CASEC

Community Aid and Small Enterprises Consultancy (CASEC) is an NGO based in Arusha, in Northern Tanzania. It promotes human and social development as the foundation for tackling poverty and injustice. This is achieved by providing training, research and consultancy services for local government, community leaders and NGOs, as well as undertaking their own development projects and advocacy activities.

CASEC’s Aims and Objectives:

To empower marginalised and vulnerable grassroots communities in their struggle against poverty and injustice.
To strengthen civil society through technical assistance, organisational development, institutional transformation and the development of social capital.

Any profits gained from CASEC’s consultancy work are put directly back into their local development projects and advocacy work.

African Initiatives works in partnership with CASEC on the following projects:

Promoting access to and increasing the quality of primary education

This project was set up in line with the Millennium Development Goal of achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015. CASEC was able to identify the main restrictions that led to a low turn out of primary school pupils, many of which were directly related to poverty:

Child labour in mining and commercial farms.
Poor classroom facilities and over crowding.
Lack of parental interest in children’s education.
Irregular contact between parents, teachers and school committees.
Early marriage.

CASEC developed interventions that tackled these problems. A training programme was implemented in order to build the capacity of the local government and school committees which included informing them of current national education policies. As a result of the project local governments and school committees understood its roles and responsibilities better and were able to implement the new national education policy. Pupil attendance increased as incentives were introduced as well as improved physical education classes. The project enhanced capacity through empowerment at a grassroots level and is a primary example of how the MDGs can be achieved. The project was so successful in enhancing primary education that it was adopted at a national level. CASEC was employed to train trainers in order that it could be rolled out across the country.

CASEC then turned their attention to girl’s education in primary schools. CASEC worked with local and district government as well as school committees in order to improve girls attendance and performance in schools. As a result of the project:

Girl’s attendance in school rose from 20% to 80% in one area.
Pupil’s academic achievements rose dramatically. Before the project perhaps only 2 pupils passed Standard 7 exams and were able to continue into secondary education. In 2007, records show that 143 pupils joined secondary school from 2 schools in one Ward, of which 51 were girls. Enrolment was also helped by the building of Ward based secondary schools.
The incidence of early pregnancies and forced marriages for girls declined due to awareness raising activities among parents of the importance of girls education and the introduction of village bye-laws. Therefore, drop-out rates declined.
Communities conducted a campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM). Communities reported that as a result of this, there had been a decline in FGM ceremonies.
Where school girls became pregnant, measures were taken against the men who were responsible. For example, one teacher was taken to court. School girl pregnancies were reduced from 21% (1996) to 12% (2007) in one Ward.

Supporting Girls in Secondary Education

CASEC then turned their attention to girls secondary education. Girls face a number of barriers in continuing their schooling. Traditional attitudes persist and girls are expected to marry early and have many more domestic tasks than boys. In addition, schools:

Are often in remote areas, providing education to children from at least five villages and on average a 12km walk away for students. It is time consuming, tiring and sometimes dangerous to get to school.
Offer no hostel accommodation, which further discourages girls from attending as they face the additional threat of rape and sexual harassment on their way to and from school.
Are poorly managed by school boards due to their lack of knowledge, training and experience and as a result have few policies or plans in place to attract resources, teachers or girl students.

CASEC is addressing these issues by:

Tackling attitudes that prevent girls from enrolling, attending and achieving at school, at a village level. They are training 22 local Development Committees in the national education policy and the importance of girl’s education and taking these messages to community meetings.
Supporting communities to build 30 girls’ hostels. This provides 900 girls with accommodation at secondary school.
Training 30 school committees in the national education policy, girl’s education, school governance and financial management, and how to get resources both from local and national government, and the community.
Sharing results and findings of the project at local, national and international forums; ensuring that attitudes and policy are influenced positively at every level. CASEC actively advocates for the rights of girls in education.

Youth at Risk Programme

“Youths are discriminated against by the authorities, communities and potential employers…they don’t have access to basic services and are often ignored by NGOs”
Val Bishop, African Initiatives

Arusha is Tanzania’s second largest city and is experiencing rapid commercial growth. It acts as a magnet to young men and women from rural areas seeking employment, most of whom have a limited formal education and few skills. For these youths (in Tanzanian culture people aged between 15 and 35), the opportunities for employment are still very limited. In Arusha about one third of all active people are unemployed of which youths make up nearly half, approximately 146,506 individuals.

Most young people end up living in shanty or squatter areas. Some are engaged in dangerous mining activities, but the majority become involved in illegal employment: petty theft, robbery, drug dealing and the sex industry, leading to imprisonment, HIV/AIDS and premature death. This situation is compounded by their limited knowledge, experience and entrepreneurship, as well as a lack of start-up capital to invest in small-scale businesses. Opportunities to find training and education, earn a decent living and improve their own lives are very few.

CASEC runs a “Youth at Risk” programme through youth centres designed to support young people in the squatter and slum areas of urban Arusha.

The programme aims to provide essential skills required for employment, including; raising awareness of health issues such as HIV/AIDS, basic language, IT and entrepreneurial skills. CASEC also provides courses on self motivation and the rights of girls. Many of those that have attended training have since found work in the tourism industry and music and drama field, some have even established small business enterprises.