Govt lays emphasis on women empowerment

TANZANIA remains committed to develop enabling environments for gender-equitable relationships, and by helping to create safe spaces for women in their communities.

Education, Science and Technology Permanent Secretary (PS) Francis Michael said that the government continues to intensify the efforts to review, amend and enact relevant legislations and policies to support this initiative.

Dr Michael, who was speaking at the start of a four-day Empowerment through Skills Programme (ESP) Partnership Orientation Session, underscored the importance of empowering women to pursue economic and social opportunities in the communities they belong to.

“We are striving to ensure that becomes a reality,” said.

Through the National Strategy for Gender Development, the PS said training opportunities must be enhanced in order to empower women with skills and abilities that will enable them to effectively participate in socio-economic development and goals for interventions to encourage girls and women to take up non-traditional and male dominated traits.

“This is why we’re here today to set and plan on opportunities that will transform the lives of women and remove barriers to employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship, with a critical work and support of Tanzania’s fourth development policy,” he added.

The session featured 17 colleges and institutes from Canada, Principals from 12 Folk Development Colleges (FDCs), representatives from 12 Community Based Organisations (CBOs), staff from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, senior officials from Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), and the ESP – Tanzania team.

In Tanzania, FDCs have become primary institutions for accommodating students and marginalised groups, who have had to drop out of the education system early due to a variety of circumstances, and who wish to continue to pursue further education and training through an alternate pathway.

On her part, Chief of Operations and Counsellor (Development) from Global Affairs Canada, Bronwyn Cruden indicated that Canada was proud to support the growth of a new gender responsive programme in Tanzania through the Empowerment through Skills Programme.

She was confident that the seven-year project implemented to the tune of 45.6bn/- presents an opportunity for Canada to build on its other investments in the action areas of education, gender equality, human rights, and economic growth that works for everyone.

“Canada has been a long-term partner in the Tanzanian education sector. The Bilateral support is primarily focused on improving the quality and relevance of teaching in primary, secondary, and technical and vocational training centres,” she explained.

There are currently 54 FDCs in mostly rural communities across Tanzania.

FDCs were established in 1975 with their main mission to provide access to vocational and general training to support the social and economic development of local communities.