Child marriage in Tanzania
Although Tanzanian laws prohibit marriage below age 15 for girls, young girls in Tanzania are still forced into marriage for a variety of reasons, both cultural and economic, and the results are devastating. The psychological impact is severe but the impact on the long-term life outlook for these girls is even more desperate. Girls of the age of 12 disappear from the school system and as a result, they never achieve the literacy skills, education or opportunities they deserve. Early marriage virtually guarantees limited educational and economic outcomes, contributing to continued cycles of poverty.
Firelight Foundation’s anti-child marriage campaign has been focusing on the Shinyanga region of Tanzania since 2015, because the child marriage rates here are the highest of the country. Many of the traditional structures of government and social welfare in this region have limited capacity, which further exacerbates the problems.
Saving young girls lives with mobile phones
Currently, the initiative of Firelight Foundation supports a cluster of thirteen different community-based organizations fighting to systematically eliminate child marriage in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania. These community-based organizations try to ensure that children know their rights, are safe, and receive the emotional support and care they need to thrive. They strengthen families, mobilize community members and collaborate with local leaders to protect children and their rights.
Firelight Foundation, ICS and TTC Mobile are now joining forces to set up an SMS reporting system in the region. During a one year pilot phase three community-based organizations, Agape, TAI and OPE will support child protection teams, consisting of teachers, parents and community leaders, with the promotion of the SMS reporting system that enables all community members to report cases of child marriage. The reports will be followed up by local authorities such as the social welfare department of Shinyanga.
Visiting the field
In order to meet all local partners and to assess the feasibility of a mobile approach, our project manager Josefien de Ridder traveled to the Shinyanga region in the last week of September. Together with ICS, Firelight and the community-based organizations, Josefien paid visits to the different communities, schools and partners, where the idea of a SMS reporting system was received positively. It became clear that the closed community culture requires an easy, anonymous and safe way to report cases of illegal child marriage, and SMS was found a great way for achieving that.
SOURCE:TTC MOBILE
Firelight Foundation, ICS and TTC Mobile are now joining forces to set up an SMS reporting system in the region. During a one year pilot phase three community-based organizations, Agape, TAI and OPE will support child protection teams, consisting of teachers, parents and community leaders, with the promotion of the SMS reporting system that enables all community members to report cases of child marriage. The reports will be followed up by local authorities such as the social welfare department of Shinyanga.
Visiting the field
In order to meet all local partners and to assess the feasibility of a mobile approach, our project manager Josefien de Ridder traveled to the Shinyanga region in the last week of September. Together with ICS, Firelight and the community-based organizations, Josefien paid visits to the different communities, schools and partners, where the idea of a SMS reporting system was received positively. It became clear that the closed community culture requires an easy, anonymous and safe way to report cases of illegal child marriage, and SMS was found a great way for achieving that.
SOURCE:TTC MOBILE
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