The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women and government today launched a 3 years' #GenderEquality programme financed by Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

Although creating platforms that build the agency of women and girls to uphold their rights to participate, including through Adolescent Girls Clubs, vocational training and Women’s Protection Committees, and increasing their productivity in the agricultural sector, will be a priority of the programme. 

C-Sema is one of the programme’s implementing partners working specifically on strengthening gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response systems in Ikungi District Council.

Speaking during the launch today Dr. Wilfred Ochan, Officer-In-Charge, UNFPA Tanzania said,

'Often time our patriarchal systems have propagated gender-based violence (GBV) denying women and girls equal opportunities in our societies. Through community mobilization we would improve access to paralegal support, Police Children’s Desks and One Stop Centres.'

As you may have already noted, this programme looks not only at women and girls in terms of human rights but also the economic justice. Just to demonstrate this, some implementing partners will focus, besides the GBV efforts, in making sure women have access to finance, set-up warehouses for horticultural products from women groups, improve agricultural produce value and help seek markets for their produce. Lastly improve land ownership for women

To quote the Singida Regional Commissioner, Dr. Rehema Nchimbi’s concluding remarks during the occassioan, ' When women and girls are left behind, and if men are responsible in leaving women and behind. All of us in the society will remain behind. We must now embrace equal opportunities to economic progress regardless of gender. Because it isn't about girls and women, but all of us.'

This story was compiled by C-Sema media team.

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