Popular participation in village governments: a case of Morogoro district, Tanzania.

The study revealed that most of the respondents were least aware of the most crucial functions of the village council. The villages associated the council with the functions of taking and presenting problems to the central government. The leaders associated the council with the function of helping the villagers when they came across difficulty. Only 25% of both groups, mentioned the formal function of planning and coordinating village activities. About 90% of the villagers and 65% of the leaders were unaware of the committees of the village council. With regard to the degree of influence of the villagers over village decisions, the findings revealed that issues that are peripheral and not critical for the development of the village pre-occupied the village council. Such issues did not reflect the felt needs of the villagers. The production committee and village office, provided most agenda whereas the district offices and the ward secretary were the largest source of agenda from outside the village. On the whole, the findings show that the level of awareness about some of the important aspects of the village system, was quite low. This means that both the villagers and the leaders were least aware of their rights and obligations.