Adolescent Girls Education and Empowerment project in Tanzania

Children & youth

Jul 11

Who: Strømmestiftelsen

What: The project's main goal is to empower girls in Tanzania to complete primary and secondary education, thereby securing their right to education.

Where: Bergen

Project period: 2024

Web: Strømmestiftelsen

About the organization:

Strømmestiftelsen (SF) is a rights-based development organisation that was established in 1976 in Kristiansand. SF’s vision is a world without poverty and our work is underpinned by our values of human dignity, respect, justice, and solidarity. SF’s two main interventions in the effort to eradicate poverty are education and economic inclusion for all. SF has a decentralised structure with its own country offices and with only local employees working through local partners. SF currently works in ten countries in Africa and Asia. By strengthening the capacity of local NGOs, we promote local ownership and ensure sustainability.

SF's programme actively engages target communities, including children, adolescents, youth, adults, and individuals with disabilities, across all project stages for ownership and sustainability. By emphasising lasting impact through capacity building, partnerships, and monitoring, SF and local partners ensure that local communities and governments can continue activities upon our exit.

About the project:

The project's main goal is to empower girls in Tanzania to complete primary and secondary education, thereby securing their right to education. In Tanzania, traditional gender norms persist, meaning that parents prioritise boys' education over girls', thus reinforcing women's roles in reproduction and domestic duties, rather than regarding them as valuable members of society. Girls are left behind.

In this project, Strømme Foundation will work to address the root causes of this gender gap in education. We will do this through our proven life skills programme Bonga (dialogue in Swahili) to ensure that girls stay in school, return to school or secure a stable livelihood.

To accomplish this, the project will be divided into three components;

Bonga in School will empower children to stay in school through life skills clubs
Bonga Back to School to bring children and adolescents back to school through life skills training and access to the government’s second chance pathway to education
Bonga in Community will equip vulnerable youths aged 16-20, who cannot return to formal education, with life skills, vocational training and parenting skills through the internationally recognised International Child Development Program

With support from parents, teachers, and constructive dialogues with peers, discriminatory gender roles will gradually shift. By promoting equal access to education and bodily autonomy for girls, the project aims to improve gender equality and break the cycle of poverty. Through the project, girls such as Faidha (pictured), who was forced to drop out of school when she became pregnant at 14, will have a second chance.