Abigail Freeman

Alpha Ntayomba

Alpha Ntayomba, a native of Kigoma region in Tanzania has a background of Forestry from Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. He has worked with various NGOs in Tanzania as well as consultancy services among a number of international organizations. He is currently serving as a Co-founder and Executive Director of Population and Development Initiative (PDI), an NGO based in Kigoma region in Tanzania. The organization is dedicated to address water poverty, environmental issues, better nutrition and good governance and human rights in Tanzania since 2020.

Alpha has 15 years of extensive experiences in environmental conservation, water, sanitation and hygiene and increased civic space in the mining sector especially addressing the socioeconomic environmental and human rights situation among affected gold mining communities in Tanzania. 

Alpha served in various initiatives such as social accountability monitoring for improved water and sanitation services in Morogoro municipality (Tanzania) by means of social accountability tools which enabled citizens to claim better water and sanitation services from duty bearers in efforts to end water poverty. In the context of Claim Your Water Rights campaign supported by End Water Poverty, Alpha provided leadership role in the creation and capacity building of community agents of change who are currently working hard to claim for their water rights among duty bearers and mining companies at their villages in Geita district, Tanzania.

He also served as a consultant in different projects of adapting social accountability monitoring tools such as mine site assessment tool which accommodates and addresses various important aspects in the mining sector such as women workers prosperity, local employment and decent wages among mining communities in Geita region (Tanzania). Alpha has contributed a number of topics such as accountability in the water sector in different publications such as Water Integrity Global Outlook (WIGO 2021) of the Water Integrity Network (WIN).

Alpha participated in development and dissemination of different case studies such as mapping the progress and challenges of sanitation services among mining and fishing communities in Geita and Ukerewe districts in Tanzania. The studies supported by Sanitation Learning Hub to share successful civic spaces which worked well to support improved sanitation services such as construction of decent toilets by mining companies and small-scale miners shifting from open defecation to wide use of toilets in Geita district, Tanzania; the move which reduced water borne diseases and environmental pollution in mining areas.

He also participated in development of case studies on land rights issues among local communities adjacent to protected areas in Kigoma region in Tanzania. An Initiative supported by International Peace Information Service in the project of improving Research, Monitoring and Dialogue of Business and Human Rights in Tanzania. A number of local CSOs in Kigoma region are using the findings and recommendations of the studies to promote land rights and meaningful participation of communities in conservation efforts.

Alpha's dedication and leadership in community services especially among underserved populations has enabled him to be elected as a board member in international organizations such as Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) and European Partnership for Responsible (EPRM) Minerals where he proceeds to collaboratively work with others in ensuring strategic direction of the organizations for global responsible minerals supply chains through various standards and assurance mechanisms in the mining sector.

Alpha embraces evidence-based advocacy initiatives and increased civic space where communities are underreached and underserved. He is a designer of community surveillance mechanisms (implemented by community agents of change and local CSOs) among affected mining communities and villages adjacent to protected areas in identification and reporting of human rights issues such as health hazards of mining chemicals and land rights issues facing the local communities surrounding the game and forest reserves in Kigoma region.

He is also an innovator in the design of interactive digital maps which report status and navigation to better services among different contexts in Tanzania in efforts of increasing digital civic space in various social issues in the country.

Alpha is experienced in building/influencing sustainable collaborations and embracing teamwork and community engagement in national and international spaces in efforts to tackle critical issues facing the globe; socially, economically and human rights issues.

Through various NGO classes he attended and applied at workplaces, Alpha is equipped with adequate leadership and experts' skills and knowledge such as project management, resources mobilisation, NGOs in digital era and not-for-profit leaders which make him an agent of change and active leader for community work, organisational development and ensured impact of related initiatives.

Alpha Ntayomba plays other roles/engaged such as climate justice, fossil fuels issues, inclusive green economy for better environments, renewable energy decentralization efforts, influencing communities to be part and parcel of decoding injustice and protection/ advocating for the rights of human rights defenders and community agents of change

Alpha is a committed, democratic, flexible and diplomatic leader in working with others in ensuring that organizations make all efforts in staying in their strategic direction through discussions, sectoral analysis and regular reviews with action points/agreements well considered and adapted for organisational development and their contribution in serving communities.

  1. What is your favorite quote by someone who inspires you?

My favorite quote is from Nelson Mandela, the former president of Republic of South Africa. I appreciate the quote because it embraces actions, freedom and humility.

" It always seems impossible until it's done.” “Many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me.” “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” “Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.”

  1. What skills are you most proud of or want to learn?

I am proud of social accountability monitoring skills which may be used by capacitated communities/agents of change along with tools like community score cards or public expenditure tracking survey to hold duty bearers accountable of improving various social services such as water and sanitation. I have used these skills and the tools with agents of change in Morogoro municipality (Tanzania) and we were able to witness improved water services at Kingolwira ward with more water kiosks became operational, water treatment improved and increased community participation in water stakeholder’s meetings especially collective planning of water prices with authorities.

I am also proud of community surveillance mechanisms in combating illicit trade of charcoal and timber among community forests and reserves/protected areas in Kasulu district in efforts to combi nature crime in Tanzania. When communities are adequately engaged in monitoring and reporting illegal logging, they become part and parcel of conservation efforts in their villages. I encourage authorities and CSOs to keep engaging communities in conservation activities and collective solutions of land disputes to avoid retarded cooperation from them as well as possible human rights violation by the authorities during law enforcement.

In the context of community surveillance mechanism, which is mostly implemented by community agents of change, we witnessed relocation of 60 gold washing places at Lwamgasa village in Geita district, Tanzania. The gold washing places were once detrimental to the environment and residential areas from chemicals used in gold processing. The voices raised by communities, after monitoring the operations, enabled decisions to shift these sites to safe places from where people live and from water sources.

Furthermore, engaging communities with skills to monitor and report incidents in the mining sector enabled increased decent toilets something which reduced water borne diseases among miners and adjacent communities as well as increased civic space for responsible mining practices.

  1. What is your vision for civil society?

I see civil society as a pillar for addressing the socioeconomic, environmental and human rights issues in different sectors across the globe. For example, we have witnessed a number of civil society representatives across the globe working hard to address fossil fuels to keep our planet safe from global warming. I see Civil society as a pillar in addressing inequalities and oppression from authorities which don't follow principles good governance and human rights. The voices of the civil society matter and have resulted into improvement of governments' conduct in a number of countries despite massive threats to human rights defenders.

I also see civil society as a refuge for communities in addressing democratic and rule of law across the globe. The voices of civil society matter when communities witness abductions or disappearance of agents of change and human rights defenders. It is known that the voices from the civil society enabled some victims to reappear and join their families. This is what I assess and comment about the civil society as a reliable refuge for communities in any country.

  1. What lesson(s) have you learnt from failure?

The lessons I learnt from failure is limited accountability, participation and transparency especially in conservation efforts in Tanzania. However, there are some efforts to embrace these three pillars in recent years, the harm has been noticeable due decline of cooperation and communication between conservation authorities and the people; something which brought conflicts and limited conservation of protected areas as community sense of ownership of natural resources was not a serious priority in conservation efforts.

The second failure I may comment is availability of community projects which were not designed in a participatory manner with the targeted communities. The sense of ownership of these projects normally becomes limited as their insights are/were not considered from the beginning of project design. I encourage organizations and authorities to make sure that communities are part and parcel of projects design because same initiatives will be implemented in their villages and towns.

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