Tanzania Gender Networking Programme

This week I I am meeting with different organizations targeted towards women and education. Our main goal is to not only make contact with some in-country organizations, but also find out what they think S4Si could do better to prepare our scholars in secondary school for university.

I first met with Marjorie Mbilinyi from the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), a contact from UNC’s African Studies Department. She has lived in Tanzania since 1968 and became a citizen in 1969.

My first question to her was what can we do to make sure our girls succeed and how can we best prepare them to succeed in university?

She first gave me a little history of education in TZ. First, she talked about the shift in the quality of education from public to private schools. It used to be very competitive to get in a government run public school because they had very few spaces. The private schools at that time were almost like community schools, for example, religion focused, etc. Basically, public schools many times became exclusive to those who were wealthy or had connections. Schooling also used to be free until the Tanzanian government started charging for primary and secondary school. The dropout rate was so high that the government started funding primary school, but still charged for secondary school.

Now, it is quite different. Resources have simply dwindled in the government schools and private schools are now much better. She said that the government is indirectly subsidizing private schools by training teachers in university who are then being recruited by private schools. Thus, the private schools are getting the best teachers and overall, have better academics and resources (computer lab, good environment, etc).

To answer my question, she challenged S4Si to find a way that empowers our scholars and brings benefit to them, but also changes the environment for all of the students. In a UNICEF study, it was found that primary school was the MOST unsafe place for a girl of 8-10 years old because they are disrespected and not treated equally. While this is not true for secondary school, some of this environment certainly filters up into the secondary schools. So, for example, she encouraged us to buy a few secondhand computers, find a teacher who was willing to run the computer lab after school, and have special hours for S4Si students. The rest of the time could be open for the whole school.

• Stipend for small discretionary fund (soap, coke, hygienic products, etc.)
• Feminist literature in library
• Connect scholars from different schools together
• Find ways to help the school in the process so benefit is spread to other students and environment changes for all students
• Empower students through leadership
• Find a counselor for scholars and make them accessible to other students
• Look into what health services are available at the schools

Word of the day:
Zeze – fiddle (it isn’t a violin, but rather a gourd with a long fingerboard and strings attached)
Badai – later (Let’s go to the market later)