The Sauti Ya Binti project aims at putting adolescent girls and young women leaders at the forefront of fighting against gender-based violence, creating opportunities and platforms where they can air their opinions and also enhance their leadership capacities so as to create a safe learning environment for all and prepare them for life after school.
Adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania face the following problems:
- Gender-based violence within their community, home or in public when they walk to school and sexual harassment in schools conducted by teachers, male students or other none teaching staff.
- Early, unplanned pregnancies contribute to troubles regarding reproductive health among adolescent girls and are responsible for many school drop-outs among girls. Furthermore, the options of abortions are very limited as well as unsafe and there is a lack of knowledge regarding the use of contraceptive methods.
- Traditional, socio-economic conflicts and cultural practices, beliefs and negative attitudes limit adolescent girls from utilizing reproductive health services.
- A general lack of knowledge about sexual reproductive health not only among adolescent girls and young women but also among teachers and boys. Additionally, girls have limited access to sanitary pads and hygiene products during their menstruation.
Programs Objectives
We Are Engaged In All Possible Ways
In order to successfully change the situation of adolescent girls and young women to the better, we created and implemented different projects.
Knowledge and Skills Improvement
We regularly organize workshops and discussions with professionals and experts that are familiar with the topics of sexual reproductive health, law, gender-equality and others. We furthermore train adolescent girls and young women that have to live with HIV on nutrition improvement and other health-related topics. These workshops do not only include the provision of useful information but also aims to teach the participants on how to establish home gardens in order to have access to vitamins of high quality.
Sauti Ya Binti School Clubs
Through this project, we opened two female clubs and relaunched six clubs. This is how more than 738 female students were reached, of which 488 became club members. These students get trained on sexual reproductive health, gender-based violence and leadership. Membership and leadership certificates are handed out to every member and leader at the end of the year. So far, we have established clubs in eight different schools.
Social Media Training
We managed to conduct an intensive training on social media, its influence and how it can be used to conduct online advocacy campaigns against all forms of gender-based violence. The participants are taught the women rights and the importance of gender equality, the forms of gender-based violence and finally the ethics of social media, its do’s and don’ts. We are very happy and proud that through our trainings, the participants came up with own advocacy messages which were shared on WhatsApp group chats, Twitter and Facebook.
Our Project In The Near Future
Voice of Youth Tanzania discovered that in Meru and Arusha DC too many girls miss classes during their monthly menstruation. We also realized that most schools, especially in rural areas, have inadequate facilities including water supply for girls to wash hands, provision for privacy, soap, sanitary pads and disposal of soiled sanitary pads.
This is when we, VOYOTA, came up with a new program which aims at supporting school girls in order to achieve that every girl can attend school during her period and be comfortable. This program will mainly focus on the provision of reusable sanitary pads to school going girls. We plan to provide about 1000 girls with sanitary material that will be produced in our own sewing center.
The goal of this project is to keep girls from missing school due to their menstruation.
Read What Our Adolescent Girls And Young Women Think About Sauti Ya Binti
I gained important information on social equality, women rights and especially on the right of education.
VOYOTAs Sauti Ya Binti club discusses imperative subjects such as women rights, sexual reproductive health and many more. I gained important information on social equality, women rights and especially on the right of education. My cousins weren’t allowed to go to school because their father forbade it. In his opinion, girls are not supposed to attend school. With the knowledge I gained through the Sauti Ya Binti club I directed my cousins to go to the gender desk and report this. Thanks to VOYOTAs teaching and encouragement I managed that my cousins can go to school now. After school I would like to go to university and join VOYOTA as a trainee in order to fulfill my dream of my own women rights’ organization.
My dream is to become part of VOYOTA and work for a women decision-making project after finishing school.
I feel bad about the situation that many women face in our society nowadays. They lack financial independence and don’t have the courage to take decisions on their own. I saw women beaten up by their husbands in my neighborhood. The program of Sauti Ya Binti encouraged me to help these women by advising them to report such issues. My dream is to become part of VOYOTA and work for a women decision-making project after finishing school.
Through joining the club, I learnt how to feel comfortable when standing in front of people and presenting my thoughts.
Before I knew VOYOTA and its Sauti Ya Binti club I didn’t feel confident at all. I couldn’t express my opinions, ideas or feelings. I didn’t feel empowered. Through joining the club, I learnt how to feel comfortable when standing in front of people and presenting my thoughts. Additionally, the club provided me with very useful information and training so that I can advise women to know their rights as well as their responsibilities and chances in society. Women rights were too long not taken seriously but now I feel empowered and confident that we can stand for our own decisions and encourage each other to speak out the challenges we face.
