Tanzania’s campaign to curb sexual, gender violence hits sky-high success

DAR ES SALAAM: INCIDENTS of violence in society, especially violence against children, have continued to decrease in this country due to the continued improvement in social welfare performance, thanks to the existence of various national campaigns to provide education on violence issues.

Increased awareness of parenting and conflict resolution has helped reduce violence, especially against children, according to the Ministry of Social Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups

Recently, the Ministry of Social Development, Gender, Women, and Special Groups released a new report on the results of violence against children and youth in 2024, which shows a significant decrease in sexual, emotional, and physical violence against children compared to a 2009 study.

The study shows that for girls, violence has decreased from 33 percent to 11 percent, physical violence has decreased from 76 percent to 24 percent, and sexual violence has decreased from 25 percent to 22 percent.

And for boys, violence has decreased from 21 percent to five percent, physical violence has decreased from 74 percent to 21 percent, and emotional violence has decreased from 31 percent to 16 percent.

The studies were conducted between March and June 2024 and reached more than 11,414 children aged 13 to 24 from all 31 regions of the Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

This situation shows that the state of social welfare in focusing on good upbringing has increased after receiving sufficient education.

Among the areas that have a great contribution to ensuring that society remains safe is the Social Welfare Institute as it provides professionals who go to help society psychologically, emotionally, environmentally, and physically.

In continuing to serve society and make it better, the institution has introduced four new curricula in the 2025 /2026 academic year.

The curricula aim to increase the scope of social service professionals in the fields of conflict resolution, business and entrepreneurship training, child care and development, and Psychology.

This step is very important for the development of society as each professional will be able to facilitate upbringing, conflicts, psychology, and a better way to generate income, especially at the household level.

Speaking to the Daily News Digital, the  Assistant Lecturer from the College of Social Welfare, Department of Labor, Asteria Mlambo, says that the department has launched a new course that aims to resolve conflicts outside the court (Conflict Management and Alternative Dispute Resolution).

She says the curriculum aims to increase knowledge and expertise in being able to resolve various conflicts using alternative methods.

“The existing procedure, all cases, be it land, social, or marriage, are resolved by the court, but due to development and population growth and need, the court has seen that it is burdened and there is a long chain that consumes time and costs as well.

She adds, “And often when they finish resolving conflicts through the court, the relationship between those people survives because often the judicial resolution method determines who is in the right.

Mlambo said that the biggest advantage of using alternative methods of resolving conflicts is to return to good relationships because the alternative method is mediation, saving costs and time that will be used to conduct the case.

She notes that in this way they stay with both parties in mediation by adopting the rules and procedures set and if the relationship ends there but they will remain in a way that they will still continue to communicate and talk without any obstacles.

“For example, when we take marital disputes to court, there is a way we will disagree and one person will no longer want to have contact with the other due to saying some things openly,” emphasizes Mlambo.

She also continued to explain that in alternative dispute resolution there is confidentiality by talking to the conflicting party and the mediator where if it reaches a point, the other party has lost the conflict, but it will still be safe to continue collaborating with the winning party.

She explains that the curriculum will be offered from Certificate to Degree level where graduates will be able to work within the community.

“They can enter any area where there are conflicts, for example, land, marriage, work, business; they can enter any area where they are needed.

The lecturer says that the government has recently established an arbitration institution called the Tanzania Institute of Arbitration, which issues certificates to recognize these out-of-court or alternative dispute resolution practitioners.

“At the time this was established, there was no place where these people received training; perhaps they hired lawyers or other people who had gained experience in the area of dispute resolution.

She says this course can be studied by people in various fields, giving the example that you can become an engineer if you also study dispute resolution, and if there is a dispute in that part of your industry, you will be used to resolving it.

“But there are also human rights commissions that are used that participate in receiving citizens’ challenges when injustice or misunderstanding occurs on both sides, and they conduct investigations and help with the resolution. These can enter.

Another new curriculum is the Care and Development of Young Children under the age of three.

This curriculum has come after many challenges were seen in the care and development of children, where technically, the child’s ability to be good and have great potential begins at an early stage.

Mlambo says that the expert is creating the foundations for how he can grow where previously in this country there was no such profession that helps children.

“Here is an opportunity to provide them with knowledge on how to raise children physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually, this course will help them understand the development of children that this child at this age was supposed to know and understand what things this will help to know the challenges of children when they are not yet mature,” She emphasizes.

She says that children often face challenges, but caregivers do not recognize them.

“For example, speech development, can he communicate properly? Will he be informed what a child of this age should do and what he can communicate to what extent, so if a child has a challenge in Communication, it is easy to identify him early and be able to provide him with immediate help.

She says that often parents or guardians recognize their children’s problems late so they are left with a history that at least one of the family members was like that or is like that.

“These can work in areas for young children such as preschools, even primary schools. They can be assistants to children in schools, even hospital areas, for example, in children’s clinics.

This marketing and entrepreneurship course is focused on teaching business, and since the whole world is now focused on business and entrepreneurship so it needs professionals.

“There are many people doing business and entrepreneurship, but these people understand how to do entrepreneurship as required, how will they find opportunities in the markets?.

Mlambo says the course teaches them to gain skills in analyzing and understanding markets for entrepreneurs. They will be taught how to manage money, manage a business, find markets and connect with customers, and grow a business.

“People should know that entrepreneurship is not about struggling with life, they will gain skills to enable them to become productive entrepreneurs in their personal lives but also in the Nation,” he explains.

He has noted that the course will be offered from certificate to degree level.

Assistant Lecturer Amina Abdallah says the fourth course is psychological counseling, which will prepare the student to gain knowledge and skills to solve or deal with various challenges that society faces.

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“These challenges can be social, psychological, behavioral, including emotional. When he graduates, he can use his skills or knowledge in providing advice to the community based on social challenges, including ethical issues, behavior, and conducting research.

He adds, “For example, drug issues, stress, and at the end of the day, he will come up with answers to research or problems he has seen.