Reaching the United Nations Reached Communities with Development - United Republic of Tanzania

This activity is building women’s capacity in rural Tanzania to take on social and environmental issues in their own rural communities, with the goal of ending discrimination against women.

Fast facts:

This activity is working with marginalized and rural districts in Tanzania. They are mainly targeting the pastoralists and hunter-gatherers in the Mbulu and Hanang Districts, which comprise about 350 villages;
Up to 20,000 people in these two districts have been directly impacted by this activity.

The problem

Women make up 51% of Tanzania’s population of more than 44 million and play a pivotal role in the economy. Most live in rural areas that are facing health, education, social, economic and infrastructural problems. Women’s incomes are relied on more and more as men are being lost to HIV/AIDS.

The solution

Women are leading initiatives to address these issues and are promoting new solutions like providing economic benefits to communities and households through formed groups such as Village Community Banks. Women are also promoting transformative partnerships that are helping their communities become more resilient and adapt to the effects of climate change. This activity is promoting women’s rights and helping them access finance mechanisms at the local level. There is evidence that large numbers of girls in Tanzania are withdrawn from school to get married, so investments in girls’ schooling are among the most powerful ways to address the conditions of poverty and gender norms that are driving these young marriages. Poverty and gender norms can also be addressed promoting peer-to-peer learning, knowledge sharing, and documentation of best practices to make local action more effective, sustainable, and replicable. This activity aims to strengthen women’s voices in policy processes so that they can advocate for their rights related to social issues as well as environment and energy issues.

Helping the planet

This activity is promoting women’s leadership when it comes to the environment and climate change. Effective environmental governance means the participation and cooperation of all actors – governments, NGOs, the private sector, civil society, community groups and ordinary citizens – in collaborative efforts towards sustainable development and environmental improvement. This activity is helping women’s groups get involved in environmental and sustainable development policies and processes. By building rural women's capacity to assume leadership roles on government, this activity is ensuring that women’s issues have a voice.

Helping people

This activity is working to promote women and children’s rights in rural Tanzania. There is a lack of knowledge about women’s discrimination. For example, young girls are not being educated when they are forcefully pulled out of school to be married off. This activity is organizing workshops in the area that are raising awareness about these issues.

Scaling Up

Improving the quality and effectiveness of girls’ education and their access to education can scale this activity up. They also want to develop and test strategies to engage parents, community leaders, schools, and government officials to support, promote and advocate for girls' education. Contributing to the development of relevant educational and social policies that are informed and shaped by the needs of young girls could help shape a more sustainable future for Tanzania.