Fiscal Decentralisation means to increase the fiscal autonomy of the Local Government Authorities. The objectives of fiscal decentralisation are to ensure that there is equitable and transparent sharing of resources between LGAs; provision of adequate resources to LGAs to allow the delivery of centrally defined levels of service according to local needs and priorities; that local revenue sources are provided that are adequate and robust enough to allow all councils to deliver services that are not centrally funded and to encourage taxpayer participation and the demand for accountability; that resources are provided at the appropriate levels of Government (Subsidiarity); and that management and accountability systems are in place and operationalised to ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively and are fully accounted for to the community, the central government and other stakeholders.

Legal Harmonisation refers to efforts aimed at providing a framework for implementation of the D-by-D policy. The legal harmonisation to achieve D-by-D adherence is a central and over-riding priority of the reform programme and it is core to all institutional and structural reforms for devolved local government system in Tanzania. The greatest emphasis has been placed in progressing constitutional amendment as an essential prerequisite to give D-by-D an overriding binding legal norm for the whole Government as a strategy to hasten sector legal harmonization across sectors as well as providing a framework for D-by-D consistency checks. A new overarching local government legislation and harmonization of sector laws will also be progressed as a natural logical step followed from the constitutional amendments.

Human Resources Autonomy aims at the realization of autonomy at LGA level as a fundamental objective of the D-by-D agenda. Human Resource Empowerment is conceived as advancing along two essential dimensions; the devolution of powers and responsibilities to the locally elected and accountable authorities to employ and manage their own staff, and the continuous and consistent development of the stock of human capital, strategically deployed to deliver increasingly improved local services. A determined effort is still required to fully secure the legal basis for devolution and also to guarantee that the individual LGAs can confidently plan and manage their increased responsibilities.