Country Context
In Tanzania, 31% of girls are married before their 18th birthday and 5% are married before the age of 15. 4% of boys in Tanzania are married before the age of 18. The regions with the highest prevalence of child marriage in the country include Shinyanga (59%), followed by Tabora (58%), Mara (55%), Dodoma (51%) and Lindi (48%). Rates are lowest in Iringa 8% and Dar es Salaam 19%. In rural areas on the border with Kenya (Mara region), some girls reportedly marry as young as 11.
While the Tanzanian legislature has passed several laws and policies relating to the protection of women and children, some of these laws contradict each other. Most importantly, the 1971 Law of Marriage Act sets the minimum marriage age with parental consent at 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Discriminatory laws and policies such as this, with differential treatment based on gender, seriously undermine girls’ fundamental rights to equality, dignity, and access to education.
About Tanzania End Child Marriage Network (TECMN):
Established in 2012, the Tanzania Ending Child Marriage Network (TECMN) is composed of 87 members. TECMN has been instrumental in providing expertise to the Government on the development of the National Plan of Action to End Violence against Women and Children and engaging the media, which led to a national debate on the re-entry policy of pregnant girls into education. TECMN remains active in advocating for the change of the Marriage Act.
To further enhance the impact of TECMN’s work, TECMN is designing a co-created, multi-year programme of action that maximises the Coalition’s potential to share and develop strategies to strengthen the impact of the financial investment from Girls Not Brides.
Objectives of the Co-Creation Workshop
On 6-9 May, TECMN hosted a co-creation workshop with 45 civil society member participants to develop their multi-year programme. Through innovative strategy development and skills-building, TECMN will:
- Develop TECMN’s Advocacy Strategy to reflect an articulated vision of what it wishes to accomplish in the short term (3 years) and long term (5 years) and the road map to get there (this will be the base for future project design and fundraising).
- Design a 3-year project plan through the co-creation process with the members of TECMN.
- Strengthen the knowledge, capacities, and skills of members on what works to end child marriage, project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Guide the Integration of Gender Transformative Approaches in Programme Strategy planning and design.
Next steps:
TECMN will put together a technical working group to finalise the strategy, incorporating the priorities from the co-creation workshop.