Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Campaign on hygiene targets thousands of youth


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By Gadiosa Lamtey

Dar es Salaam. A total of 48,000 youth in four regions of Iringa, Dodoma, Dar es Salaam and Morogoro are expected to benefit from a campaign dubbed ‘Kijana Ni Usafi’ which seeks to encourage positive hygiene behavior.

 The six-month campaign launched on Wednesday March 17, is supported by UKAID targets young women and men aged between 15 and 35. The campaign aims to motivate young people to take good hygiene practices such as handwashing, safe water management, waste management and general personal hygiene.

Speaking during the launch of the campaign, Raleigh Tanzania, Project Coordinator Augustino Dickson said they selected and equipped over 2500 youth hygiene influencers from the said regions with hygiene education for the group to influence peers in their communities.

“Young people in Tanzania need to be equipped with knowledge on various issues to be able to contribute to the development of their country. Raleigh Tanzania has been working to equip youth with various skills including entrepreneurship skills. With this campaign, we are focusing on educating youth on hygiene for them to be able to master their environment.” he said.

He said the campaign is designed to respond to the specific hygiene needs of each region. In Dar es Salaam, for example, the campaign focuses on influencing young people to take action for proper waste management. The specific campaign for Dar es Salaam is dubbed “Vunja Urafiki na Uchafu; Acha Mazoea” which means “Abandon Friendship with Dirty; Stop the Habits.” This is because Dar es Salaam is one of the regions that face a serious waste management problem.

 In Iringa there is a little twist, the campaign focuses on waste management but their approach is to turn wastes into a business opportunity. The campaign in Iringa is named “Taka ni Mchongo; Kamata Utajiri” which means “Waste is Business Opportunity, Grab It.”

While in Dodoma,  the focus of the campaign is on personal hygiene for youth where the group is encouraged to take action for their personal hygiene. The campaign is named “Uchafu Sio Dili, Ng’aa Kijanja” which translates to “Dirt isn’t a Deal, Look Smart.


In Morogoro, the main focus of the campaign is to promote safe water management practices in the communities. The rationale is that the region has been affected by waterborne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea and cholera outbreak from time to time.

“The content of this campaign aligns with Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and Agenda 2030 (Global Sustainable Development Goals) because it is preparing young people to be not only aware but also caretakers of themselves and their environments. This is very important because if, the people who are responsible to nurture the future of our nation and our world are not responsible for their personal hygiene and the wellbeing of their surroundings it is likely that we are creating an undesirable future.” he added

 

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