Mkonoo village is located about 30 kilometres from Arusha. The community is participating in the ‘Poverty Monitoring: Action for Accountability’ project implemented by Hakikazi Catalyst and jointly funded by Trocaire and Oxfam Ireland.

At a meeting of the village assembly it was decided to monitor the use of funds allocated for primary education. The community selected a poverty monitoring committee, and the members were trained in the use of modified community score cards to verify that the funds had been spent efficiently. They found that out of Tsh.9.3 million (€5300) allocated for the construction of three classrooms, Tsh.1.1 million had been misused, and that more than Tsh.1 million out of Tsh.4.7 million (€2683) earmarked for a new teacher’s house had been misappropriated.

The committee reported these findings to the village assembly, and the ward and council level administrations. After a local investigation, the case was forwarded to the government’s anti-corruption bureau, which is now investigating the matter.