Women's Empowerment

Age requirement: 18 years + 

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Number of volunteers: Solo individuals, Groups & Families are welcome.

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Duration: From 4 weeks to 6 months.

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Start date: No specific start date, start at any time during the year.

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Fees:

1. $75 registration fee

2. $125 per week 

   • Includes accommodation​

   • Placement preparation

   • Airport pick up + drop off

   • Free 1 hour Swahili Language class with an experience professional instructor

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"Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise."-Maya Angelou

 

Our Solution

"It takes a village..."-African Proverb

 

So what exactly is it like to volunteer? 

Volunteering is a fantastic way to travel abroad, give back to people who are in need and develop yourself as a person. 

The experience you will get from giving up your time and care for others, will be like no other. You WILL make a huge difference and uplift those around you, as long as you stay motivated on your mission, positive and focused. 

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Why Tanzania?

Tanzania is a bright, beautiful and amazing country to visit. That is why thousands of travellers pass through every year. It's capital Dar es Salaam sits on a breathtaking coastline, an hour from paradise island of Zanzibar. In the north, Arusha sits under the shadows of the great Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru. Tanzania is home to many famous Safari parks and game reserves where people from all over the world come to visit the spectacular wildlife. The people are warm and gracious and nothing makes them happier than welcoming you to their country. Tanzania is multicultural and has hundreds of various tribes and ethnicities, it's most famous being the nomadic Maasai tribe. Rich in culture and stunning to see, it really is an exciting part of Africa to visit.

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The project is a community and social welfare support for single women and single mother's in vulnerable situations.

• • They provide a safe space for women who have been left widowed 

    • Women are a vulnerable group in Tanzania, often losing protection, safety and financial security when their husband who is usually the provider dies

    • Widows often fall into conflict with in laws about land, property and can lose their homes and any property to in-laws without knowing their inheritance rights

    • This has left many homeless and destitute, begging on the streets for help. This is not an uncommon occurrence nationwide.

    • They provide counselling and legal aid for widows who are left in the worst situations

    • It is not uncommon for widows to have caught HIV from their husbands who have died from AIDS; resulting in shame and social stigma in their communities. They also provide counselling and support groups for these women.

• A fully functional vocational training centre and welfare office

  • Vocational training classes are provided to allow women who previously relied on their partners for financial support to become independent

  • Vocational classes include tailoring, soap making and micro business/entrepreneurship training

  • They also provide home visits for women too sick to leave their homes; providing them check-in’s and food assistance packages when funds are available

• They have started a women’s empowerment group aimed at economic empowerment

  • They encourage the women to become economically independent and empowered and rely on their own skills to make a living

  • They heavily promote self reliance and entrepreneurship

• The Village Bank

  • The women belong to their microfinancing program which allows them to lend and borrow money privately to each other without any interest rates. This has been particularly successful with over 63 women having directly benefited from this program. Women have pulled themselves out of debt, started small businesses and helped their children through difficult times. Over 4 million TSH has been raised and borrowed in the past 90 days, showing the impact and success of this program.

• Children’s Daycare

  • They run a nursery and daycare centre that has provided the children of their women a safe place to leave their children.

  • The children receive pre-school classes, play time, meals and transportation

  • The centre provides full time employment for salaried teachers 

 

Current Needs:

• A larger space to be able to include more women who are currently in need

• Funds to graduate women who have completed their vocational training course

• More trained staff to provide social welfare/home visits to women in their projects

• Equipment:

  • One/two laptops to continue their fundraising efforts and awareness work

  • Laptops also provide a way for them to document their information and keep track of data and records which they already are very competent at doing

Donations and sponsor support. 

They have already managed to begin an excellent grass roots project on minimal resources and local community support. The work they are already doing will be magnified intensely by financial donor support.

• Donations to create a bigger space for the vocation and micro business training

• New working equipment for the women: soap making; reusable sanitary pads; tailoring; children’s day care

• School sponsorships uniform, books, hygiene products

• More teaching staff at the children’s day care

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