Program: Youth and Governance

For the national elections of 2000, TAYOA developed and successfully implemented in Dar es Salaam a program called Urban Youth Mobilization for Civic Education for Election 2000. The program was funded by a local consortium called the Basket for Elections 2000. The project achieved more than 90% of its goal, framed in terms of participation and people mobilized. About 1,500 attended the Trainer Of Trainers workshops. The trainers then trained 60 youths each and reached a total of nearly 90 thousand youths in Dar es Salaam, raising their awareness of civic issues and of their political rights and responsibilities, and mobilizing them to register and vote in the 2000 elections. The total project cost was about TSH 41 million. This amounted to about TSH 500 per young person affected.

During this election-year program, TAYOA recruited and trained 1,500 youths who worked as peer educators on civic rights, human rights, and voters education. Since the time of the 2000 election, many of these participants have continued to work together to provide HIV/AIDS awareness education through individual contacts and personal mentoring. This association is called the Big Brothers-Big Sisters Network. Many participate in workshops run by TAYOA. About 700 are currently involved as volunteers in planning and implementing the future programs of the organization, particularly the YouthsConcernCareSolidarity Project.

An ongoing activity that engages youth in civic life is the TAYOA Youth Civics Awareness Village Project. This project offers the youth of Dar es Salaam various information services including career guidance, employment counseling, job opportunities, advice on HIV/AIDS, and education about civic rights, human rights, voting, and other forms of participation in politics.

Young people seeking employment or work-based training may register with the Youth Civics Awareness Village Project for information on vacancies and continuous support until a suitable opportunity is found. TAYOA is working closely with the career advisors in schools to help students make realistic decisions about their economic and civil rights and about their health and employment opportunities. TAYOA uses printed newssheets, called Youth Awareness Village Handouts, for this purpose.

Under this program a series of workshops for young entrepreneurs have been held and attended by approximately 520 participants. This project has been partially funded by the British Council.