What is The Foundation for Civil Society?
The Foundation for Civil Society is a Tanzanian non-profit company, designed and funded by a group of like-minded development partners, and governed by an independent Board. It was previously known as the Civil Society Program (CSP). The Foundation was registered in September 2002 and started operations in January 2003.

Our Vision
To become a sustainable model of excellence that contributes to the development of a vibrant, effective and innovative civil society sector that enables citizens to engage in the democratic process, promote human rights and contribute to poverty reduction and a better quality of life for all Tanzanians.

Our mission
To provide grants and other capacity building support to civil society organisations to enable economically disadvantaged and vulnerable citizens to:

• Access information and understand policies, laws and their rights
• Engage effectively in policy formulation and monitoring on poverty reduction
• Contribute to social development and to constructively hold the government and private sectors to account.
  

What is the aim of the Foundation?
The Foundation aims to establish an intermediary support mechanism for civil society organisations in Tanzania which will enable effective engagement in poverty reduction efforts as set out in the Government of Tanzania policies: Vision 2025, the Tanzania Assistance Strategy, and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP).

The Foundation is one of the largest support mechanisms for civil society in Tanzania, and is committed to delivering grant aid and supporting capacity-building initiatives as a means of strengthening effective engagement in poverty reduction.
What is the Structure of the Foundation?
The Foundation for Civil Society is operated by the Secretariat and governed by an independent Board and the Council Members.

The secretariat which is located in Dar es salaam, is responsible for day-to-day activities of the Foundation. It is made of three departments; Grants Department, Development Department and Administration & Finance Department.

Grants Department.
Grants department is primarily responsible on issues regarding grants. It is responsible for grants information dissemination through information sessions, grants application processing and contract management of the projects. The department is implementing these activities through site visits, information sessions in the regions and through reports analysis.

Development Department.
It has the overall responsibility of developing and monitoring the Foundation’s policies and procedures. It is a resource centre for the organisation. Specifically the department’s role is to make sure that the intended outputs and impacts of the Foundation’s services are realised effectively through impact assessments and grantees auditing, information gathering and dissemination, enhancing partnership and networks, conducting participatory research on CSOs and capacity development for CSOs and public engagement through public policy dialogues.

Administration and Finance Department.
The administration and finance department is responsible to ensure that the organisational development is providing quality services by managing recurrent expenses and maximising value for money within the allocated budget. It has the responsibility to prepare financial reports and ensure sources of funds. The administration and finance department is also charged with the role of updating human resources systems and developing staff related policies.