Empowering Girls and Young Women through the GIRLS Inspire Project

Abstract

Tanzania has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world with two out of five girls married before the age of 18. This paper focuses on the GIRLS Inspire project, which, since it began in 2015, has worked to both create awareness about child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) and to help affected girls as well as young women overcome associated challenges by facilitating their participation in economic activities. More than 3,000 participants, aged between 15 and 24 have benefited from the project in Bahi and Kongwa, Districts in Dodoma Region; Kalambo and Nkasi Districts in Rukwa Region; and Ruangwa and Kilwa Masoko Districts in Lindi Region. The paper, which is based on 272 in-depth interviews conducted with project staff and participants between January 2018 and October 2018 in eight selected learning centres, namely, Bahi Mission, Nagulobahi, Mlima Gata, Msunjulile (Dodoma), Msanzi, Katuka, Chala and Londokazi (Rukwa) discusses the current status of child marriage in Tanzania. It highlights that one of the major effects is to deny girls and young women’s education opportunities, something that has a long-term impact on their livelihoods. Attention is then turned to the GIRLS Inspire’s origins, how it operates, and how it involved distance learning that it developed to tackle these issues. The paper shows that the project provided a platform for girls to tell their stories, acquire basic literacy as well as pre-vocational skills in food processing, soap and batik making, and has helped them access to financial support so as to continue their education through open distance learning.