Waache Wasome (Let Them Learn)

  • P Project/Program

I Inactive

Key Information

Waache Wasome aims to increase adolescent girls’ participation and retention in secondary school in Tanzania. The project’s efforts are rooted in the principle of empowering girls to create and achieve goals for their future, while addressing the social/gender norms, economic barriers, and violence that constrain their ability to remain and excel in school. We work closely with local government authorities, schools, leaders, and parents to bring a holistic package of interventions to target councils. Objectives and interventions of the project: 1. Build the agency, knowledge, and protective assets of secondary school girls by supporting schools to organize Protect Our Youth Clubs, which empower students them with information, skills, and support networks to better navigate the variety of risks they face and build protective assets to reduce vulnerabilities. 2. Increase family commitment and capacity to invest in girls’ education by forming Livelihood Improvement for Mothers and Caregivers of Adolescents groups, which support change at the household level through a community savings model designed to help caregivers develop a safety net and provide additional support to ensure their daughters’ continued education. 3. Foster a girl-friendly and supportive school environment by providing teachers and administrators training that equips them with knowledge and skills to prevent and respond to school-related gender-based violence, develop a positive relationship with students, and challenge harmful gender norms. 4. Provide alternative education pathways for girls who dropped out of secondary school by initiating out-of-school support groups, which provide wrap-around support and skills training for highly vulnerable girls.

In Tanzania, the project team is refining COVID-19-related materials for sharing remotely with teachers, students, and students’ families. While a national school closure has temporarily interrupted direct support to beneficiaries, project staff are preparing pilot video and audio sessions to continue our core work building the protective assets of adolescent girls, reducing school-related gender-based violence, and strengthening household economic resilience. We also plan to deliver key messages through a network of community radio stations, and to support local government authorities and partners to safely conduct on-site support and monitoring of cases.


Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Sub-Saharan Africa

United Republic of Tanzania

Government Affiliation

Non-governmental program

Years

2016 - 2022

Partner(s)

WGBH Educational Foundation, Africa Inland Church of Tanzania (AICT), Rafiki Social Development Organization (Rafiki- SDO), Service, Health and Development for Poeople Living Positively with HIV/AIDS (SHDEPHA+)

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

COVID-19 Response

Adapted

Geographic Scope

National

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Secondary completion

Other

  • Early childhood development
  • Remote Learning

Other skills

  • Financial literacy
  • Life skills/sexuality education
  • Rights/empowerment education
  • Social and emotional learning
  • Vocational training

Quality

  • School-related gender-based violence

Skills

  • STEM

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Community sensitization
  • COVID-19 Response
  • Early/child marriage
  • Economic/livelihoods (including savings/financial inclusion, etc.)
  • Empowerment
  • Gender equality
  • HIV and STIs
  • Other aspects of sexual and reproductive health
  • Sexual harassment & coercion
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs
  • Violence (at home, in relationships)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Girls (both in school and out of school), Youth

Age

13 - 25

School Enrolment Status

Some in school

School Level

  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary

Other populations reached

  • Boys in school
  • Community leaders
  • Fathers
  • Mothers
  • Other caregivers
  • Parent-teacher associations/school management committees
  • Religious leaders
  • School administrators
  • Teachers - female
  • Teachers - male

Participants include

  • Adolescent mothers (pregnant or parenting)
  • Orphans and vulnerable children

Program Approaches Back to Top

Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization

  • Community mobilization
  • General awareness-raising/community engagement

Life skills education

  • Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE)
  • Gender, rights and power
  • Sexual and reproductive health (including puberty education)
  • Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills building

Mentoring/psychosocial support

  • Peer mentors
  • School-based counselors

Reducing economic barriers

  • Financial literacy training
  • Microcredit

School-related gender-based violence

  • Safe and welcoming schools
  • Safe channels/mechanisms for reporting violence
  • Training of school personnel (including teachers)
  • Violence prevention curriculum/activities for students

Social/gender norms change

  • Engaging parents/caregivers of students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Group activities with students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Work with community leaders
  • Work with religious leaders

Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Increased secondary school completion
  • Reduced absenteeism

Cross-cutting goals

  • Changed social norms
  • Improved financial literacy and savings
  • Improved maternal, newborn, and/or child health (MNCH)
  • Improved understanding of sexual harassment, coercion, and consent
  • Increased agency and empowerment
  • Increased employment/job-related skills
  • Increased knowledge of HIV, puberty, and sexual and reproductive health
  • Increased knowledge of rights
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms
  • Reduced child marriage
  • Reduced poverty/increase household well-being
  • Reduced school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)
  • Reduced violence against children in the home