On the morning of 26th August, 2020 the registrar of NGOs in Zanzibar Mr. Ahmed Khalid accompanied by his deputy and four other officials paid a formal visit to KUWAZA’s office, partly to learn about work the three KUWAZA partners (C-Sema, Action Aid and Pathfinder International) are doing and secondly to confirm C-Sema’s physical presence in Zanzibar.
Prior to the registrar’s physical visit some pre-visit procedures had taken place including introducing C-Sema to the registrar’s office, filling online registration forms and paying for the registration. This visit was co-hosted by Ms. Fatuma Ahmad (Childline Manager, Zanzibar), Mr. Bakar Hamis (Action Aid’s KUWAZA Program Coordinator) and Mr. Michael Marwa (Child Helpline Director – C-Sema).
The following questions from the registrar and his team guided the discussion at the KUWAZA offices.
What other empowerment and child protection projects is C-Sema doing in Zanzibar apart from the helpline? Besides the helpline C-Sema works with the KUWAZA partners specifically to prevent child sexual abuse in Unguja North. KUWAZA, THINK in English stands for Kuzuia Udhalilishaji wa Watoto. Funded by the Oak Foundation, KUWAZA works with government to prevent child sexual abuse, online and offline.
Besides KUWAZA, C-Sema also explained their work with SOS Children Villages and Save the Children, particularly in the commemorations of the Day of the African Child, #SikuYaMtoto.
#SikuYaMtoto is an annual event that has been bringing children together to celebrate the Day of the African since 2016 through sports competitions, games, showcasing of talents and fun all round. Last year, C-Sema co-hosted the event with the aforementioned partners for the first time in Zanzibar. Over 400 children were reached in the week leading up to the 16th June while 786 people were reached on the #SikuYaMtoto event at SOS CV grounds; (315 boys & 265 girls) and 206 adults (110 Female & 96 Male).
Did KUWAZA partners conduct needs assessment before implementing the project? The response was that the national VAC survey of 2009 together with partners baseline survey was used to inform the program design of the project.
Lastly, the registrar wanted to know why KUWAZA partners are sharing offices. The response was that KUWAZA demands synergies among the partners and sharing offices provides ample opportunities for joint planning and implementation and therefore better results from the consortium.
This story was compiled by the Childline Zanzibar media team.
For comments and / or inquires please call 116 National Child Helpline. This is a free of cost service available across all networks in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. Facebook: Sema Tanzania; Twitter: @SemaTanzania or visit our website: www.sematanzania.org