The role of civil society organisations in raising political awareness: a case study of civil society organisations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Since 1990’s after the disintegration of USSR due to Perestroika and Glasnost, the main emphasis in Africa was on vesting power into the hands of the people i.e. civil society. Now the civil society was expected to play an active role in the socio-economic and political aspects, specifically civil society organizations were referred to as the engine for the democratization process. This study is about civil society organizations and political awareness. It specifically, assessed the effectiveness of the civil society organizations in raising political awareness. The study was conducted in Dar es Salaam and the study sample included three civil society organizations which were Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC),Environmental, Human Rights Care and Gender Organisation (ENVIROCARE), and Concern for Development Initiatives for Africa (FORDIA) in which 27 people were contacted three government officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Registrar of societies office, and 30 people from the community .Interviews, focus group discussions and the documentary evidence were employed to facilitate data collection. The findings of this study revealed that, generally the civil society organizations even though they are facing some problems they have had encouraging impact on the raising of political awareness.