Influence of the Force Account Approach on the Implementation of Educational Infrastructure Projects in Government Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Imagine you are the captain of a massive ship, but you can't steer it yourself. You have to hire a crew to do the work. This is the basic setup of a famous idea in economics called Principal–Agent Theory. In this story, the "Principal" is the boss (like the government), and the "Agent" is the worker hired to do the job (like a construction company). The problem? Sometimes the worker has different goals than the boss. The boss wants the cheapest, best-quality school built, but the worker might want to charge extra for "mystery fees" or use cheaper bricks to save their own money. This gap between what the boss wants and what the worker does is called "information asymmetry," and it often leads to wasted money and bad buildings.

To fix this, governments sometimes try a different strategy called the Force Account approach. Instead of hiring an outside crew (the agent), the government decides to build the school using its own people, tools, and local neighbors. It's like the captain deciding to learn how to steer the ship and asking the passengers to help row, rather than paying a professional crew. This paper asks a big question: Does this "do-it-yourself" method actually work better for building schools in Tanzania, or does it just create a new set of problems? The researchers wanted to see if cutting out the middleman really saves money and keeps everyone honest, or if it just leads to confusion.

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The Do-It-Yourself School Builder: A Story from Tanzania

In the bustling city of Tanga, Tanzania, a group of researchers decided to investigate a unique way of building schools. They looked at the Force Account approach, a method where the government builds schools using its own staff and local workers instead of hiring big, outside construction companies. Think of it like this: usually, if you want to build a treehouse, you hire a professional carpenter who brings their own tools and charges a fee for their time and profit. With the Force Account, the family builds the treehouse themselves, using their own hammers and asking neighbors for help. The researchers wanted to know: Does building it yourself actually save money and make the treehouse sturdier, or does it just lead to a wobbly mess?

The Big Savings (Mostly)

The study found that, in many cases, the Force Account approach is a money-saver. When you hire a professional contractor, they usually add a "profit margin" to the bill—basically, a fee for their business risk and time. The researchers found that by cutting out these outside contractors, schools could save a significant chunk of change. In fact, 59 out of 67 respondents (88%) said that no external contractors were hired at all. One school principal explained that by using local workers, they avoided the 10-30% profit that a contractor would normally charge.

However, the researchers were careful to note that this wasn't a magic wand that worked everywhere. In five specific schools the team visited, the savings weren't the same. Schools A, C, and E managed to cut costs by 12-16 percent, but Schools B and D showed no evidence of cost reduction at all. This suggests that while the "do-it-yourself" method can be cheaper, it depends heavily on how well the school manages the project. It's like baking a cake: if you have a great recipe and good ingredients, you save money by not buying a bakery cake. But if you burn the flour or forget the eggs, you might end up spending just as much (or more) on a failed attempt.

The Power of the Village

One of the most exciting findings was how this approach changed the way people watched over the construction. When a big company is hired, the community often just waits for the building to appear. But with the Force Account, the whole village got involved. The study showed that 40 out of 67 participants (59.70%) noticed that community members were actively checking on the construction sites.

Imagine a neighborhood where everyone has a key to the construction site. If someone tries to steal the cement or use cheap nails, the neighbors are right there to say, "Hey, that's not right!" This constant watching made it much harder to cheat or waste money. The researchers found that 42 out of 67 participants (62.68%) felt that this method made the spending of money much more transparent. Because the decisions were made by a committee of teachers, local leaders, and community members, no single person could hide the truth. As one official put it, when everyone sits down to decide, "the same person may feel challenged to conceal the truth. It is all open."

The Team Effort

The study also highlighted that the best results came from teamwork. Instead of one person buying all the materials, a committee would gather to compare prices from different local shops. 38 out of 67 participants (56.71%) confirmed that these committees decided together what to buy and from whom. This prevented "favoritism," where a boss might give a contract to a friend who overcharges. By checking prices together, the schools ensured they weren't being ripped off.

However, the researchers pointed out a crucial catch: this system only works if the team knows what they are doing. The study noted that in some places, the savings and success varied because of differences in institutional capacity (how skilled the team is) and supervision. If the local builders or school leaders aren't trained well, the project can get delayed or become messy. It's like giving a group of kids a complex Lego set: if they have the instructions and the right tools, they build a castle. If they don't, they might end up with a pile of bricks.

The Verdict

So, what did the researchers conclude? The Force Account approach is a viable and effective strategy for building schools in Tanzania, but it's not a perfect solution that works automatically. It works best when:

1. Local labor is used to save on expensive contractor fees.
2. Committees are strong and make decisions together to stop corruption.
3. The community is involved to keep everyone honest.

The paper suggests that while this method improves cost efficiency and transparency, it needs strong support. The researchers recommend that the government provides more training for school committees and better monitoring systems to ensure that every school, not just the lucky ones, gets the same high-quality results. In short, building a school yourself can be a great idea, but only if you have the right tools, the right team, and a good plan.