Partnership, the pre-eminent buzzword of the last two decades, is still very much the mantra in development cooperation discourse, at least in the North, as we begin the new millennium. This posthoc retrospective study is an insider's account of personal experience in participating and observing the development of Tanzania's Education Sector Development Program over a one-year period in 1998--1999. The study interrogates the workings of Donor-Government partnerships within this setting in an attempt to unravel the realities on the ground in their relationships and how the power asymmetry between these principal actors and their concomitant behaviour served to subvert the effectiveness and sustainability of the partnership. / This study in development anthropology is scaffolded by the epistemic orientation of postmodern theories. The approaches adopted for constructing and telling the stories that are narrated are borrowed from the interpretive anthropology of Clifford Geertz and the postmodern anthropology of James Clifford. Looking back and recollecting and reconstructing events required the generation of enabling memories, for which the memory-work method was adapted and used. / The study reveals that the hegemonic rituals that characterized development interventions in Tanzania bordered more on patronage than on partnership. Partnership was very much valued in principle by all parties but when the chips were down, it seemed ownership and trust, two key concepts undergirding partnership, were casualties in the complex dance of cooperation that the contending parties engaged in. They dealt with each other politely but suspicion and mistrust were mutual at the level of Donor-Government and in situ Centre-Periphery relationships. / A modest proposal is advanced for understanding the broader context of a Donor-Government relationship; it attempts to relate operational and policy horizontality to include a more vertical consultative process involving civil society at large, particularly affected communities, NGOs and the private sector as a means of engendering a more effective and sustainable partnership between donors and recipient1 countries. / 1The normative perspective in particular on North-South relations rejects recipient as an appropriate descriptive term for a developing country receiving aid. For them, it connotes a superiority complex embedded in a language of welfarism. Throughout this thesis, I use recipient simply to convey a brutal reality: development assistance involves an element of charity and in the North-South relationship, generally, one party gives and the other receives , with the giver in a much stronger position to lay down conditions for the aid being offered.

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The main purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of information technology (IT) and strategies which academic and research libraries in Tanzania can adopt in order to facilitate the sustainability of information technology which has been acquired through external donor assistance. The motivation for undertaking the study emanated from the researcher's long working experience of twelve years in a university library. Through this experience it has been observed that many of the donor-funded or supported information projects like the introduction of information technology in libraries, thrive well and offer good information services when donor support is still available. However, once the donor project or donor support comes to an end very few of these have been able to continue delivering the intended information services and products. What this implies, is that very little is known by both donors and recipient libraries alike about factors or strategies which can affect the future sustainability of such donor-funded information projects in libraries. The study assumed that if information technology is effectively sustained it would reduce the vulnerable dependence of libraries on donor funding and support, and in turn facilitate effective local planning and development of the technology and related information services which responded to the needs of the library clientele. Eighteen libraries possessing and using some form of information technology were studied. The survey research method comprised the questionnaire; interview schedule and observation through visits as data and information gathering instruments was used in the investigation. Its selection was determined by the under-researched nature of the problem. Data and information generated by the instruments was content analyzed and formally presented by the use of descriptive statistics. The major findings of the study revealed that despite donor support to libraries, the status of information technology reflected early stages of its introduction in almost all the libraries. No all-round IT infrastructural development existed. Shortages or non-availability of various IT equipment and accessories resulted in differences in the quantity of the technology possessed by each of the libraries studied. Consequently, effective use of the technology was hampered by the scarcity or inadequate availability of the equipment and accessories as well as limited IT skills, knowledge and competence among library staff. While all the libraries indicated that they had great needs for IT training, the levels at which it was required differed from one institution to another. As a result, not many of the IT-related information needs were currently being satisfied. The findings also reflected positive concurrence on the feasibility of IT sustainability by the libraries. Most of the libraries agreed that despite being under-resourced, the sustainability of information technology based upon own library resources could be feasible provided all or most of the proposed sustainability strategies were effectively and concurrently implemented by the libraries. Proposed sustainability strategies have been presented in the study. These could be conceived within three broad categories namely, strategies related to: the need for adequate resource-generation, formulation of IT policy informed by effective IT planning and management practices, and the enhancement of the role and value of information and related services as vital elements for its adequate support. All these strategies affect library parent organization managements, library managements and professionals as well as donors of the technology. The study concludes that libraries need to become more involved in charting out the required direction of IT development which would ensure the availability of adequate and appropriate technology in response to user needs and its effective sustainability. This would involve improvement of the status of IT; formulation and actual implementation of IT policies and planning; the need for continuous assessment of user needs, and effecting continuous IT education and training in libraries. The recommendations and areas for further research put forward by the study were based on the implications reflected by the study findings. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998