Unpaid care work is work, It's time we recognise it.

For decades, an invisible engine has kept families, communities, and economies running across Tanzania: unpaid care work. From fetching water and preparing meals to providing round-the-clock assistance to family members with disabilities, this labor is essential. Yet, it remains largely unrecognized, undervalued, and drastically unequal.

Data presented at the recent National Symposium on Unpaid Care Work, Disability Inclusion, and Gender-Transformative Approaches reveals a stark reality: women and girls in Tanzania spend approximately three times more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men.

When a household includes a person with intensive support needs, this burden multiplies. In the absence of accessible healthcare, respite services, and inclusive childcare, the responsibility falls squarely onto the shoulders of women and, far too often, young girls.

As an organization dedicated to the rights, protection, and promotion of children and youth in Tanzania,  we teamed up with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to organize this landmark symposium. Funded by the Global Disability Fund (GDF) and executed alongside the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women, this event was a meeting of minds and a collective demand for systemic change.

What is the true cost of invisible labor on children and youth?

At C-Sema, our focus is always on how systemic gaps impact the youngest and most vulnerable Tanzanians. The findings shared during the symposium highlighted a vicious cycle:

• Stolen Futures for Girls: When unpaid care burdens overwhelm a household, it is often young girls who are pulled out of school to help. This robs them of their education, limits their future economic autonomy, and reinforces generational poverty.

• The Shadow of Violence: Groundbreaking qualitative research presented at the symposium explored a critical, often ignored nexus: the link between unpaid care work and Gender-Based Violence (GBV). The economic dependency, social isolation, and extreme exhaustion experienced by caregivers and girls or women with disabilities substantially increase their vulnerability to abuse and social exclusion.

• Isolation of Families: Without community-level support structures, families caring for children or relatives with severe disabilities face profound social isolation and financial distress.

What made this symposium a watershed moment was its foundation in concrete, localized data. Under this Joint Programme, first-of-their-kind assessments were launched. These included local-level service reviews in Pwani and Zanzibar, a comprehensive national policy gap analysis, and the piloting of an innovative care geo-referencing tool in Unguja to map out where disability-inclusive care services actually exist and where they don't.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Yohana Sekimweri, the Assistant Director from the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Special Groups, rightly noted that these findings provide a vital roadmap for the government.

Furthermore, UN Resident Coordinator Susan Ngongi Namondo emphasized that addressing these gaps is directly tied to the success of the Tanzania Development Vision 2050, which champions inclusive economic growth, human capital development, and robust social protection.

UN Resident Coordinator Susan Ngongi Namondo.

By advancing disability-inclusive and gender-transformative approaches, the symposium reinforced the importance of building a resilient and equitable society where women, girls, youth, and persons with disabilities can fully contribute to and benefit from the country’s sustainable development agenda".

Disability rights advocate Neema Mwasangi captured the emotional weight of the room perfectly:

"For many families and caregivers... unpaid care work is a daily reality that often goes unseen and unsupported. This report gives visibility to our lived experiences and provides evidence that can drive meaningful policy change."

The path forward.

We cannot build a resilient, equitable, and child-friendly Tanzania if we continue to ignore the care crisis. Acknowledging that "unpaid care work is work" is only step one.

As an organizer and a champion for Tanzania’s youth, we call upon all stakeholders, government ministries, civil society, the private sector, and community leaders to urgently implement a "3R" strategy: Recognize, Reduce, and Redistribute.

1. Integrate care into National Planning & Budgets

We must move beyond pilot projects. Care and support services must be hardcoded into national socio-economic policies, district-level budgets, and development plans.

2. Invest in Accessible, Community-Based Infrastructure

To relieve the burden on young girls and women, Tanzania needs immediate, scalable investments in accessible childcare, specialized respite centers, and inclusive healthcare services at the community level.

3. Expand Targeted Social Protection

We advocate for the expansion of social protection systems, such as disability-inclusive cash transfers and social services, specifically targeting households providing full-time care.

4. Transform Harmful Gender Norms

True change starts at home. We must collectively dismantle the outdated notion that caregiving is solely "women's work." By promoting the redistribution of care responsibilities within families and communities, we free up young girls to go to school, play, and thrive.

The National Symposium concluded with a powerful, renewed commitment to turn research into active policy reform. C-Sema remains fiercely dedicated to this cause.

We owe it to every girl child balancing a schoolbook in one hand and an unfair share of household survival in the other to make this care system visible, inclusive, and equitable.

Let us build a future where care is a shared societal triumph, not an isolated burden.

Prepared by C-Sema's Communication Team.