The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision.pdf - Tanzania ...

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• Preparing and implementing the National Child Survival,Protection and Development Programme supportedby UNICEF.• Implementing a Time-Bound Programme supported byILO/IPEC that seeks to eliminate the worst forms ofchild labour as well as providing direct support to prioritytarget groups in selected districts in the country.• Envisioning high rates of economic growth and a bettereducated and more healthy population throughthe articulation of the country’s development manifesto(Vision 2025). The manifesto sets targets to beachieved, including universal primary education, genderequality and empowerment of women in all socioeconomicand political relations, access to primaryhealth services for all and universal access to safe water.Other targets are reduction in child and maternalmortalities and macro-economic stability (manifested bya low-inflation economy). Emphasis is on stronger, accountableand transparent systems of governance, withgreater public participation in democratic governance.• Putting priority on achieving debt relief through theenhanced HIPC initiative. To this end a PRSP was submittedto the World Bank and the IMF in September2000. A progress report submitted in September 2001confirmed Tanzania’s access to the World Bank’s andIMF’s full amount of HIPC relief. The PRSP has set targetsfor educational achievement and mortality reductionswithin a three-year period, with specific activitiesto achieve these targets.• Developing a Primary Education Development Plan(PEDP) for the years 2002 – 2006 within the EducationSector Development Programme process. The plan,which has been developed in consultation with NGOsand international development partners, has four broadobjectives:1. to expand enrolment in primary education tocover all children aged 7–12 by 2004 and to expandthe non-formal education programmes;2. to revitalise and improve the quality of primaryeducation, with emphasis on improving quality andmethods, ensuring the availability of quality learningmaterials and strengthening educational standards;3. to strengthen institutional arrangements withinthe framework of local government reforms thatemphasise devolution of power and resources tolocal levels, increased democratic participationand transparency; and4. to strengthen financial arrangements to ensurethat funds made available for education are adequate,effectively and efficiently utilised and accountedfor.Barriers facing a girl-childin TanzaniaBarriers that face girls in Tanzania and limit their access tosocial services such as education and health are diverseand complex. The following presents some barriers thatface girl children in Tanzania.Household PovertyAccording to the Human Resource Development Surveyof 1993, over 50 per cent of households in Tanzania fallbelow the poverty line. When households are poor, girlsand women do domestic work such as fetching water,collecting firewood and fodder, marketing and rearingchildren/siblings. Girls, therefore, have less time to dohomework and to take part in other learning activities.This leads to girls’ low performance compared to that ofboys.Even with the elimination of school fees for primary education,research in 2000 by Maarifa, a local NGO supportedby Oxfam Ireland, demonstrates that costs for uniforms,shoes, books, PTA fees and other supplies continueto deprive many of a basic education. It can be inferredthat this affects girls more than boys.Lack of or inefficient government policiesAbsence of policies to address drop out caused by failurein exams and pregnancies continues to affect girls in Tanzania.In one study it was found that each year the Ministryof Education and Culture expels more than 3,000pregnant primary-school girls (Kuleana 1999). The numberis higher because many girls drop out before they are expelled.Early marriage is yet another problem facing the girl-childin Tanzania. According to the Marriage Act of 1971, theminimum age for marriage is 15 for girls and 18 for boys.Though Tanzania has ratified the CRC, it is evident that32 The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision
there is governmental inconsistency about the definitionof the child and the whole mechanism to implement CRCarticles.In the present and ongoing local government reforms inTanzania, the village is the lowest level of local governance.There are two primary organs of governance in the village,namely, the village assembly and the village council. The villageassembly, which comprises all adult residents (18years and older) in the village, is an organ of direct democracyat the community level. The law recognises the villageassembly as the supreme authority on all matters of generalpolicy-making in relation to the affairs of the village assuch, with powers of electing and removal of the villagecouncil and supervision of the village council. The villagecouncil is vested with all executive powers in respect ofall the affairs and business of the village. The village councilhas powers to make bylaws after consultation with thevillage assembly before the bylaws are submitted to thedistrict/urban council for approval. Section 9 of the LocalGovernment Finances Act No. 9 of 1982 gives powers tothe village council to pass bylaws imposing fees, charges,tariffs, and so forth on economic activities within its jurisdiction,such as retail business, milling, charcoal business,timber sales, butcheries, guest houses, hotels etc. Each villagecouncil is required to appoint three permanent committees:the Finance, Economic and Planning Committee;the Social Services and Self-reliance Activities Committee;and the Security and Defence Committee.The deficiency in these reforms, however, is the place, recognitionand mechanisms at grass-roots level that seek toinclude, protect, develop and listen to children. The localgovernment reforms have systematically excluded over 50per cent of the population, that is, children under 18 yearsof age.Child labour in TanzaniaChild labour is another serious issue that affects childrenin Tanzania. Between April and June 2000, the TanzaniaLabour Force Survey reports, 3.4 million children aged 5–17 in Tanzania were engaged in economic work. Thoughgirls and boys were affected equally, this number pointsout the challenges faced by children, especially girl children,who by many measures are more vulnerable andmarginalised than boy children.Child domestic workersChild domestic work done exclusively by girls is one ofthe most common and traditional forms of child labour.The practice is quite extensive in Tanzania, where manycultures continue to view girls’ work in the household asan essential part of their upbringing. Families in urban areasoften recruit children from rural villages through family,friends or contacts. While most child domestics comefrom extremely poor families, many have been abandoned,are orphans or come from single-parent families.Children work to supplement the family income, to reducethe economic burden faced by their parents, or inorder to survive. In many cases, especially when they havebeen abandoned or orphaned, the child domestic is completelydependent on the employing family. The situationoften becomes one akin to slavery. Children report thatthey are made to eat leftovers, receive little or no pay,sleep on the floor, endure physical or sexual abuse, are isolatedfrom their immediate family and rarely attend schoolor play with other children their own age. Working hoursare long, with no regular days off. A study carried out inTanzania, for example, showed that the average day is 15hours long for child domestics who do not live with theiremployers and between 16 and 18 hours long for thosewho do (Kibuga 2000).Infrastructure barriersDistance to school, absence of roads and transportation,inadequate basic services in communities (water, electricity,fuel, and so on), inadequate basic services in schools,and absence of or poor facilities and design are some ofthe infrastructure barriers affecting children’s education. In1996, it was estimated that 80 per cent of 3.8 million primary-schoolstudents in Tanzania did not have desks and30 per cent of over 100,000 teachers did not have a deskor a chair. Overcrowding is common. As a result, childrenand teachers are often uncomfortable and unable to concentrateon learning. According to Ministry of Educationand Culture data for 1999, Mwanza region has only 37per cent of its classroom requirements, whereas Kilimanjarohas 79 per cent.Pupil-to-teacher ratios range from 34:1 in Mbeya to 430:1in Igunga District (Cooksey, Blaze and Burian 1998). LackThe Girl-Child and Government Service Provision 33
Page 2 and 3: Copyright 2004 by World Vision Inte
Page 5: ContentsIntroduction ..............
Page 8 and 9: identified in the case studies that
Page 10 and 11: Approximately 53 per cent of the po
Page 12 and 13: facility but also with staff member
Page 14 and 15: Literacy and educationAdult literac
Page 16 and 17: constrained by low funding; the nat
Page 18 and 19: Policewoman, for example, had 100 p
Page 20 and 21: EducationA deputy principal of a pr
Page 22 and 23: ObservationsThis study has focused
Page 24 and 25: Regulation and taxation neededCorru
Page 26 and 27: 7. What reasons does the family giv
Page 29 and 30: Girl-Child Accessto Government Soci
Page 31: class. According to a 1996 TDHS sur
Page 35 and 36: ole models. Other educational barri
Page 37 and 38: was collected face to face. The stu
Page 39 and 40: • Consultations: Institutions con
Page 41 and 42: Secondary schoolsTwo of the five vi
Page 43 and 44: This finding is consistent with nat
Page 45 and 46: Case story 3Mercy John, a 14-year-o
Page 47: Health workers’ viewsAll the heal
Page 50 and 51: Annex 2: Questions forinterviews wi
Page 52 and 53: Annex 6: Questions forfocus-group d
Page 54 and 55: Sepehri, A. 1992. ‘Balance of Pay
Page 56 and 57: equires the generation of condition
Page 59: Table 3-3. Interviews, April 28-May
Page 62 and 63: Table 3-5. Working adolescentsLos C
Page 64 and 65: Table 3-6. Household chores and lac
Page 66 and 67: per cent of the population. However
Page 68 and 69: Figure 3-7. Access to services in t
Page 70 and 71: Annex 1Interviews, Stage 1, April 2
Page 72 and 73: Education1. Who likes attending sch
Page 74 and 75: 3. What are the main reasons why bo
Page 76 and 77: 7. What do you think are the main p
Page 79 and 80: World Development Report 2004and Gi
Page 81 and 82: power and wealth. But it fails to d
Page 83 and 84:
economies of scale of setting up wa
Page 85 and 86:
Services and the girl-childThe serv
Page 87:
5The World Bank Annual Report 2003,
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