Tanzania Gender Networking Programme Factsheet
- Founded in 1993
- WfWP member since 2005
- Mission: To build a vibrant transformative feminist movement that contributes to the struggles against patriarchy and neo liberalism for social and gender equality and women empowerment in Tanzania and beyond
- Focus area: Water, gender
- Level: local, national, regional, international
- Main themes: access to maternal health services, access to clean and safe water, Girl child education, Women access and control over land, Women access to agricultural inputs, women participation in extractive industries. Cross cutting themes/ issues include reduction of violence against women and children, Gender responsive budgeting, women participation in leadership and decision making and women empowerment
- Beneficiaries: Grassroots women groups, youth groups, PWDs, CSOs, CBOs, Higher learning institutions, women rights NGOs, Government Ministries, Local government actors, development partners, secondary schools
- Staff: 28
- Volunteers: 5
- Members: 22
- Annual budget (average): €1,025,000
Milestones
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) has distinguished herself as an active and recognized player in the progressive women and civil society movement in the country, Africa and beyond. TGNP is a feminist organisation striving to contribute to the building a vibrant transformative Feminist movement that is grounded locally for the purpose of promoting gender equality and equity, women’s empowerment and social justice.
Our vision is to see “A transformed Tanzanian society in which there is gender equality, equity and social justice”.
The goal is to play a catalyst role in building a movement that is capable of influencing and demanding changes in structures, policy and equitable resource allocation at all level.
Since its inception TGNP has employed strategies to influence national/sectoral policies, planning and budgetary processes for responding to practical and strategic women needs e.g. access to health services, water, reduction of violence, etc for their empowerment. TGNP also engages with policies to trace policy/budgeting impacts and results on women and marginalized groups. TGNP advocates for water as a human right and a constitutional issue. Signature projects include:
- Water sector budget analysis (annually) with a gender perspective. Grassroots activists carry out the analysis through the Budget Analysis Task Team and generate a popular report for advocacy and dissemination to the various actors including government, communities, media, women rights and human rights organisations, higher learning institutions, parliamentarian, councillor, faith based institutions, individual activists and the public (since 2005)
- Women Water movement in Tanzania through Coalition /network of women and water ( women & water Network) which consists of women’s groups and some men that are active in this field and ready to be the agents of change both at national and grassroots level (since 2010)
- Participatory Acton Research (PAR) which involve community to assess the situation of access to clean and safe water, analyse challenges community face and develop and implement follow-up actions to address the challenges involving local Government Authorities (LGAs) and Central Government. SINCE 2010 TGNP has been able to reach out 22 Wards within 5 Districts namely Kishapu- Shinyanga, Mbeya Rural. Morogoro Rural, Tarime and Kisarawe
- District budget analysis and tracking to track resource allocated to address GEWE issues including access to clean and safe water for women. TGNP also facilitate grassroots women groups to track implementation of resource/ budget at village and ward level.
Initial Management of the Mweteni Women Project in Kilimanjaro region 2010 -2011 - National campaigns on gender and water, such as the: Gender Budget Initiative, focusing on Gender Policy and HIV/ AIDS; the Gender Based Violence campaign, focusing on resources allocation to address GBV Issues; Maternal Health Rights; Girl Child Education, and: the Water Access as a Basic Human Right campaign
- In 2014/15 TGNP initiated “Bucket off Women’s Head campaign” which aimed at using general election 2015 as an opportunity to continue demanding election candidates, government and political parties to show concrete strategies on how they will address water problems in case they win elections. This campaign made water issues to become one of the key campaign agenda for some candidates. The new president Dr. John Pombe Magufuli made a promise to remove “bucket off the women’s head” during election campaigns and in his first speech as the President, when addressing the new parliament he affirmed his promise by saying that ” we want to relieve women from carrying water on their head”. Immediately after the new government assuming power, TGNP in collaboration with one of her partner paid a visit to Vice president Ms. Samia Suluhu and one of her priority as a woman and first vice president is to ensure access to water so as to relieve women the burden of walking long distance and spending many hours searching for water which limits them from meaningful participation in economic, political and social activities
For more information visit the TGNP website: www.tgnp.org
