu hawakubali mapendekezo ya vigezo na namna ya kufanya tathmini au muda wa tathmini.
Huku Ulaya au Marekani, mtandao kama huu wa kwenu utashughulikia matatizo ama kama haya kwa kufanya mkutano wa wajumbe wote na kuamua kama kutakubali ruzuku unaotolewa, au kukutoa kura ya kukubaliana kwa maofisa wazamu.Kama kura kama hiyo ikishinda hapo mtandao utatujulisha kwamba ruzuku itoleayo imekubaliwa
Kama kura haijapitisha basi uchaguzi wa viongozi utafanywa.
Pendekezo letu la kutoa ruzuku kwa mtandao liko wazi kwa siku 30 toka terehe ya barua hii.
Kama mtandao wenu unahitaji kupokea ruzuku kwa vigezo vilivyoelezwa kwa barua hii basi tafadhali turudishe mkataba uliyotiwa saini na viongozi.
Iwapo mtachagua kutokubali ruzuku hii basi kwa niaba ya Foundation. Ninapenda kuwashukuru wote kwa kazi kubwa mliofanya katika mtandao kwa kuwasaidia watoto wa Tanzania walioko katika mazingira magumu,na nitawatumia salaam zangu za heri kwenu muendelee na kazi hii kwa mafanikio
Ni mimi wenu
Tim Jackson
Barua ya pamoja kwa wanamtandao wa Dar 16/4/08
Kwenu wanamtandao,
Hii ni barua ya pamoja kwenu kutoka Argentarious Foundation London na viongozi wenu wa Dar es Salaam. Tulikuwa na mazungumzo ya pamoja lengo ikiwa ni kutatua matatizo ya mtandao, tuliamua kwamba njia mwafaka ni kufikia maelewano ya ujumla kuhusu ni nini kilichokosewa na jinsi ya kusawazisha.
Historia
Kwa muda wa miezi michache iliyopita , Foundation na viongozi wamekuwa na maelewano tofauti.
Hoja ya Foundation ni kama yafuatayo:
- Kuna ishara kuwa mtandao haiendeshwi ipasavyo ikiwemo upungufu kwenye maaliko ya vikao na matumizi mabaya ya fedha. Kutowajulisha wanamtandao taarifa kamili kuhusu uamuzi na hatua inayofikiwa na Foundation.
- Usaidizi mdogo kuhusu ruzuku. Kama mnavyojua Foundation wanatoa ruzuku kwa wanachama kupitia mtandao na ina vigezo na taratibu za kisheria kuhakisha kuwa fedha inatumika ipasavyo.Kwa vile ruzuku ni ndogo Foundation haina mtu yeyote anayeweza kuongea Kiswahili,na vikundi viko mbali, ni vigumu kusimamia ruzuku bila usaidizi kutoka kwenye mtandao
Maoni ya maafisa:
- Foundation inakuwa na tabia ya kutoa maelekezo saidi na kulazimisha jinsi ya kutekeleza badala ya kuwashirikisha.
- Uamuzi wa kutoa ruzuku imekuwa sio wa haki:Baadhi ya vikundi vimekuwa vikinyimwa ruzuku kwa ajili ya maneno ya kusikia ambayo hayana ukweli na vikundi kutopewa nafasi ya kujieleza
- Foundation haikuwafahamisha maafisa kuhusu hatua ambazo zilikuwa zinachukuliwa.Hii ilisababisha viongozi kupata usumbufu wakati wanavyoshindwa kujibu maswali ya wanachama.
Makubaliano ya pamoja
Wikiendi uliopita, Tim, Jacka, Shabani na Steve wamefanya mikutano mitatu wakibadilishana taarifa nyingi nawamefikia makubaliano yafuatayo:
- Kumekuwa na tabia ya Foundation kujaribu kuwahushisha viongozi katika kufanya Maamuzi na kuwasiliana nao kwa njia ya barua pepe. Mara nyingi viongozi hawakujibu.
- Maamuzi ya ruzuku yaliongelewa kiundani na maafisa hao walioneshwa barua pepe kati ya Foundation na Wanachama.Kumbukumbu zinadhibitisha kwamba Foundation ilipopokea malalamiko ya matumizi mabaya ya fedha haikuchukua maamuzi maramoja na badala yake iliwapa vikundi wanachama nafasi ya kutoa taarifa kwa upande wao, na Foundation walichukua uamuzi wa jumla pale ambapo vikundi havikujibu.Tulikubaliana kwa pamoja kwamba, Taratibu ya maamuzi ya ruzuku yamekuwa ya haki.
- Ingawa Foundation walikuwa wanafahamisha viongozi kila jambo, tabia ya viongozi ya kutojibu barua pepe ilisababisha Tim kutowahusisha katika kufanya uamuzi.
- Pande zote mbili zilikubaliana kwamba kila mmoja wao analawama na watajaribu kujiboresha
Maboresho ya Mpango
Foundation na maafisa wamekubaliana kufanya maandalizi ya kuboresha uendeshaji wa mtandao na uhusiano baina yao
Mafunzo kwa maafisa
Foundation watafanya mafunzo kwa maafisa ili kuboresha mawasiliano kati ya pande mbili kuhakukisha kwamba kila upande unafikia matarajio mengine mazuri.
Kushirikiana
Pande zote mbili walikubaliana kwamba watakuwa wanatoa mapendekezo kwa uendeshaji bora wa mtandao na watajaribu kutekeleza mapendekezo hayo kwa makubaliano ya pamoja. Vigezo vya kutumia ni kwamba kila upande una uhuru wa kutoa mapendekezo kwa njia ya barua pepe na inaweza kujadiliwa.Ikiwa pande moja hautajibu kwa muda wa wiki moja, basi upande ule uliotoa pendekezo unauhuru wa kuamini kwamba upande huo mwingine unakubaliana na pendekezo lake.Kila upande unaruhusiwa kotoa ombi kote kote. Ukifanya ombi maalum, muda wa kawaida wa kutekeleza pendekezo itakuwa wiki moja (Ila kama kuna maelezo). Anaye pokea ombi anaweza kujibu kwa kuomba muda zaidi ikiwa anapendekeza pia njia nyingine ya kutatua tatizo au akieleza ni kwa nini haoni haja ya kujibu.Ikiwa hamna majibu basi aliyetoa ombi atachukulia kwamba ombi lake limekubalika na litatekelezwa..
Nyenzo na Malengo
Pande zote mbili watatumua nyenzo mpya kwa kufuatilia mapendekezo na maombi-mtandao unaoitwa BaseCampHQ.com. Pande zote mbili zilikubaliana kwamba kutakuwa na malengo wakati wa kujibu mapendekezo na maombi na kuyatekeleza.
Fedha
Pande zote mbili zilikubaliana kwamba tukio la hivi karibuni la kutafsiri katiba inadhibitisha kwamba utunzaji mzuri wa fedha ni muhimu na pia mtandao lazima uwe mfano wa kuigwa na wanachama. Maafisa waliahidi kwamba watapitia somo waliopata Jumamosi na kutathmini maksi ya mtandao kwa ajili ya kupima jinsi taratibu zake na miundo yake inakinga mtandao kuhusu matumizi mabaya ya hela. Baadaye watandaa kwa pamoja mpango kazi jinsi ya kuboresha maksi(scores) ya mtandao.
Mpango kazi utaeleza kwamba matumizi yote ya hela yatachapishwa kiundani kwa barua pepe kwa wanamtandao na pia zitabandikwa kwneye chumba cha mkutano kabla,na wakati wa mkutano na baada ya kikao kifuatacho:Pia kabla ya kununua chochote au vitu vya kiwango cha bei Tshs 50000 maafisa watatuma kwanza barua pepe kwa wanamtandao na kuwaeleza ni vitu gani vitanunuliwa na watapokea bei kutoka kwa watu watatu tofauti. Wanamtandao watapendekeza bei nzuri.
Madaai ya maafisa zaidi ya 50000 lazima idhibitishwe na Foundation Kwanza.
BAJETI
Pande zote mbili zilikubaliana kwamba ni muhimu bajeti ieleweke. Bajeti ilikusudiwa kwa shughuli za mtandao (tukijumlisha mafunzo yote, malipo ya kutembeleana mshahara na gharama bila kuhesabu ruzuku ya wanachama) ni dolla 15,000 kwa mwaka au dolla 1,250 kila mwezi.
Huduma kwa wanamtandao
Pande zote mbili zilikubaliana kwamba mtandao ipo kwa ajili ya kuhudumia wanachama wake na wanachama wanahaki ya kutegemea uongozi mzuri. Maafisa watandaa vikao vya mafunzo mapema na watatoa taarifa kwa vikundi wiki mbili kabla ya siku ya kikao. ijapo kumetokea dharura ( Kwa mfano Tim hakuweza kutoa taarifa mapema kuhusu kuja kwake Tanzania) Kwa vile baadhi ya vikundi hawana tabia ya kutumia mtandao mara kwa mara, maafisa walikubaliana kwamba wanachama watapata taarifa kwa arafa na pia kupitia barua pepe
Mratibu
Maafisa na Foundation wamejadiliana kuhusu uwezekano wa kuajiri mratibu.
· Faida wa kuwa na mratibu wa kudumu ni kwamba ataweza kujengea wanamtandao uwezo na ataweza kutembelea wanachama kila mara.
· Hasara ni kwamba mratibu wa kudumu atalipwa asilimia kubwa ya hela ya kuendesha mtandao. Kwa hiyo vikao vitapungua na maafisa watatumia hela ndogo kwenye gharama na kwenye simu. Pia maafisa wenyewe wakifanya kazi ya uratibu wataweza kujijengea stadi za uratibu wa kila siku na wanachama pia watapata nafasi ya kujijengea stadi. Kwa hiyo tukiajiri mratibu wa kudumu basi maafisa hawatapata nafasi ya kuboresha stadi zao.
Nafasi ya mratibu tayari tushatangaza na tuliweza kupokea maombi 31. Na Tim, aliweza kuwafanyia usahili waombaji 6 Dar es Salaam Juma tatu terehe 14/3/08. Maafisa na Foundation walikubaliana kwamba swala la kuajiri mratibu iangaliwe upya. Pia tulikubaliana kualika waombaji watatu wa kazi ya mratibu ili kila mmoja wao aweze kutekeleza wajibu wa kujengea uwezo mtandao wa wanachama. Majukumu yatakuwa ni kufanya kazi na Twafaha, WOYONA na WOLISU. Hawa ni baadhi ya vikundi vilivyo ambiwa watapewa ruzuku robo robo au nyavu ya mbu badala ya fedha taslimu na kwa bahati mbaya hawakuweza kukutana na Tim ili kupata maelezo zaidi. Lengo letu ni kuwajulisha wale waliomba kazi ya uratibu kuwasiliana na kundi moja wapo liliotajwa hapo juu ili waandae kikao cha mafunzo ya kujadili swala la kuwasababisha kupata ruzuku pungufu. Pia lengo letu ni kuleta mabadiliko kwa kila kikundi ili kuwezesha kundi hilo kupata ruzuku ya hela mwaka 2009. Afisa moja atahudhuria kikao cha mafunzo na atawasilisha maoni yake kuhusu huyo mratibu mtarajiwa kwa Foundation.
Vigezo vya ruzuku zijazo
Kwa sababu ya matatizo kwenye mtandao, Foundation wanajadili swala la kuendelea kugharamia mtandao.Tim na maafisa wamejadili swala hilo na wamekubaliana kwamba Foundation watajitahidi kutoa ruzuku wiki moja baada ya kutia saini barua hii kugharamia shughuli za mtandao kwa kipindi cha robo ya pili(2nd quarter) ya mwaka 2008.Muda wa robo ya pili ikiisha. Foundation wata tathmini ubora wa utendaji kwa kuangalia vigezo vifuatavyo.
Kigezo Matarajio
Kutekeleza maoni na maombi 75% kwa wakati, 90%isizidi wiki moja
baada ya
siku ya mwisho
_________________________________________________________________
Fedha:Malipo ya maafisa Hakutakuwepo na malipo yoyote kwa maafisa bila taarifa ya maandishi kutoka Foundation
_____________________________________________________________________.
Maombi ya fedha Malipo yoyote zaidi ya 50000 hairuhusiwi bila idhini ya Foundation
______________________________________________________________________
Fedha: Uidhinishwaji wa risiti Madai yote yaorodheshwe kwenye risiti kulingana na masomo ya Jumamosi na kuidhinishwa na wanachama pamoja na Foundation.
______________________________________________________________________
Huduma kwa wanachama taarifa ya vikao vyote zitumwe kwa angalao 95% ya vikundi kwa arafa na barua pepe.
_____________________________________________________________________
Kama matarajio haya yamefikiwa kabla 1/7/2008 basi malipo ya awamu ya pili ya nusu
mwaka yatafanyika.La sivyo,Foundation wataacha kugharamia mtandao mara moja
na mtandao watatafuta hela kwa wafadhili wengine. Foundation wanatarajia kwamba
tukitimiza shughui zetu vizuri wataendelea kutoa hela kwa vikundi wanachama mwaka
ujao(2009)
Ni sisi wenu
Jacka Mwambi Tim Jackson
Mwenyekiti. Afconet,Dar es Salaam Argentarius Foundation
Shabani Madega
Mhazini,Afconet,Dar es Salaam.
Steven Milambo
Katibu,Afconet, Dar es Salaam.
24 May 2008
To Members of the Dar es Salaam network of AfricanCommunities.org
Dear network members
I am writing to give you an update on our Foundation’s plans for funding your network.
As you know, our Foundation has become increasingly concerned that while member groups are using our grants to help children very effectively, our funding of the network does not seem to be being so effectively used.
I visited Dar es Salaam in early April and offered meetings to the groups whose 2008 grants we restricted, and the entire membership of the network. The meetings seemed to be productive, and I also held three separate meetings with the network officers, Jacka, Shabani and Steven.
To follow up from my visit, I suggested to the officers that we should together write a letter to all of you explaining the problems that have occurred in the past, and how we hoped to resolve them. The letter would also have announced an agreed plan in which:
* Our Foundation would immediately make a second-quarter grant to the network to cover its operating costs up to the end of June 2008.
* The officers would meet a set of standards in their running of the network.
* If those standards were met by the end of June 2008, our Foundation would then give the network a grant for the second half of 2008. If they were still met by the end of 2008, then our Foundation would give a full-year grant for 2009, the last year of our four-year program in Tanzania.
I am attaching, at the end of this letter, the latest draft of the letter that I sent to the officers. Unfortunately, after going backwards and forwards with two drafts, we have not been able to agree. Most importantly, your officers do not accept either the proposed performance standards and how they will be evaluated, or the length of the evaluation period.
In Europe or the USA, a network like yours might handle the problem by either holding a meeting of all members to decide whether to accept the funding offer, or by having a ‘vote of confidence’ in the officers. If in such a vote the members supported the position taken by the officers, then the network would notify us that the grant offer had been refused. If the members decided to accept our proposal, then new elections would be held for officers.
Our offer of funding for your network will remain open for 30 days from the date of this letter. If your network wishes to receive funding on the basis described in the letter, then please return the agreement signed by your officers.
Should you choose not to accept this funding offer, then on behalf of our Foundation, I’d like to thank all of you for the great work that you have done in your network to help vulnerable children in Tanzania, and send you all our good wishes for your continued work and success.
Yours sincerely
Tim Jackson
Draft
Joint Letter to Dar Network Members 16 Apr 08
[This is the letter that the officers did not agree to.]
Dear network members,
This is a joint letter to you from the Argentarius Foundation in London and from your officers in Dar es Salaam. We have talked together to resolve the problems in the network, and we have decided that the best way forward is to come to a consensus about what has gone wrong and what we all need to do to put it right.
The history
Over recent months, the Foundation and the officers have had separate concerns.
The Foundation’s concerns were
* Signs that the network is not being well run, including poor organization of invitations and meetings, poor financial controls, inaccurate reporting to members of decisions and actions taken by the Foundation.
* Insufficient support for grantmaking. As you know, the Foundation makes grants to member groups via the network, and it has an ethical and legal responsibility to make sure that the money is properly used. Because the grants are small, the Foundation does not have any staff who speak Swahili, and the groups are far away, it is impossible to administer the grants without support from the network.
The officers’ concerns were
* That the Foundation has been too directive, imposing approaches and solutions instead of collaborating.
* That grantmaking decisions have been unfair: some groups have been denied grants on the basis of unsubstantiated rumours, and given no change to respond.
* That the Foundation did not keep officers informed about actions that were taken. This caused the officers embarrassment when they could not answer members’ questions.
Consensus
Over the past weekend, Tim, Jacka, Shabani and Steven have had a total of three meetings, exchanging a lot of information, and have come to the following consensus:
* There has been a history of attempts by the Foundation to involve the officers in decisions and consult them by email. In many cases the officers did not respond.
* Grant decisions were talked about in detail, and the officers were shown numerous email messages between the Foundation and member groups. The records show that when the Foundation received claims of misuse of funds, it did not make decisions, but instead gave the member groups a chance to give their side of the story – and took decisions unilaterally only when the groups did not respond. The joint conclusion was in fact that the grantmaking decision process has been fair.
* Although the Foundation initially kept officers well informed, the common situation that officers often ignored emails from the Foundation or took no action prompted Tim to make less effort to involve officers in decisions.
* The two sides concluded that there have been faults on both sides, and both sides will try to do better.
Improvement Plan
The Foundation and the officers have agreed a plan to improve the working of the network and relations between the two sides:
Officer training
The Foundation will offer special training for the officers to improve communications between the two sides and make sure that each side meets the other’s expectations better.
Cooperation
The two sides have agreed that they will each contribute suggestions for the smooth running of the network, and they will try to implement these suggestions by consensus. The approach will be that each side is free to make suggestions by email which can then be discussed. If one side does not respond for a week, then the side that made the suggestion will be free to assume that the recipient agrees to the suggestions. The two sides may also make requests to each other. When a request is made, the usual deadline for acting on the suggestion will be one week (unless specified otherwise). The recipient of the request can respond by asking for a longer deadline, proposing another method to solve the problem, or explaining why he or she does not think it is a good idea to respond. If no response is received, then the side making the request can assume that the request is agreed and the recipient will act on it.
Tools and targets
The two sides will use a new tool to keep track of suggestions and requests – a web site called BaseCampHQ.com. The two sides agree that there will be targets for responding to suggestions and requests, and acting on them.
Finances
Both sides agree that the recent case of the translation of the constitution shows that good financial management is important, and that the network must set a good example to its members in this area. The officers have agreed that they will go through the materials from the training that took place on Saturday, and calculate the score of the network itself in order to measure how well its processes and systems protect the network from misuse of funds. They will then put together an action plan for how to improve its score. This action plan will include that all network expenses will be listed in detail in an email to members and displayed on the walls of the room before, during and after the next network meeting; and that before spending any item or series of items over 50,000 shillings, the officers will email the network members to explain exactly what goods or service need to be bought, and will get three written quotations or prices. Network members will be free to suggest good-value suppliers. Officers’ expenses and payments over 50,000 shillings will also be approved by the Foundation before being paid out.
Budget
Both sides have agreed that it is important for the budget to be clear. The target budget for all network activities (excluding grants to members, but including all training, coordination, exchange visits, expenses, salaries and costs) is $15,000 a year, or $1,250 on average each month.
Member services
Both sides recognize that the network exists to serve its members, and members have the right to expect it to be well organized. The officers will schedule training meetings as far as possible in advance, and will try to give groups a minimum of two weeks’ warning of meetings, except in cases of emergency. (For instance, Tim was not able to confirm that he would visit Tanzania and buy his air ticket until the Tuesday before the meeting last weekend.) Since some groups do not use email regularly, the officers agree that the warning to member groups will be by text message as well as by email.
Coordinator
The officers and the Foundation have discussed the possibility of appointing a full-time coordinator.
* The advantages are that a full-time coordinator could do plenty of capacity-building, and can visit member groups regularly.
* The disadvantages of employing a full-time coordinator are that the coordinator would absorb most, if not all, of the budgeted costs for running the entire network, so there would have to be fewer meetings and the officers would have less money to spend on expenses and on their time. Also, the act of coordinating builds the skills of the person doing the coordinating as well as the member groups, and if we employ a full-time coordinator then we miss the change to strengthen the skills of the officers.
The job of coordinator has been advertised, and 31 job applications have been received, of which Tim interviewed six in Dar es Salaam on Monday. The officers and the Foundation have agreed to keep the question of whether to have a coordinator in review, and have agreed to invite three of the candidates to each carry out a capacity-building job with a network member group. The jobs will be to work with Twafaha, Woyona and Wolisu, the three network groups that have been told they will receive a quarterly grant or a grant of mosquito nets instead of cash, and that failed to show up to a meeting with Tim at the weekend to try to sort out the issues. The aim will be to ask the candidate coordinators to contact one of the groups and arrange a training meeting to deal with the issues that caused them to be allocated a limited grant. The aim will be to make changes in each group that will allow the group to return to receiving a grant of cash in 2009. An officer will take part in the training meeting and will report back to the Foundation on his opinion of the candidate coordinator.
Future Grant Criteria
Because of the problems in the network, the Foundation’s trustees have been considering whether to continue funding the network. Tim and the officers have discussed the issues and have agreed that the Foundation will make reasonable efforts to remit a grant within a week of the signature of this letter to cover the Network’s costs in the second quarter of 2008. Then at the end of the second quarter, the Foundation will look at the network’s performance in the following areas:
Area of Activity
Target
Taking actions on suggestions and requests
75% on time, 90% not more than one week later than the deadline
Finance: officer payments
No payments to be made to officers without Foundation written advance authorization
Finances: requisitions
No payments over 50,000 to be made without obtaining competing quotes as described above
Finances: receipts and approvals
All expenses to be properly receipted as described in last Saturday’s training materials, and approved by both members and Foundation
Member services
All meetings to be notified to at least 95% of member groups by text message and email
If all the targets above have been met by July 1st, then funding for the second half of the year will be paid.
If not, then the Foundation’s funding of the network will end immediately and the network will seek funding from other donors. The Foundation expects that if this happens, it will continue to give grants to member groups in 2009.
Yours sincerely
Jacka Mwambi
Chairman, Afconet, Dar es Salaam
Shabani Madega
Treasurer, Afconet, Dar es Salaam
Steven Millambo
Secretary, Afconet, Dar es Salaam
Tim Jackson
Argentarius Foundation
