In Tanzania, civil society movements started in the colonial era before independence. The motive behind civil societies at that time was to mobilize citizens to demand rights and political places from the colonial administration. Post-independence in 1961 civil society organizations continued to mushroom playing roles of service providing in the health and education sector and some started advocating for workers’ rights and government accountability. The evolution of the political system in Tanzania and the introduction of multi-parties in 1992 catalyzed the increase in the number of civil society organizations as more opportunities opened up for political advocacy but also other areas of services (health, education, and environment) continued to emerge. As of 2022, there were at least 10,000 CSOs registered in the United Republic of Tanzania.

Different environmental issues are increasingly returning to CSOs’ work, along with the new initiatives taken by the government to pay more attention to environmental protection. Environmental CSOs gained donor interest for support among them are CSOs in fisheries. Others included wildlife and forest CSOs which were well-established and coordinated. However, civil society organizations in marine fisheries lacked coordination and a platform which could mobilize them to join efforts and collaborate until in 2013 when TuNA was established to fill the gap and is so far recognized as the first alliance of marine fisheries CSOs in Tanzania.

CSOs are important to ensure accountability and sustainability of natural resource management, inclusive socio-economic development and equitable cost and benefit sharing. Strong and empowered civil society is key to adding value to government plans and bringing about a more sustainable world. Decision-making structure in Tanzania was centralized and not allowing the public to influence policy until the early 1990s when the Government of Tanzania recognized the importance of involving the non-state actors in both the production and service provision sectors. This has allowed for increased stakeholder participation in public service delivery. However, internal coordination between the state and non-state actors is not very effective. Grassroots communities, civil society and the private sector have limited access to information on new developments in fisheries resources. This hinders effective stakeholder participation in decision making and overall management of natural resources. The contribution made by fisheries sub-sector to the total Tanzania GDP is well below its potential and reported to be as low as 2%. Mechanisms for benefit sharing are also poorly developed.