Status of Children in Tanzania - 2012 - Tanzania Education Network ...

Call for Action
involved in housekeeping and 32.4% are in both economic and housekeeping while 1.1% are
entirely in economic activities. In rural areas children are seriously affected by poverty that
contributes to poor access to social services and social protection. As noted by REPOA 2010,
poverty affects more than 50% of children in rural areas who are surviving without any income
generating activities at their households.
Child poverty.
Child poverty is reflected by lack of the basic needs required for healthy, physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual development of children. The children right situation analysis in Iramba,
Same, Ruangwa, Kagera, Dodoma children living in child headed households their poor in terms of
standard of living. They have inadequate food, poor housing, poor roofing, house walls and poor
floors. These children have also poor physical environment, poor school attendance, poor healthy
state and weak social development. Child poverty has a significant influence to children poor
performance at school, children are vulnerable to illness, mental health problems, and poverty
make them to pay heavy price when they become adults. This is contrary to UN – CRC article
No.27which demand State or National Government to recognize the right of every child to have a
standard living that ensures adequate physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
Food inadequacy
Availability of food is a crucial factor noted in most areas covered by study where children are
underfed. In almost all the districts covered by the study, majority of children were not getting
adequate meal per day. In poorer households like Dodoma, Same, Iramba children were eating
together with adults because the food was too little to be distributed. As noted in all the Districts
most households were eating starch, no protein or vitamin or energy, some children were going to
school without breakfast and at school there was no feeding programme. Children from elderly
headed household were being sent to do petty business to subsidize household income. With
meager earning they cannot afford to purchase enough food to eat at the household. As noted in
Same at pastoral communities some children e.g. Ruvu, Kisiwani missed mid-day food. Impliedly
food availability directly affected children right for survival, growth development and protection,
hence calls for immediate intervention. Majority of Tanzanian families in both urban and rural areas
spend 75% of their incomes on food leaving very meager resources for child services and
development. It is very serious in dry area like Singida, Dodoma, Tabora and Manyara. Other
income generating activities like bee keeping, and poultry could do a lot to support children.
Cultural Factors
In most of the areas covered by the study like Mtwara, Singida, Lindi and Coast some cultural
factors like early marriage influenced by polygamy system, and culture of marrying many wives
paves the way to high rate of divorce. Impliedly divorce significantly contribute to denial of children
rights. This also contribute to make children more vulnerable to abuse, torture or lack of care by
step mothers that significantly deprives them access to education and protection. Sometimes these
children become victims of physical punishment, violence and harmful cultural practices such as
female genital mutilation in areas like Dodoma, Kondoa and Mara. Thus cultural factors significantly
makes children to be object of violence or girls being lowered to lower social position than boys in
the family e.g. case of inheritance which discriminate girls.
Environmental factors
The environmental factors on children varies from urban and rural settings. In urban areas there is
a mixture of people from different ethnicity and cultural upbringing that attribute to different standard
of child care patterns which have effect to child growth and development. Some of the children are
being given care by people who are alcoholic, living in congested rooms, drug abuse, sexual abuse.
Those environmental factors have significant influence to growth and development of the child
leaving things which are not at their age level.
5.0 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DUTY BEARERS AND THEIR MAIN STRATEGIES
Tanzania has a substantial number of duty bearers who are dealing with different issues concerning
target children. Each duty bearer has specific responsibilities. Kindly see Table 9, which follows:
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A loving home for every child