GOVERNANCE

Newala District is administratively divided into 5 divisions, 28 wards, 155 villages and 481 “vitongoji”. The “Kitongoji” is the lowest governance unit of the district council, below which is the household. Every village has its elected village council, holding ordinary meetings once per month and the village assembly meets on quarterly basis. There is a village executive officer (VEO) who is an employee of the district council and the chief executive of the village. The VEO is also the secretary to village council and village assembly. At the ward level, there is a ward development committee (WDC) which meets quarterly under the chairmanship of the ward councillor who is also the representative of the ward to the district council. The ward executive officer (WEO) is the chief executive at this level and the secretary to the WDC. See Annex for the overview of wards and villages. In lieu of the above description, governance structures in Newala district council include village council, village assembly, WDC and district council. Others are the judiciary, police and civil society organizations. Civil society involvement in development activities in the district is structured around NGOs, CBOs and FBOs.