Habits of contributing citizenship : Self-help groups in rural Tanzania

Abstract

The chapter examines self-help groups in rural Tanzania as practices in which citizenship habits are formed. Self-help groups are referred as locally organized groups established to address the needs and challenges of the members. From the point of view of pragmatism, self-help groups provide concrete examples of a specific form of associated life and of a general human activeness in addressing shared problems. Based on interviews and focus-group discussions conducted in Kondoa district with local self-help groups, the characteristics of these practices are analyzed through three themes: the kinds of shared problems the groups address, the governance of internal interaction of the groups, and the sorts of participants included. Based on our analysis, we suggest a habit of contributing citizenship emerging out of the participation in self-help groups.