PROJECT #161

Project #161 | Empowering Tanzanian Girls with Business Training

Our partnership with Nurturing Minds

Tanzania has one of the lowest secondary school enrollment rates and one of the highest dropout rates for girls with only 17% continuing past 7th grade. Early marriage and teen pregnancy are among the highest in the world in Tanzania and contribute significantly to school dropout rates. Additional barriers to education for highly vulnerable girls include the inability to pay school fees, excessive domestic chores, hunger and food insecurity, and death or illness of parents. For those who remain in school, regressive educational practices such as rote learning and a lack of relevant training leave students with few skills and few options for employment. 

One Days Wage’s partnered with Nurturing Minds to support the SEGA’s Girls’ School’s Entrepreneurship Program where disadvantaged and vulnerable Tanzanian girls get hands-on training and learn practical and marketable business skills to increase their opportunities upon graduation. This curriculum puts theory into practice as girls participate in on-campus business clubs and learn how to start businesses from scratch, from developing a concept to seeing it succeed or fail in a real-world situation. Students develop a business plan, collaborate with each other, use their creativity to design, produce, market, and sell products and services, speak publicly in the community, and manage the costs and revenue. SEGA’s goal is to provide a pipeline of qualified, educated, and dedicated employees to help meet the country’s needs and help drive a fast-growing economy.

Our collective impact

Total People Impacted

Students Trained in Business Skills

Hours Spent in Hands-On Learning

Meet Catherine

Catherine graduated SEGA in 2014 and successfully established several businesses in her community from the skills and knowledge she learned through SEGA’s Entrepreneurship program. She started by buying raw fish and preparing and frying it to sell to people living near her home. She has established a clientele and has become known for her tasty fish. She has encountered a setback recently in that there is a shortage of the type of fish preferred by her customers and so she uses other skills learned at SEGA and has diversified her income by selling other things.

Catherine purchases reusable sanitary towels from local manufacturers at a cheaper price than disposable pads. She goes door-to-door to potential customer’s homes and sells them at a moderate price where she can gain a profit to support her daily life. She created this business because many low-income people cannot afford to buy disposable pads. She said, “This is one of the best businesses in the rural areas because demand is high and it pays you well.

Her other business is selling curtains locally. She buys beautiful curtains from Dar es Salaam at wholesale prices and then sells them to the surrounding community at retail prices. Before ordering she surveys her customer’s preferences on color and style. The profits she earns in these three businesses help her earn a living for herself and support 5 other family members.

Thank you for making this possible!

Our movement is grassroots, to us that not only means the work on the ground is led by local leaders with the support of the community, but it also means that we raise the funds for our projects through everyday donors just like you. In addition to all the donors that gave $25, $100, or $250 and the campaigners that ran a race or donated their birthday to raise funds, we also want to thank our generous business, school, and faith sponsors who believed in our work and joined the movement.

If you want to support future projects like this you can make a donation to our girls’ empowerment fund.

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One Day's Wages is a grassroots movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty

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