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SAFE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SCHEME PROJECT REPORT
YOUNG WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE
PROJECT IN PAWAGA DIVISION, IRINGA REGION
September – November
2014
Sponsored by the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
SAFE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SCHEME
P.O BOX 78261|DAR ES SALAAM| TANZANIA
TANZANIA STREET|BOKO BEACH|KINONDONI
Tel: +255 732 924 788 / cell: +255 769 444 669
[email protected] | www.sydstanzania.org
www.twitter.com/sydstanzania
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To complete the project to empower women in agriculture Safe Youth Development Scheme
(SYDS) received invaluable support and commitment from various institutions and individuals.
We offer our sincere gratitude to the Federal Government of the United States of America
through its Embassy in Tanzania; this project represented a great opportunity for America’s
development assistance, our citizens and for the recognition of the importance of the role of
women and agriculture in the development of this nation.
Also, we give thanks to the leadership of Iringa district council for receiving this project and
contributing to the great effort to complete this project. In particular we thank the DAICO office
in Iringa district council for their efforts in assisting us to empower women in agriculture.
SYDS also recognizes the effort made by the responsible authorities at the local level for their
cooperation in social responsibility.
Finally, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to our local staffs, including Mr. Peter Kirangi,
Mr. Cretus Luvanga, Ms. Innochensia kidunye and Ms. Patricia Mhulilo. These people have been
with us throughout; assisting in various roles until the completion of this project.
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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APC: Assistance Project Coordinator
DAICO: District Agricultural Irrigation and Cooperatives.
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
GL: Group Leaders.
LPO: Limited Purchase Order
LS: Local Staffs
M&E: Monitoring and Evaluation
PC: Project Coordinator
SACCOS: Savings and Credit Co-operative
SYDS: Safe Youth Development Scheme
USA: United State of America
USAID: United States Agency for International Development
VEO: Village Executive Officer
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
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Contents
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ ii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... iii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1
ABOUT SYDS. ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
OUR MISSION STATEMENT ................................................................................................................................ 1
OUR VISION ............................................................................................................................................................ 1
YOUNG WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE PROJECT ................................................................. 1
PROJECT TEAM ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER TWO: PROJECT PERFORMANCE .......................................................................................................... 4
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION ............................................................................................................................ 4
GROUPS REGISTRATION ..................................................................................................................................... 4
GROUP WORKSHOP .............................................................................................................................................. 5
REHEARSALS & SKITS DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................................... 7
CLOSING CEREMONY .......................................................................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER THREE: PROJECT ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 13
COMMUNITY ISSUES ......................................................................................................................................... 13
CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT.............................................................................................................................. 13
Training and Participation ................................................................................................................................... 13
Monitoring and Evaluation ................................................................................................................................. 13
FINANCIAL ASPECTS ......................................................................................................................................... 14
Source of Funds .................................................................................................................................................. 14
ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT ASPECTS .................................................................................... 14
SYDS Project Committee ................................................................................................................................... 14
CHALLENGES: ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
Challenge faced SYDS ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Challenge to the community: .............................................................................................................................. 16
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ........................................................................... 18
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................................... 18
RECOMMENDATION: ......................................................................................................................................... 19
REFFERENCES: ......................................................................................................................................................... 20
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The determination of SYDS to take this project in Pawaga, Iringa region was a consequence of
the huge potential in this division, for a project focused on female involvement in agricultural
activities. This project sought to address the challenges women have been facing in this activity
particularly in accessing capital. They have problems securing loans from financial institutions
due to the need for collateral; the main form of which property is usually owned by their
husbands and/ or fathers and other male members of the family.
This has been a great challenge for women who live in a patriarchal culture, where men make all
decisions regarding ownership and management of family property. This means many women
farmers are not given the opportunity to make modern agriculture choices instead undertaking
poor farming practices resulting in only small yields.
Through our Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project, SYDS strongly opposed
this situation and provided education for both women and men on the role of women in the
various decisions in the family, using development seminars and Community Theater to illustrate
the challenge. The project also managed to meet with financial institutions and talk about how it
was possible for female farmers to access small loans on concessional terms. As a consequence,
Kimande SACCOS is ready and is working to be more receptive of female clients.
Other financial institutions, including banks, usually offer these loans through available
SACCOS in a zone. Therefore, the groups of women and men reached by SYDS were provided
with education about SACCOS while some continue to complete the registration procedures for
the state level.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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ABOUT SYDS:
SYDS is a youth led, not for profit registered company. It was founded on May 2012 and
formerly established in 1st October 2013 by a group of professional young people. We target the
development of youth by targeting good health, education, infrastructure development and
empowerment of young women, through working on social-economic issues, poverty alleviation
strategies and the management of risks facing youth. SYDS activities are focused on supporting
Tanzania’s National Development Policy - Vision 2025.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
Promote better health, life skills education, self-awareness among youth through training, sports
and entertainment programs, coalition building and advocacy.
OUR VISION
A young generation with better reproductive health, life skills education and self-awareness
YOUNG WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE PROJECT
Follow a seminar that SYDS conducted on March 6th
, 2014 and sponsored by the Public Affairs
Office at the US Embassy in Tanzania, SYDS organized a project to combat the challenges that
women face in agricultural activities including access to credit. In this regard, SYDS, under full
sponsorship of American Federal Government, conducted the project Young Women’s
Empowerment in Agriculture – “Access to Finance”.
SYDS in conducting the Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project received the
support from the United States Embassy Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
On November 25th
, 2014 we were able to reach the peak of all activities when hundreds of
people joined with us in the closing ceremony of the project. Some of them were leaders from
the district and municipal level, public agencies, private organizations, the media, the village
level officials, representatives of the country level, and community members and their groups,
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
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also Mr. David Feldmann (Deputy Public Affairs Officer) and Mr. Ignatius Nyoni (Social Media
Coordinator) from the US Embassy joined us on that great and memorable day.
It was really pleasing, that the villagers through their agricultural groups could be mobilized so
significantly, this was a great indicator of the success of our project.
In our plan, the project expected to reach a target audience of 200 people, 100 women and 100
men aged 18 – 35 years, in 12 groups already registered following the seminar on March 6th
,
2014. This number increased on the day of the project launch where we registered seventeen (17)
more groups, making a total of 29 groups. This increased the targeted project audiences to 339
people, 216 women and 123 men.
Following the decision to proceed with the 29 groups others were motivated and requested to
join. However it was not possible to include them directly due to the resources available. This is
another opportunity for SYDS to extend or come with a new program to reach more farmers.
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PROJECT TEAM
After received a grant from the US Embassy, SYDS made preparations for the journey to Iringa.
The following is the project management structure of the implementation team for the Young
Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project.
Project Coordinator
Accounts and Administration
Logistics & Procurement
Monitoring and Evaluation
External Relations
Figure: Project organizing structure
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The main focus of the Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project comes from the
challenges that young women face in accessing finance/capital. SYDS, under the sponsorship of
American Federal Government via its embassy in Dar Es Salaam, has focused on combating
these challenges through this project.
SYDS played a supervisory role and provided technical support to this project. We started our
activities with a pilot in Pawaga in early October 2014 which included 12 groups from different
villages. Implementation of the project involved the activities outlined in the following sections;
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
Community mobilization involved SYDS meeting with community leaders in every respective
village. The purpose was to create awareness and introduce the organizational intention on the
project in Pawaga. This activity took about two weeks starting on October 17th
, 2014 with the
meeting held at Mwanaima Social Hall which involved some prospective beneficiaries and local
leaders in the village. SYDS proceeded by meeting the Village Executive Officers (VEO) for
each village involved in the project.
Community mobilization also went hand in hand with internal staff recruitment for the project.
Together we engaged with the community members and become familiar and engaged with the
women and men we were to work with.
GROUPS REGISTRATION
Group registration week was concluded on October 26th
, 2014 by the launch of the project to the
targeted group, SYDS held a ceremony which was attended by a local journalist. It was in this
ceremony that we introduced the project to the community and assessed and registered the
agricultural groups including; Muungano Rice, Leke Valonge, Nuru Vikoba, Muungano Vijana,
Muungano, Azimio, Kaza mwendo, Makubaliano, Mkakimwi, Tuondoe Umaskini, Twanukile,
Majaribio Vijana,Mshikamano, Isele Vijana and Tyiyendage.
CHAPTER TWO: PROJECT PERFORMANCE
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GROUP WORKSHOP
Group workshop was also carried out which was attended by registered groups. The Workshop
was facilitated by Mr. E. F. Samile from the Department of Cooperatives, Iringa District
Council, who was engaged by SYDS to provide the seminars and training sessions for the
groups. These activities gave the opportunity for all group members to acquire knowledge and
skills on how to practice agribusiness rather than purely subsistence farming and how to prepare
an effective business plan for accessing loans.
Mr. Pangani (left) The External Relation Manager at SYDS speaking to the crowd on opening ceremony
which included targeted audiences registration.
At right are Ms. Kampira and Mr. Valerian facilitating games and sports session on the same opening
ceremony day.
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Group picture taken at the end of one of the workshop
Some of the groups at the seminars organized by SYDS
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After the workshop, which took two weeks of training for groups, SYDS had an opportunity through
Nuru FM radio station, to go introduce and provide information of the Young Women’s Empowerment in
Agriculture project. Mr. Arnold Pangani, the External Relations Manager at SYDS and Assistant
Coordinator of this project was accompanied by two members to broadcast our message to the whole
community. Mr. Pangani explained the importance of farmers to join in groups and work together in
production activities and also provided commentary on the project to empower women in agriculture.
The beneficiaries were represented by two people, one male and one female from different groups, who
gave their perspective on how they have received this project. They expressed their expectations of the
outcomes of this project. They praised SYDS particularly for the quality of our workshop. Also they
stated that; they expect to have great benefits in the next agricultural seasons as a result of SYDS’s
project.
REHEARSALS & SKITS DEVELOPMENT
The aim of this part of the project was to give the project primary target audience the opportunity
to develop and perform theatrical skits that address the challenges women face in accessing
finance or capital to start, run or improve their agricultural activities. Additionally, these skits
aimed to address misuse of loans which obstruct all plans for economic development. SYDS
involved local art groups to prepare the skits on behalf of the whole community. This activity
included taking still pictures and videos of the rehearsals and developed skits which will be
distributed to the local community leaders, members, stakeholders and other(s) to show and raise
the voice of women; regarding the challenges they are facing in accessing capital to facilitate
their agricultural activities.
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Performance of the skits involved groups with members from 10 different villages but mostly
from - Winome and Tuwe Macho from Itunundu and Kinyika villages respectively.
These skits were also performed live at the closing ceremony in front of guests from U.S.
Embassy Dar Es Salaam, Government, NGOs, private companies and financial providers.
Skits development activities at location with Winome Art group.
The skits aim to address challenges face women in access to capital
Skits development with Tuwe Macho Art Group from Kinyika
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CLOSING CEREMONY
On November 25th
, 2014 the SYDS closing ceremony commemorated the achievements of the
Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project. The ceremony was held in the compound
of the primary school of Itunundu with hundreds of people attending a great ceremony.
Mr. Malick Mawere, Executive Director of SYDS and Project Coordinator opened the ceremony
by welcoming all guests and used this opportunity to give a brief report about the project and its
aim to empower young women in agriculture.
The Ceremony was attended by visitors from Iringa Rural District Council, local journalists,
private institutions and village executives. The most significant guest was the representatives
from the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania. Several speakers, including the guest of honor Mr. Muhoka,
from DAICO spoke of the impact and success of the project.
Executive Director, Mr. Malick who is a Project Coordinator, opened the ceremony by
briefly speech
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On behalf of the farmers’ groups, Mr. Julius Mposewa, gave feedback on the Young Women’s
Empowerment in Agriculture project. Mr. Mposewa gave thanks to all the institutions that
supported this project and explained the project’s positive impact. In his report, he suggested that
scaling up of this project using the lessons learnt would allow for a more sustainable means of
supporting women to take a more active role in decision making for their agricultural businesses.
Scaling up this project would also support women farmers in modern agriculture and accessing
credit schemes.
In this ceremony, the farmers had another opportunity to hear from the DAICO representative,
and learn more about SACCOs when General Secretary from Kimande SACCOs provided
information on the system of credit availability to farmers through the organization.
MR. JULIUS MPOSEWA
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Mr. David Feldmann, in the picture below; explained the good intentions of the U.S.
Government in attempting different approaches to development in developing countries,
including Tanzania.
The ceremony continued with various activities including drama which demonstrated the
challenges that women face in accessing capital.
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ENTERTAINMENT TIME
Acrobat playing with python in front of the audiences
Closing ceremony group picture; SYDS staff, guests and project participants.
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COMMUNITY ISSUES
In implementing of the Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project, community
interaction was our first engagement measure before starting the project activities. This
engagement significantly supported SYDS in gaining community support and understanding and
for SYDS project members to become an accepted part of a community. Through our community
engagement we achieved the following;
- Become closely engaged with and accepted by the community
- Understood the social and cultural customs of the area
- Understood the various administrative procedures within the division and engaged local
leaders and government officials
- Easy availability of essential goods and supplies such as; stationeries and equipment
- Effective delivery of the message to the people about the project
CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT
Training and Participation
SYDS provided continued support to Local Staff (LS) and Group Leaders (GL) who work with
us in areas of capacity building including ensuring the correct delivery of project message and
information and methods of community mobilization.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Supervision, monitoring and evaluation were done throughout the implementation of the project.
The supervision team consisted of the Project Coordinator, Assistant Project Coordinator and
M&E; they have provided the information which has been included in the report for the Donor
and for any other relevant projects beneficiaries.
CHAPTER THREE: PROJECT ANALYSIS
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FINANCIAL ASPECTS
Source of Funds
SYDS received a grant from the U.S. Federal Government through its Embassy in Tanzania.
The total funds received stands at USD 46,725 for project financing and services in accordance
to the project budget submitted by SYDS.
ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT ASPECTS
SYDS Project Committee
The final draft of this report for the Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project was
presented and discussed by the SYDS Project Committee. The Committee concluded that
strenuous efforts should be made to ensure the project is continued into another phase to reach
more people/farmers for better results and to further support and enhance the outcomes already
achieved through the original project.
The SYDS Project Committee discussed strategies to enhance accountability and transparency of
the organization to enable the completion of services to the additional groups should SYDS
receive further funding following verification of completion.
Finally, the Project Committee has resolved that SYDS should work with the public and private
sectors to seek their steady and consistent technical support to the community projects through
cost sharing as well as material support.
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CHALLENGES:
Challenge faced SYDS
The main challenge that SYDS encountered included the lack of awareness of the women and
men farmers at the beginning of the project of the issue that we were seeking to address during
the project. The strength of our engagement process was demonstrated by the number of
community members who wished to join the program.
Another significant challenge was the difficulty of some women found in attending sessions due
to the patriarchal nature of their families. This situation eased day after day as the project
progress as a result of the effectiveness of SYDS’s community engagement processes.
Transport from one place to another particularly from the host village to other villages was also a
big challenge. There are no cars so we had to use power tiller (farming machines) to travel very
long distances in high temperature which caused headaches and fatigue.
Additionally, the issue of communication, specifically regarding the internet, was problematic
and could be restrictive for our activities, due to the remoteness of the area. We were often
unable to access the communications’ network and had to travel to Iringa town for these
purposes.
Power Tiller we used for transport
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Challenge to the community:
A good percentage of villagers in Pawaga depend on rice cultivation. The big challenge that most
of farmers confront is inadequate of services from Mlenge Irrigation Scheme. The main issue is
that canal construction is not completed and does not reach all intended farmers. The trench was
excavated and constructed specifically for simplification of water delivery in the rice fields but
distant fields cannot access the channels. Also farmers complain that there is mismanagement of
the Scheme as there is no proper supervision to make sure every subsistence farmer can access
the canal.
Another challenge related to that is Mkombozi Irrigation Scheme for Itunundu and Usolange.
Farmers had decided to work together to excavate a Scheme channeled from Ruaha River. This
canal has become a major challenge though proactive measurements taken by political leaders
and members of the community to construct it. This canal would be a great savior for the farmers
of the area.
SYDS inspected the conduit and can testify to the major challenge presented by the Mkombozi
Irrigation Scheme canal, Farmers were able to prevent the collapsed edges by using sand of bags
sometimes, and however this fix fails to cope with the water stream during high volumes. Major
work needs to be undertaken to provide and maintain adequate water supply.
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Mkombozi Irrigation Scheme, drainage system of Itunundu and Usolange (Mboli-mboli)
villages connected from the great Ruaha river basin. The system needs to be improved
because it is sometimes destroyed by heavy rainfall. Scheme supplies water to the rice
fields. Tons of rice can be produced if the scheme is constructed.
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CONCLUSION
The Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project has contributed to a lot of change in
the community’s mindset about the involvement of women in agriculture. This project was
conducted to address some challenges that women faces in their agricultural activities, including
lack of support from their community, lack of involvement in decision making and lack of access
to capital.
With the welcome backing received from the United States Embassy, SYDS has successfully
supported the community’s women and men to address the problems they face. SYDS support
enabled the community to understand the problems and to own the solutions, which enhanced the
sustainability and impact of the project’s outcomes. SYDS used drama which was developed and
presented by the community as the most effective medium to inform the community’s women
and men. This process was supported by the recruitment of a group which facilitated the
community’s groups’ development and presentation of the skits.
Drama also provided a means of expressing the struggles and lack of support experienced by
woman in their agricultural activities as a result of patriarchy unsupportive financial providers.
Through the Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture project SYDS offered training on
agribusiness to increase productivity, access to finance and inclusion in decision making. The
drama process worked in conjunction with the workshop conducted by SYDS, where community
members were given guidance on how preparing an effective business plan and the efficient
operationalization of these plans.
The project has been highly successful due to the overwhelming response and support that the
project received from the community and community leaders. In order to reach additional
community members and to enhance the sustainability of the project’s outcomes, SYDS has a
vision to implement a second phase of the Young Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture
project. This would include providing follow-up support to the participants of the original project
to ensure that the benefits are continued and enhanced.
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
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RECOMMENDATION:
The agricultural sector in Tanzania contributes at least 27.8% of the country’s GDP. Rural
women play a significant role in domestic and socio-economic life of the society and provide
more than 54% of the agricultural labor force. There are more than 15 million smallholder
farmers in Tanzania where half of them are women with very limited access to modern
machinery and improved technologies. Additionally, the sector, community and other
stakeholders in agriculture underestimate the contribution of women and what they can produce.
It is time now for various stakeholders including the government to ensure that agricultural
projects to protect and promote the value of women in agriculture.
Policy development, and project design and implementation in the field of agriculture needs to
involve, support and consider the needs of smallholder women farmers by NGOs, Government at
all levels and other organizations/institutions.
Women must be directly involved with the development and implementation of the new
technology in production, processing and marketing. They should be included in training focused
on the use of advanced tools and methods to increase their knowledge and skills leading to
higher production, and increased household income and food security.
The legal right for women to own land; is important for women seeking to use the land as
collateral when applying for bank loans. Micro-Finance products could also be established to
support women farmers who fail to access loans. SYDS drafted a revolving fund program
(micro-finance) which aims to provide free agriculture education and give material support to the
farmers inform of loan and link with the value of money, where in advance they will have to
contribute a very small amount after harvesting period.
However, government and other donor funding programs should encourage the efficient and
sustainable use of the existing cultivable land, by investing in agricultural research, supporting
NGOs involved in the development of the sector and providing funds to support development
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activities specifically in agriculture so as to increase output and income of the household for
agribusiness, particularly for smallholder women farmers.
This project is in line with the current government efforts to empower women so as to improve
their productivity in agriculture and also in line with U.S.A aid policy for Tanzania.
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Ellis, A. (2007). Gender and Economic Growth in Tanzania. The World Bank: Washington,
D.C.
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) (1995). A Synthesis Report of the African Region:
Women, Agriculture and Rural Development.
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO (1994). Women, Agriculture and Rural Development:
A Synthesis Report of the Africa Region, Rome.
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) (1998). My Talents, many Women Feed the World.
United Nations, Rome Pp 3-7.
Horenstein, N.R. (1989). Women and Food Security in Kenya-Washington DC. World Bank.
Minutes taken from different activities during the seminar.
National Bureau of Statistics (2011).
REFFERENCES: