about TAMASHA

Vision:

Adolescents and young people realize their rights and their rightful place at the centre of development in their communities and nation, in Tanzania, East Africa and in Africa as a whole. 

Mission:

Provide a critical youth perspective on all aspects of development and lobby for the inclusion of adolescents and young people as a whole and the most marginalized groups of young people in particular. 

Our objectives:

§  To establish a self sustaining institute rooted in participatory development dedicated to the quality learning and development.

§  To help adolescents and young people realize their rights and rightful place at the centre of development in the communities and society as a whole.

§  To establish an institute which shall have constituent centres which include the Learning and Training Centre and Secondary School in order to realize the objects of the organization.

§  To involve adolescents and young people in all activities and to look critically at all aspects of development from the perspective of adolescents and young people.

§  To promote learning of adolescents and young people through the provision of standardized, graded, quality courses related to adolescent and youth development and participatory development as a whole.

§  To promote learning critical thinking and innovation of all stakeholders in youth development, including development actors, academics, activists and young people themselves through various ways such as the applications of a youth lens to all issues, research, workshops and consultations and development of materials for media and training, with a strong emphasis on gender and the most marginalized.

§  To establish a ‘mother’ youth centres as a key part of the institute to be run by youth of the local community but with strong networking links to community based youth centres in all neighbouring districts.

§  To provide youth centered training in such courses as sexual and reproductive health and HIV and AIDS, participatory development with strong human rights based approach, capacity development of youth organizations including leadership, research and analysis, advocacy, writing skills such as preparation of proposals and reports,

§  To training adolescents and young persons in literacy and other academic development courses including intensive language training in international languages

§  To provide recreational activities for adolescents and youth as may be decided upon by club members

§  To work with young people and media actors to produce relevant written materials including children’s magazine and other youth focused written materials

§  To train and work with young people and local artists to produce their own materials and provide studio services for them

Our history:

TAMASHA was co-founded in 2006 by three close friends all working with young people long enough to believe that they are the change that we so desperately yearn for, in our communities. The aim is to secure the rightful space for young people so they can actively contribute to the development of their societies using participatory and appreciative approaches.

It was officially registered in Tanzania in April 2007 and later on in Kenya in 2012 but with a pan-African perspective set up in response to the increasing attention being paid to the youth question in the world.

Since its registration, TAMASHA has deliberately kept a fairly low profile because it wished to prove itself through its work before requesting funding to institutionalize and consolidate and expand its work.  However, it has been recognized by and has worked with various donors including UN agencies (UNICEF in Tanzania and throughout Africa, UNFPA, UNESCO), and bilateral government agencies (USAID) as well as other international organizations:

• CARE
• Oxfam
• Red Hot
• Marie Stopes
• Population Council
• Family Health International
• REPPSI - Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative
• JLICA – Joint Learning Initiative on Children and AIDS  
• ICRW - International Centre for Research on Women
• IIED - International Institute of the Environment and Development
• VIIVhealthcare

and national NGOs:

• Twaweza
• KIWOHEDE
• Elimu ni Ufunguo
• CCR – Caucus for Children’s Rights
• TCRF – Tanzania Child Rights Forum
• LISA – Life Skills Association of Tanzania
• REPOA – Research on Poverty Alleviation
• TGNP - Tanzania Gender Networking Programme,

Our belief:

We believe that our mission is particularly important because:

Young people constitute a large percentage of the population (35% in Tanzania), the largest ever in history.  They also contribute 65% of the national work force in Tanzania. They should be the most effective agents of development but currently are the most affected and disaffected by the system.

Their voices are rarely heard and their participation is mostly tokenism. They receive little from the national budget.  In spite of the expansion of education, the majority are still not in school, or are in very poor schools.  Of those who are not in school, the majority are either unemployed or marginally underemployed with little access to resources. 

Research carried out by TAMASHA shows that young people have little stake in their communities as their own ideas and priorities are not considered.  They are only supposed to listen to their elders and provide free labour whenever required.  This has created great frustration and alienation among young people.

One reason for the above is that young people have no structures that can enable them to organise themselves.  The youth wings of political parties are not concerned with young people at the grassroots except maybe at election time and there are no other inclusive youth organisations either.  Since they cannot organise, they cannot push successfully for inclusion, resource allocation etc. in their communities.  

A second reason for the above is that even those young people who wish to work in their communities have received, at the most a very rudimentary training and therefore do not have sufficient knowledge and skills to be effective change agents in their community or to develop their commitment to their communities into livelihoods.

While gender is a major factor in inequity, age is also.  Girls and young women are doubly disadvantaged because of their gender and their age.  At the same time, young men are highly disadvantaged as well, to the extent that some theorists argue that one of the greatest gender contradictions at present is between young men and old men.

The negative attitudes currently expressed towards young people are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Young people are a majority who think, behave and are treated like a dangerous minority.  However, when they are organised through their own structures at community level and above, are given sufficient training and support to become effective change agents, and are able to develop and implement their own plans and projects, they are a powerful positive force for change and development in their communities.  The time has come to unleash their potential.