Investing in education can be seen as a tool that can facilitate a better quality of life for individuals and for society in general. Through a strategy of partnership working, the poor in the society have more chance of accessing educational opportunities. In Tanzania, provision of education is the collaborative task of various groups including local communities. However, despite various efforts through established educational programmes and reforms, poverty levels are still high, particularly in rural areas, suggesting that efforts to reduce poverty through education have not yet produced significant results. Using the experiences and perspectives of people living in Tanzanian rural communities, this study explored the nature of the government-community partnership (GCP) in the provision of educational opportunities. The study examined the literature to explore tensions around the concepts and issues in the discourse on the collective working spirit including the wider perspectives offered by the historical background and the political complexity of partnership working in community development. The study adopted a qualitative multiple-case study approach and used multiple sources of evidence (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, non-participant observation and documents) to gather the in-depth data necessary to explore the practice of GCP. In writing this account, the analysis and discussion of findings were explored through the lens of a GCP networking framework offered by the theories of social networks and social capital. To facilitate the analysis of GCP, four key themes were identified. The first theme explored the context under which community participation is practised within the GCP framework. The second analysed micro-politics in decision-making and the implementation process of community development. The third examined the nature of leadership at local levels in GCP working relationships. The fourth theme considered the challenges of current GCP practice and possible future alternatives. The findings from this study suggest that, despite GCP appearing to be a complicated social phenomenon, it is and will remain, a reliable solution to the socio-economic problems of the rural poor populace. The problems associated with GCP practice for education and community development in rural communities are systemic and associated with a system in which power is disproportionately distributed among the GCP actors. The nature of this GCP working relationship has prevented opportunities for creating productive network ties and for the collective development of social capital. The study concluded that strengthening network ties and building social capital might not in themselves be adequate; rather, there is a need for a responsive government with a grounded mutual power structure based on transparency and trust.