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

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