This article examined community participation in the delivery of water and primary health care services in the Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in Tanzania. This was the descriptive research study which employed both qualitative and quantitative research designs involving a total of 208 respondents. Where 127 respondents filled in the questionnaires, 51 respondents participated in the in-depth interviews and 30 respondents participated in the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The results indicate that decentralization reforms have facilitated the formation of health and water services governance structures that facilitate community participation in the service delivery. The findings further revealed the means through which community participated in the delivery of services, i.e., from participating in the meetings, project initiation and management, to membership in various statutory services boards and committees.

This article examines the impact of performance audits on public organizations in Tanzania using the Tanzania Public Service College as a case study. The study subscribes to an interpretive research paradigm, which allowed for adopting a qualitative approach to understand participants' perceptions thoroughly. Documentary findings from audit reports between 2010-2017 have collaborated with 32 interviews from the respondents who participated in the auditing process over the study period. The study findings are linked to the independent factors identified in the literature on the quality of the information in audit reports and the impact of audit investigations. The article concludes that the impact of performance audits depends on whether auditees agree with recommendations. Notably, the article argues that fundamental changes can be realized in the presence of strong internal control systems. The role of collaboration and trust, parliament, media, and auditors’ expertise in ensuring the impact of performance audits were also highlighted. Finally, theoretical and practical recommendations are drawn, and study limitations and areas for future research are highlighted.

Public administration has been given a cold shoulder by some of its sister disciplines within the social sciences probably due to lack of the theoretical basis and perennial reliance on related disciplines to explain and direct, and inform rigor and relevance. On the contrary, science is informed by theory to investigate, explain and predict the phenomena because any scientific investigation and/or explanation have to be grounded on certain article of faith to develop new rigor and influence its relevance. In this setting, this article attends Tanzania Public Administration Research. An analysis was done by appraising two journals hosted by Mzumbe University in Tanzania namely the Journal of Policy and Leadership (JOPL) and the Uongozi, the Journal of Management and Development Dynamics from 2007 to 2014 in order to establish the contribution of research in the field. A database of 80 articles was compiled, including 49 articles from JOPL and 31 from the Uongozi. Content analysis and triangulation of the findings from the five main analytical variables that is: research topic; research purpose; research methodology; research focus; and institutional funding findings obtained by and large illustrate that there has been little theory development in Tanzania public administration research. In order to improve public administration research particularly in Tanzanian context, causing reasons are provided and the article proposes remedial interventions.

This paper attempted to analyze how public managers use performance information at Tanzania Public Service College (TPSC), Tabora campus. It based on self-reported performance information. We systematically reviewed the TPSC Self-Evaluation Study Report (2019); TPSC Service Delivery Survey report, 2016; TPSC steering committee report, 2017; and TPSC performance reports of 2016-2019. This review was corroborated with interviews from 89 respondents and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to offer the following insights: First, despite the presence of sound governance structures in TPSC and adherence to the public service rules and regulations, there is a weak purposeful use of performance information by public managers at TPSC to improve organizational performance through their decisions. This can be attributed to the nature of vertical information flow in TPSC. Second, there is weak culture of performance information use, paucity of performance information, lack of institutionalization of information and support from TPSC top leadership, which could facilitate strong internal use of performance data and in turn, improve organizational performance. Based on the findings, the paper offers recommendations to encourage performance information use at TPSC and NACTE, and points to new avenues for future research.

The article directs the discourse in Public Administration and Management (PAM)