POOR
awareness on reproductive health education among some parents in
Kilombero District has largely contributed to persistent early marriages
and pregnancies, according to Plan International Tanzania.
The
non-governmental Organisation, which also runs programmes to curb the
child marriages and empower the youth, has for the past three years been
engaging in a ‘Prevent Child Marriage’ project in the district.
The
four-year project, which comes to an end next year, has a component for
educating the public, including parents, in efforts to address such
marriages.
According
to the organisation’s Ifakara Programme Unit Manager Majani Rwambali,
the three years of the project’s implementation had helped to raise
awareness, as a result of which many underage girls had been saved from
early marriages.
He
told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday that the project also equipped
vulnerable girls with technical and vocational skills for enabling them
engage in income generating activities instead of staying idle, and
thereby laying them prone to adopting negative behaviours.
About
360 girls from four wards (90 from each) will be trained during the
four year period. Some girls from three wards have already completed
six-month technical courses that include cookery and tailoring.
They
are from Namawala, Mofu and Kisawasawa wards. The ones from Kisawasawa
Ward graduated at the weekend, during which the councillor, Mr Songo
Daniel, remarked that the initiative would help reduce early marriages.
“By
having vocational skills, we believe that the girls will also
contribute to industrial development,” he said at the graduation
ceremony.
Kilombero
district youth development officer Nicholaus Makata spoke bitterly
about child pregnancy, saying it puts girls at risks of being infected
with diseases.
He urged parents to develop close relationships with their young daughters and educate them on the effects of early marriages.
On
the other hand, he encouraged the youths, through their groups, to
apply for loans from the council, noting that in 2018/19 financial year
266m/- had been allocated for the purpose
POOR
awareness on reproductive health education among some parents in
Kilombero District has largely contributed to persistent early marriages
and pregnancies, according to Plan International Tanzania.
The
non-governmental Organisation, which also runs programmes to curb the
child marriages and empower the youth, has for the past three years been
engaging in a ‘Prevent Child Marriage’ project in the district.
The
four-year project, which comes to an end next year, has a component for
educating the public, including parents, in efforts to address such
marriages.
According
to the organisation’s Ifakara Programme Unit Manager Majani Rwambali,
the three years of the project’s implementation had helped to raise
awareness, as a result of which many underage girls had been saved from
early marriages.
He
told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday that the project also equipped
vulnerable girls with technical and vocational skills for enabling them
engage in income generating activities instead of staying idle, and
thereby laying them prone to adopting negative behaviours.
About
360 girls from four wards (90 from each) will be trained during the
four year period. Some girls from three wards have already completed
six-month technical courses that include cookery and tailoring.
They
are from Namawala, Mofu and Kisawasawa wards. The ones from Kisawasawa
Ward graduated at the weekend, during which the councillor, Mr Songo
Daniel, remarked that the initiative would help reduce early marriages.
“By
having vocational skills, we believe that the girls will also
contribute to industrial development,” he said at the graduation
ceremony.
Kilombero
district youth development officer Nicholaus Makata spoke bitterly
about child pregnancy, saying it puts girls at risks of being infected
with diseases.
He urged parents to develop close relationships with their young daughters and educate them on the effects of early marriages.
On
the other hand, he encouraged the youths, through their groups, to
apply for loans from the council, noting that in 2018/19 financial year
266m/- had been allocated for the purpose
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