Who we are

Research, Community, and Organizational Development (RECODA)is a non-Governmental Organization (NGO) rooted strongly in Tanzania. It was established in 2000 to bridge the technology gap in development through research, consultancy, capacity building, and facilitation of community-based projects. In the beginning, RECODA’s main activity was consultancy work carried out for various development organizations engaged in implementing community development projects. Currently, the organization has extended her works into research and development specifically technology transfer to rural farmers.

Vision

The organization envisions a prosperous, strong, sustainable, and enlightened community free of ignorance and poverty.

Mission

RECODA’s mission is to bridge the technology gap in poverty reduction initiatives through socio-economic research, community-based programs (CBP), capacity building of CSOs, and provision of consultancy services.

Goal

The organization aims to make poverty and food insecurity history in Tanzania by ensuring that the poor communities have developed socially and economically sustainable livelihoods that can uphold their living.

Core Values

The core values of the organization are Transparency, Accountability, Creativity, and Teamwork (TACT)

Staff & Structure

Executive Director.

Executive Director (ED) is the overall leader of the Organization; he is responsible for the employees and project activities. The ED must constantly take time to nurture the organization’s relationship with the local government authorities and other partners. These activities should be supplementary to the local advocacy work carried out by the Programme Leader (PL), the Project Manager (PM), and the Project Officers (POs).

Programme Leader.

The Programme Leader (PL) has overall responsibility for the project(s). An important task for the PL is to educate and guide the PMs and the POs so that they can provide quality training to the groups. Furthermore, the PL has the task of monitoring the progress of all projects and the work of the PMs and POs, upgrading their competencies as necessary, and dismissing any personnel who are not performing well. The PL is fully responsible for the logistics of the procurement of project inputs (seeds, tools, animals), for allocating POs with the right knowledge to the different assignments, and for planning the visits and training sessions in all the groups in the project. He/she conducts training and regular staff meetings with the PMs is responsible for the development and administration of project policies and ensures that all grant requirements are met promptly.

Project Managers (PM).

The PM has the overall day-to-day responsibility for project support and training for the groups in the villages under the individual project. He/she functions as the site manager if the project is operated from a local branch office. The PM coordinates the work of the POs who have been assigned to the project. He/she supervises project activities and personnel, conducts regular (weekly) meetings with the POs, prepares project reports to the PL, administers the local project budget covering, for example, travel and meetings, ensure daily feedback sessions on fieldwork, and liaises with the PL on potential villages for spreading the RIPAT approach, working closely with the local government and extension officers.

Project Officers.

The Project Officers (POs) are the people in direct contact with the participating farmers. Their work is to teach about and give practical training in new farming technologies, and to facilitate participatory learning by the members of the groups established for the project. Having the right personality and attitude is often more important than the person’s educational background and level of qualifications for the POs. Some POs may have university degrees; some may be diploma holders.

Departments in the Organization

Programs (led by Programme Leader - PL)

Hosts all projects which encompasses these themes: Community Economic Development; Food and Nutritional Security; and Environment, Climate Change and Agroecology
RECODA Academy: Capacity building of different stakeholders – Farmer groups, Lead farmers, Extension Officers, Leaders, Farmer Associations and Project staff from different organizations etc
Monitoring and Evaluation and Quality control

RECODA implements community economic development projects in the area of agriculture, environmental conservation, climate change and livestock. The projects are geared towards income improvement, food and nutrition security while sustainable conserving the environment amidst climate change. The farmers are exposed to value chains of different commodities depending on their area.

Research and Publication (led by Research Coordinator - RC)

Through this department, data is collected from new (baseline) and ongoing RIPAT projects in order to analyze and quantify the project performance while at the same time, producing publications from the work done. The research results are also used in advocacy and writing policy briefs.

The department oversees the consultancy work that is undertaken for resource mobilization.

Finance and administration (led by FAM)

This department manages the assets and financial resources in the organization. They maintain good donor relationships through high level management of all financial resources.

Themes

Collaboration

RECODA collaborates very closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Local Government Authorities (LGA), grassroots communities, Help to Self Help (PULS), Foundation for Civil Society Organizations (FCSOs), Tanzania Agricultural Research Institutes (TARIs), World Vision Tanzania, Islands of Peace(IDP), McKnight Foundation, Compassion International–Tanzania, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM), African Conservation Tillage (ACT), Tanzania Renewable Energy Association (TAREA), Hort/LITA – Tengeru, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), and Arusha NGOs Network (ANGONET). Others include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC)–Soil and water management department. The main areas of cooperation include sharing of experiences, sourcing improved inputs, project implementation, the establishment of trial plots for studies (experimental learning), and technology transfer. The Organization has formalized agreements of partnership with SUA, TARIs, World Vision, PULS, IDP, and various district councils.

RECODA conducts her activities with the view of national interest especially focusing on the Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP1 & ASDP2) and Tanzania vision 2025, Sustainable Development Goals and other national and international policies and strategies. Using the RIPAT approach, RECODA has been collaborating with organizations in other countries and RIPAT projects have been implemented in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Nicaragua.