SAM TRAININGS INSTIGATED ACCOUNTABILITY TO VILLAGE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEES IN IRINGA RURAL DISTRICT.

Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT) with the assistance from USAID organized and conducted a 7 days training sessions on introduction of Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) concept and its methodologies to Village Environmental committees in Kiwere Ward, Iringa Rural district. The main objectives of the training was to build the capacity of the identified VEC members to conduct SAM on the Natural resources sector with an expectation that the village Environmental committees was to be an agent of change  at the village, ward and district level after being conversant with SAM in NRM sector.

The training drew up  at least seven (7) committees  which gives a total number of 35 participants including,  Village Natural Resources Committee ( VNRC),  Village Water Committee( VWC), Village and Council (VLC), Village Land use Committee (VLUC), Village Planning and Finance Committee (VPFC), Religious representatives as well as Elders representatives in the  village and during the following topics were  detailed elaborated , introduction to SAM and the five processes of SAM system/ cycle.

Accountability began to appear soon after the training where some of the Committee began to evaluate their performance, A good example is when the LEAT team followed up to assess the immediate post-training results or action taken they found the existing meeting session at Kitapilimwa village, Kiwere ward whereby the Village council were making evaluation of their performance. Kitapilimwa village received a training on 1^st to 7^th September 2014 and the meeting was held on the 10^th September 2014 Just 3 days after the training. The meeting session aimed at evaluating the performance of the Village council, looking at their weaknesses and developing strategies to tackle these limitations so as to ensure accountability and access to justice and basic human rights.

The meeting consisted of the Kiwere Ward councilor, Kitapilimwa Village chairman, Chairman of the planning and finance committee, Village Executive Secretary, Members from Natural resources committee, land use committee as well as other members from other committees.

Kitapilimwa village council promised to hold accountable all officials who noted not to be performers, all officials that are not integral and also promised to involve all citizens in the village of Kitapilimwa in the planning stage exactly at the point of floating priorities.