Giving Tanzanian Girls the Power to Live their Dreams

“We need to stop believing that as Tanzanians we are helpless victims. We need to understand that we have the power to change things for the better ourselves,” says Modesta Lilian Mahiga, one of Tanzania’s emerging leaders, who was chosen to participate in President Barack Obama's Forum with Young African Leaders in Washington this year.

As a child, Modesta dreamt of becoming a lawyer and protecting the rights of women and children. Today she holds a Bachelor of Law Honours degree and runs her own capacity building, recruitment, training and research company. As she strongly believes in the potential of her country, her company is geared towards developing Tanzania as an economic power, driven by confident, professional, entrepreneurial, patriotic and altruistic individuals. Because it is clear to Modesta that “only developed people (in thought) develop nations.”

Unleashing the power of 3.6 million girls

Young girls in Tanzania constitute a fifth of Tanzania’s population, and many of them dream of one day being able to support themselves, their families and contribute to their society. But given the obstacles and inequalities they face, many of these dreams will remain just that, dreams, even though it is well known that education is a powerful lever to reverse these inequalities and to turn dreams and hopes into reality.  Education could unleash the potential of  3.6 million adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the nation.

Earlier this year the United Nations Adolescent Task Force, comprised of six UN agencies -- ILO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM and WHO -- pledged to intensify their efforts to fulfill the human rights of adolescent girls. In the next five years these agencies committed to increase their support to developing countries to advance key policies and programmes that empower the hardest-to-reach adolescent girls.

When world leaders gathered recently to review the Millennium Development Goals and fast-track progress towards the 2015 deadline, they also reviewed the progress made towards advancing the situation of adolescent girls. Only five years away from 2015, the question is what story does Tanzania have to tell? Are there still differences when it comes to girls’ and boys’ education (MDG3)? Do all the 3.6 million girls have access to reproductive health services and are able to decide for themselves when and how many children they want to have (MDG5)? Do all young Tanzanians have full employment opportunities (MDG1)?

Many girls start school but drop out later

The news that come from the summit, where Tanzania has just won a UN award for its impressive progress towards attaining universal primary education, are promising. But at the same time a UNESCO analysis reveals a persistent under-representation of girls at the Form 1 – 4 level, where girls’ share of enrolment has remained at 45 per cent since 2008 (having dropped from 47 per cent in 2006). The situation at the Form 5- 6 level is worse, with girls’ share of enrolment ranging from 40 – 41 per cent between 2006 and 2010. Too often Tanzanians underestimate the value of girls’ education and take their daughters out of school when means are scarce. According to a UNICEF-supported opinion poll (2009) almost a quarter of all Tanzanians still think that educating boys is more important than educating girls. While primary education is important, the greatest development gains are seen when girls can complete secondary education as well.

Modesta was lucky enough to have had a mother who managed to send all of her five children to school. She understood that being educated means having choices in life.

For those girls who manage to get a chance to go to school, the labour market is yet another challenge. Women have less access to wage employment than men in Tanzania. Their careers seldom take them to positions of senior management, and they receive lower earnings than men.

Out-of-school girls at higher risk for teen pregnancy

Tanzania has one of the highest adolescent pregnancy rates in the world and there is a close link between low level of education and high level of adolescent pregnancies. For the young girls early pregnancy is life threatening, as their bodies are still developing and health services are often far and of poor quality. Every hour a woman in Tanzania loses her life due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth, one out of four is a teenager. These deaths are not only tragic, but with each girl that dies, a potential agent of change -- a future teacher, business woman, health professional or leader -- is lost. If all girls and women had ready access to family planning methods, it’s estimated that 30 per cent of all maternal deaths could be averted and much needed change agents saved. But only about 40 per cent of Tanzania’s young people have access to youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health service, which makes it difficult for young people to protect themselves and plan for their families.

But having access to family planning would not be much help for rape survivors. According to UNICEF, 40 per cent of girls who had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 15 were coerced. These young girls simply lack the power, confidence or means to refuse unwanted sex or to negotiate safer sex. To respond, Tanzania has ratified several international conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, as well as developed a National Strategy for Gender Development.

Modesta strongly believes in the power of Tanzanians and particularly in the country’s young people. On the leading youth television channel she hosts a bi-weekly general election television show, where she urges young people to begin understanding that they themselves hold the power to determine the future they want to see. But for her it is not enough to inform, motivate and engage the population. She has set another goal for herself: “I must make sure that those who are motivated and ready to move Tanzania, have the environment in which they can realize their aspirations. Tanzania is too rich to be ranked this poor, and I won’t rest until the vision I see of Tanzania is made into reality by Tanzanians.”

Realizing the potential of girl power

While the Government of Tanzania has done a laudable job of putting most of the key policies that form the foundation for action into place, the data still reveals wide inequalities education, employment opportunities, health and leadership. But change is possible, and girls have a unique potential create a better future for themselves and their families. If policy makers understand and use this information to translate it into tangible policies and investment for young girls’ education and health, and engage women and girls as active agents and strategic partners for development, these inequalities can be reversed and a vision of a prosperous and peaceful nation, led by Tanzanians themselves, can be realized.

The United Nations in Tanzania shares this vision and is committed to work with the Government of Tanzania and other national partners to address the injustice of poverty faced so heavily by girls. Tanzanian women themselves, Modesta as one of them, provide the best example that young girls are the leaders of today and the makers of tomorrow. Now that five years are left to achieve what Tanzania and the world committed to, the Representatives of ILO, UNESCO, UNIFEM/UN Women and UNFPA in Tanzania, call upon the Government, development partners, private sector, community leaders, fathers and mothers, men and women, to make this joint vision a reality, give girls a chance and invest in the future leaders of the Nation, the girls of Tanzania.

--- This article has been jointly written by Julitta Onabanjo UNFPA Country Representative; Alexio Musindo ILO Country Representative; Vibeke Jensen UNESCO Country Representative; Dorothy Rozga,UNICEF Representative; and Anna Collins-Falk Country Programme Manager UNIFEM/UN Women.