Tanzania 2024 - HEALTH ~ HOPE ~ HIGHER ASPIRATIONS

  YOU Life Skills and Leadership Educational Foundation and the Nguzo Women and Youth Foundation are teaming up for a transformative mission in Moshi, Tanzania. Our 2024 initiative, Health | Hope | Higher Aspirations, aims to address critical challenges Tanzanian girls face. 

Let me tell you about Glory, a young girl from Tanzania.  She didn't attend secondary school; she became pregnant at the age of 13 after completing her primary education. She says she felt worthless and her dreams for the future 'flew away'. 

In Tanzania, teenage pregnancy has increased over the last decade, with nearly one in four girls becoming pregnant or giving birth to their first child before the age of 18. Adolescent pregnancy is generally not the result of a deliberate choice - girls often have little or no say over decisions affecting their bodies and lives - and early childbirth is a consequence - as is the case for Glory - of inequalities; of peer and social pressures and a lack of access to age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights education, information and services. 

  Our Objectives:

1. Empowerment: Educate girls and boys on sexual reproductive health, life skills, and anti-bullying tools.
2. Hygiene Kits: Provide hygiene kits for girls
3. Education: Train health, environment, and sports clubs in schools about health and environmental sustainability.

Our endeavor seeks to address the following challenges:

~High dropout rates exacerbated the stigmatization surrounding adolescent girls' menstruation cycles and widespread isolation in Tanzania

~Increased violence among students, limited opportunities for higher education, and decreased community engagement, which creates a lack of training programs and support. 

Our initiative aims to achieve the following objectives:

~ Education of over 5000 primary and secondary school adolescent girls and boys on sexual reproductive health, life skills, and anti-bullying tools through in-school programs.

~ Support for creating and distributing hygiene kits for adolescent girls in and out of schools in the Kilimanjaro Region.

~ Enhancement of existing sweater-weaving businesses to provide employment and school uniforms

~ Construction/renovation of the Nguzo Hub Building with Office Outlet and other premises, supporting the foundations's operational needs and community impact.