With 66% of the population in Tanzania under the age of 25, Tanzania has the 10th largest youth population on the planet. Couple this with the large numbers of youth who travel to urban centres from villages and never return, it is no doubt why many of Tanzania’s regional cities are teaming with youth. The sad part is many of these youth are on the street because of lack of employment, and without stable livelihoods, young people suffer from extreme poverty and socials exclusion. This results in negative behaviours including drug abuse, crime, risky sex and mental health issues.
There are numerous organisations working with children in Tanzania, but few working with youth and young adults. Being Gospel stewards we desire to engage where the true needs are, with the homeless, the poor, the disadvantaged, with young men who have lost their identity, mothers who have babies on the streets stemming from abuse and violent behavior, and with the young women who account for the 75% of young people aged 15-24 living with HIV and AIDS in Tanzania. The situation is critical. We desire to address these needs in an effective manner.
Through discussion with our partner Global Development Group, who has helped to identify a model that is effective at helping people bring themselves out of poverty, we believe there is real hope. This framework has proved itself in Africa, where it has been running in Rwanda and slowly growing over twelve years from 42 self help groups to having 5,200 groups, with over 130,000 people engaged in helping themselves out of the poverty cycle – resulting in dramatic life and community change.
To find out more about the Self-Help Group philosophy please watch the below video from our parter in Australia.