Morogoro

 "Hapana Marefu Yasio na Mwisho" (#SasaMwisho) Program overview.

In collaboration with the European Union (EU), FELM, AMANIGIRLS HOME, and ELCT, C-Sema proudly executes the "Hapana Marefu Yasio na Mwisho" (#SasaMwisho) program, translated as "There is No Distance Without End: Protecting children and young girls from early marriages (Child marriages) in Tanzania." This initiative, funded by the EU and the Finland Lutheran Church, is currently in it’s first year of implementation, slated for a three-year duration. It operates within the expansive terrain of all 42 counties in the Kilosa District Council of the Morogoro region (the project’s focus area), as well as in Nyakato Mwanza, Dododma, Tabora, and Zanzibar.

The primary beneficiaries of the "Hapana Marefu Yasio na Mwisho" (#SasaMwisho) program are girls aged between 8 and 15 years within the project’s implementation regions.

At its core, the program targets three key intervention levels: individual, interpersonal, and social/structural. Firstly, the program focuses on empowering girls at risk of child marriage by enhancing their awareness of their rights and access to services. Secondly, it seeks to transform group norms related to child marriage within families and communities, engaging traditional and religious leaders, service providers, and the media. Lastly, the program advocates for law and policy revisions, particularly the Law of Marriage Act, to raise the legal age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls.

The program adopts an integrated approach, anchored in the socio-ecological framework, to address the root causes of gender inequality and gender-based violence.

• Empowering girls at risk of marriage through awareness-building and access to essential services.

• Engaging families and communities to transform societal norms surrounding child marriage, with a focus on traditional and religious leaders, service providers, and media.

• Advocating for policy and legal reforms, including revisions to the Legal Marriage Age (LMA), to create an enabling environment for the protection of child rights.

• Training initiatives, such as the LINEA curricula integration into FBO colleges and digital champion programs, are expected to enhance capacity-building efforts and promote evidence-based, gender-transformative techniques.

• Moreover, the program supports advocacy efforts at both national and international levels, leveraging interfaith networks and engaging in the Universal Periodic Review process.

  
  

Through such targeted activities, the #SASAMWISHO program aims to reach vulnerable communities, particularly indigenous pastoralist girls, in Morogoro and other regions i.e., Nyakato Mwanza, Dodoma, Tabora, and Zanzibar.

By amplifying collective voices and fostering attitudinal shifts within families, communities, and decision-making bodies, the program aspires to contribute to a safer society for youth and women in Tanzania ergo, combating child marriages and advancing the rights of children and young girls across the nation.