PROCEDURES FOR REGISTERING INTERNATIONAL NGO’s IN TANZANIA

The Non-Governmental Organization Act, 2002 as amended by Act 11/2005 defines NGO’s as a voluntary grouping of individuals or organizations which is autonomous, non partisan, non profit sharing organized at a local, national or international level for purposes of enhancing or promoting economic, environmental, social or cultural development or protecting the environment, lobbying or advocating on such issue; or established under the auspices of any religious or faith propagating organization, trade union, sports club or community based organization but does not include a trade union, social club, sports club, political party, religious or faith propagating organization or community based organization.

There are two main categories of registration:

• Registration at Local Level and;
• Registration at International Level

The registration at local level is sub-divided into three levels to include:

• District Level
• Regional Level and;
• National Level

This article will primarily focus on the procedures governing the registration of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO’s) in accordance to the Non-Governmental Organisations Act, Act No. 24 of 2002 as amended by Act No. 11 of 2005.

The NGO Act recognizes International NGO’s as charitable organisations that have originally been registered outside the jurisdiction of Tanzania.

The procedures for registering INGO’s is provided under Section 12 (3) of the amendment Act No. 11 of 2005 which provides that:

The application for registration shall be submitted in a duly filled prescribed Form No.1 and shall be submitted by three or more members being the founder members and two members out of the founder members should be residents of Tanzania.

The Application shall be accompanied by:

• Certificate of incorporation from the Country of Origin as a proof of its existence as a charity, or the same has been registered in the Country of origin for charitable purposes;
• The governing constitution/by laws of the organization as per Section 30 of the NGO Act, which requires all NGO’s to adhere to the terms stipulated under the constitution which is the governing document;
• Minutes containing full names and particulars of founder members;
• Personal Particulars of office bearers;
• Address and Physical location of the head office of the NGO in Tanzania;
• Application Fees and;
• Any other information required by the Registrar.

International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO’s) are required to have a minimum number of three or more persons at the time of registration, however the NGO’s in Tanzania are member based and the number of members can increase based on the need of each organization.
Once all of the above requisite requirements are met under the Act, the Registrar will register the INGO and issue a certificate of registration.

Post Registration and Compliance Requirements:

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) in Tanzania including International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO’s) are supposed to comply with the followings:

• To pay fees annually;
• To prepare report of its activities during the calendar year and;
• To prepare audited financial reports that shall be made available to their respective Boards, Public and all stakeholders.

The above post registration compliance are mandatory required to be submitted to the Registrar of NGO’s at the end of each calendar year and failure to do that, the respective NGO shall loose its registration status in Tanzania.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

This editorial is intended to give you a general over view of the Law. If you would like further information on any issue raised in this column, please contact.Patrick Sanga
Partner
E: p.sanga@vemmaattorneys.co.tz
M: +255 686 999 993Haika-Belinda Macha
Partner
E: hb.macha@vemmaattorneys.co.tz
M: +255 688 305 999