Challenges of foreign financing on local ownership of NGOS’ development agenda in Tanzania: a case of NGOS’ experiences in Zanzibar.

This study investigated the extent to which foreign financing affect local ownership of NGOs’ development agenda specifically using the experiences of three local NGOs in Zanzibar. Purposively, the study selected three local NGOs’ namely, the association of people with disabilities in Zanzibar (APDZ), Zanzibar NGOs Cluster (ZANGOC) which primary focuses on HIV/AIDS and Zanzibar association for children advancement (ZACA) dealing with advocating and promoting of children’s rights. The data were collected through interviews and questionnaires and analyzed using the aid of SPSS version 11. The study found that foreign financing greatly affected implementation of the NGOs ownership of development agenda. The study also revealed that lack of funds was critical factor that undermined the capacity of the NGOs to run their programmes and projects effectively. It was also found that donors imposed different conditions that hinder NGOs to own their development agenda. It was revealed that APDZ had more income generation sources than ZACA and ZANGOC. Nevertheless, the study found that the NGOs development plans were not comprehensive enough to improve the ownership of NGOs development agenda. From these findings, it was recommended that NGOs should increase their focus on generating more incomes, strengthening organization capacity as well as adhering to their missions. The study also recommended that both the government and donors have a role to play for the development of NGOs in Zanzibar.