Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS)

Tanzania Forest Service (TFS) is a semi-autonomous government Executive Agency whose establishment is supported by the Executive Agency Act (Cap. 245 Revised Edition 2009), the National Forest and Beekeeping Policies adopted in March 1998 and administered through The Forest Act (No. 14 of 2002) and Beekeeping Act (No. 15 of 2002) which provides legal framework for the management of forests and bee resources.

TFS will develop and manage forest and bee resources sustainably in collaboration with stakeholders in order to deliver sufficient and quality goods and services to meet local and international socio-economic and environmental needs. The specific role and responsibilities of TFS will be;

(i) Establishing and managing national natural forest and bee reserves;
(ii) Establishing and managing national forest plantations and apiaries;
(iii) Managing forest and bee resources in general land;
(iv) Enforcing Forest and Beekeeping legislation in areas of TFS jurisdiction;
(v) Providing forest and beekeeping extension services in areas of TFS jurisdiction;
(vi) Monitoring and evaluation of TFS activities;
(vii) Developing TFS Human resources;
(viii) Collecting Forestry and Beekeeping revenue;
(ix) Safeguarding TFS Assets and
(x) Marketing of forest and bee products and services.

This Strategic Plan (SP) covers a three year period from the financial year of 2010/2011 to 2012/2013 and is the first Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) Strategic Plan. The process of developing this plan involved situational analysis covering review of plans of Forestry and Beekeeping Department (FBD) where main roles and functions of the Agency were derived. The process also included stakeholders’ analysis and SWOC analysis with the aim of scanning the capacity of the Agency. The situational analysis came up with areas for improvement and critical issues that need to be addressed in the plan. The critical issues identified in the situation analysis together with other FBD interventions were the basis for developing the mission, vision, core values, objectives, strategies, targets and key performance indicators.

Vision
TFS’s vision is “A center of excellence In the conservation and sustainable supply of quality forest and bee products and services In Tanzania.”

Mission
The Mission of TFS is “To sustainably manage the National forest and bee resources in order to contribute to the social, economic, ecological and cultural needs of present and future generations”.

Objectives
In order TFS to fulfill its vision and mission, five objectives have been developed as listed below:
i) HIV/AIDS infections reduced and supportive services to people living with HIV/AIDS improved.
ii) Sustainable supply of quality forest and bee products enhanced.
iii) Stable ecosystem and biological diversity maintained.
iv) Institutional capacity to deliver services strengthened.
v) Good governance and gender balance enhanced.

Based on the above mentioned objectives the major expected results include among others improved service delivery, sustainable supply of quality forest and bee products, a maintained stable ecosystem with biological diversity, well managed forest and bee resources, transparency and accountability in management of public resources, improved capacity of staff to manage the resources, reduction in the spread of HIV/AIDS, enhancement of stakeholders involvement and improved working environment.

The strategies and targets towards achieving the above objectives are detailed in chapter three of this document. Performance of these strategies will be monitored using various key performance indicators which are also detailed in the same chapter.

TFS will be headed by the Chief Executive who will be assisted by three Directors and four Heads of Units at the headquarters to form the management Team. The Directors will be responsible for; Resources Management; Planning and Resources Utilisation; and Business Support Services. The Units will include; Internal Audit; Legal Services; Finance and Account and Procurement. These units will also be headed by managers who will report direct to the Chief Executive Officer. All operational matters of the Agency will be handled in the Zones, and the Head Quarters will deal with strategic management issues. TFS will operate in 7 zones which will be headed by Zonal managers.