Understanding Strengthening Administration of Justice through Experiences of Child Sexual Abuse Victims in Tanzania

Writing of this paper was inspired by reading of Tanzania “Child Justice Five Year Strategy for Progressive Reform, 2013-2017” (Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs, 2012), and the making sense of a paper by Honorable Murtaza Jaffer (2012) titled, “Strengthening Administration of Justice and Upholding the Rule of Law in East Africa”. The two inspiring documents recognize that the administration of justice depends on the rule of law, which depends on just laws to begin with. The Child Justice Five Year Strategy for Progressive Reform in particular, acknowledges “the challenges the justice system faces in dealing with children’s cases expeditiously but fails to stipulate strategic plans for addressing social-cultural factors inhibiting reporting of abuse and exploitation by children and their families. This paper attempts to draw justice administrators’ attention to cultural adjustment the Tanzanian society made to Sexual Offenses Special Provision Act, 1998 (SOSPA) through sharing of documentary research experience with enforcement of child sexual offenses law in Tanzania where only 11% of perpetrators were found guilty of sexual offense charges brought before the court. Keywords: Barriers to child justice, cultural adjustment in Tanzania, child sexual abuse

Social Construction of Dishonesty and Integrity in Tanzania: A Reflective Piece from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

No potential employer is looking forward to hiring dishonest staff. All learning institutions have tight admission and evaluation criteria to guard against risk of academic dishonesty in students, and any wise individual will not take a dishonest person for a life partner. Yet, dishonesty is a much more complex phenomenon than it seems. Always, there are some acts of dishonesty that are considered “normal” or “legitimate’ or even highly praised in some avenues, including buying an examination for a child, or leaking a test paper to a student for a pay, or concealing an important truth for some gains, or cheating on a number of hours worked as well as deceitfully bargaining to get more money. There are even common phrases in our daily idioms like “riziki kitako” (daily bread is found from where one is seated), “cha kuokota si cha kuiba” (monopolizing ‘lost and found’ does not amount to theft), or “mtembea bure si mkaa bure” (walking around one has greater chance of finding something valuable), to rationalize dubious gains on public resources or “lost and found” items. Dishonesty seems something others do?“criminals”, “evil ones”, “politically motivated and selfish people”, or “inadequately trained staff”. Such acts when done by “good people” are not branded dishonesty. They are brushed aside as oversights since good people do not engage in dishonest behaviours. If they unfairly bargain, it is justifiable as they act for a noble cause of meeting their rightful demands in this unfair world or overwhelming working conditions. This paper seeks to shed some light on these views and tries to dismiss some myths. Today more than ever before, it is critical to have a clear understanding of dishonesty. Trying to understand dishonesty is not encouraging or condoning it. It is seeking to grasp the sources of our own dishonesty and condemn them. In fact, one can only denounce dishonesty when one comprehends it clearly; and two points need to be established if one has to understand dishonesty: First, honesty and integrity as human values and behaviours are culturally relative; and secondly, one cannot explain dishonesty unless he/she can contrast it with honesty. For these reasons, the paper attempts to answer two questions: Is dishonesty a problem today than ever before? Is it really a problem in universities in Tanzania? Keywords: Dishonesty, academic integrity, social construction of honesty.

Exploring Experiences of Pregnant and Mothering Secondary School Students in Tanzania

The Constitution of Tanzania grants every child the right to education, yet a girl’s access to education is denied when she becomes pregnant or gives birth. This study explored the experiences of pregnant and mothering students in secondary schools and the community awareness, attitudes and perceptions toward pregnancy policy in Tanzania. It sought insights into parenting students’ challenges, coping strategies, and their suggestions on how to help teen mothers who are returning to school. One hundred respondents were selected using snowball sampling technique due the sensitivity of the matter. Data were collected and analyzed mainly through qualitative techniques. Seventy five percent of the participants were aware of the pregnancy policy and lamented on its staggering implementation. Ninety five participants (95%) acknowledged the presence of quietly struggling pregnant and mothering secondary school students due to the lack of clear policy to protect them. Coping abilities of teen mothers and pregnant learners were revealed. The education stakeholders were urged to authorize the policy soon. Further research to illustrate negative consequences of conflicting views and inconsistencies in implementing the policy were recommended Keywords: early pregnancy, mothering students, re-admission policy, gender inequality in education

The Perceptions of Teachers, Parents and Students on the Effects of Mobile Phone Use on Student Learning in Tanzania

The use of mobile phones enables learners to interact with vast resource materials to facilitate learning. Yet in Tanzania, mobile phones are strictly prohibited in many schools. This study examined parents’, teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the effects of students’ access to mobile phones on students learning performance. It was conducted in four selected secondary schools in Dodoma municipality. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed as data were collected from 280 respondents through questionnaire, interview schedule and documentary review. Cross-tabulation and Chi-square tests were among data analysis techniques employed in the understanding of different perceptions of respondents. The findings show that, parents and teachers agree that students with mobile phones perform poorly and misbehave more often than students without mobile phones. Also, in order to have value-based control system for appropriate use of mobile phones, providing proper education on mobile phone use and re-introducing censorship board to control the quality of contents on websites are recommended. Keywords: mobile phone use in school, effects of mobile phone use on academic performance, school mobile phone use policy in Tanzania

Analyzing Gender Difference in Leadership Styles and Behaviour of Heads of Schools in Tanzania

This study made a comparative analysis of leadership styles and behavior of male and female heads of primary schools in Kasulu District, Tanzania. One hundred and ninety participants were sampled purposively and randomly from 22 public primary schools. A multi-method data collection strategy including interviews, questionnaire and documentary analysis, was deployed. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The descriptive statistics used included frequency tables, charts, mean scores, and t-test. Overall, results revealed that, participative, democratic, team management and authoritative leadership styles were deployed by both male and female heads of schools in running primary schools. Similarities and differences were observed in terms of frequency and manner in which those leadership styles were used by male and female school heads. Moreover, both male and female heads of schools were found with the same amount of task oriented leadership behavior. However, female heads of schools showed more task oriented leadership behavior than male heads. The study thus recommends addressing the situation of gender imbalance in schools leadership so as to utilize the revealed leadership talents and skills of female heads of schools as it has been done for male school heads. Keywords: Gender and school leadership, leadership styles and behavior, primary school heads

Exploring Classroom Teachers' Awareness of Pupils with Learning Disabilities: Focusing on Public Primary Schools in Tanzania

This study explored the presence of pupils with learning disabilities in regular primary schools and whether or not the classroom teachers were aware of their presence. Data were collected using questionnaires, classroom observation guide, interview schedules, and documentary review checklist. Based on exploratory research design, the study was guided by the Activity theory. A sample of 200 participants was drawn out of 11,304 eligible persons (100 pupils out of 10,000 eligible children and 100 teachers out of 1304 in public schools). The collected data were analyzed thematically. The descriptive statistics used included frequencies, means, charts, and tables.  Indeed, 15% of pupils in regular schools have learning disabilities even though few teachers were aware of their presence and how to provide appropriate instruction for their learning. This is higher than 10-12% portrayed in the existing literature. Keywords: special needs education, learning disabilities, learning difficulties, disabilities, impairment, and inclusive education

Mothers’ Willingness to Deliver at Health Facilities in Dodoma Region, Tanzania

Introduction: Maternal morbidity and mortality are a public health concern in most developing countries. It has been shown that skilled attendance at birth can be the single most effective intervention in preventing maternal death. However, limited studies have updated current knowledge on why some women prefer to deliver at health facilities and others do not. The study was aimed to explore mother’s willingness to deliver at the health facilities and attitudes toward service providers in Dodoma Region, Tanzania Methods and Materials: This was a qualitative cross-sectional study design conducted in four districts of the Dodoma region. The study population was women of reproductive age with their (spouses) who had children aged less than two years, health care providers, TBAs, and community leaders. We conducted eight focused group discussions (FGDs) and fourteen In-depth interviews (IDIs) using interview guides and an IDI checklist respectively. Data were transcribed and translated from Kiswahili to English. The transcribed documents were then exported into NVivo 10 software to facilitate the coding process and analyzed through a thematic approach. Results: The study participants reported that the majority of women were willing to deliver at health facilities but some still preferred home delivery due to different reasons including positive or negative attitudes toward service provided by nurses and traditional birth attendants. Conclusions: Our findings suggest for health care providers customize respectful maternity care to all women. This may encourage all women to deliver at the health facilities; hence, decreasing the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality

Emotional and Relationship Dynamics between HIV SeroDiscordance and Concordance Couples: A Narrative Literature Review and Theoretical Framework

Tanzania is among the countries with high prevalence of HIV prevalence in the World. Despite the fact that the epidemic has been, and still is a threat to persons of all ages, recent studies have suggested that most new infections occur among couples in stable relationships. Infected couples are categorised into two: the positive concordant, where both the partners are HIV positive; and sero-discordant couples, where one partner is HIV positive while the other is negative. Recently, researchers and many other stake-holders working on the HIV/AIDS epidemic have given a remarkable attention to this astonishing reality. For instance one study in East and Southern Africa indicates that there are great variations of discordancy varying from 36% to 85%, with an overall rate of 49%. HIV couple sero-discordancy is responsible for varied levels of psychological distress including heightened levels of anxiety, poor emotional adaptation and increased or excessive substance use, most often coupled with exclusion and social isolation within family and in the neighbourhood. However, to date the influence of sero-discordancy on family and couple relationship functioning and how it differs from that among concordant couples remains elusive. Discordancy have been associated with more difficulties as compared to the seroconverted couples, these include relationship and emotional disturbances, sexual contact distancing, marital separation and disruptions. The Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984)\u27s Transactional Model can be helpful in understanding individuals with HIV discordancy on their emotional response, coping strategies and the ultimate decisions towards their marital relationships fate

Changing contexts of deference to elders, children\u27s rights and sexual exploitation of children in Tanzania

Regardless of the centrality of political and economic resources in the constructions of power, this research argues that the notions of power are contested. Exploration of the relationship between deference to elders and the vulnerability to childhood sexual exploitation with 105 young women has shown that certain actions like sexual intercourse may transmit symbolic power. Ironically, the growing poverty and increasing inaccessibility to income earning opportunities that affect Tanzanian men and women equally also provide alternative routes for women to create their new roles. Unlike in traditional communities where elders monopolized hegemonic power due to their control of ancestral rituals and clan resources, today women can turn to formal education, technology and the media for examples of alternative survival routes including unconventional ones like survival sex. This research employed informal and structured interviews to test the hypothesis that continued deference to elders within the changing context of increased urbanization, nuclear family system and paid childrearing, increases children\u27s vulnerability to sexual exploitation. Elder interaction, understanding of child sexual exploitation, access to support network, perception of self-esteem, importance of filial respect, rural/urban background, education levels and family types, were among the examined childhood experiences. The data were analyzed for emergent themes of understanding and prevalence of child sexual exploitation, power and control, and sexual exploitation vulnerability. The results supported the hypothesis by showing that conditions of deprivation increase children\u27s vulnerable to sexual exploitation and the model explains 39.6% of the shared variance. The contribution of this research is twofold: taking the primary step to explore the role of childrearing contexts in predicting vulnerability to sexual exploitation and ascertaining that Tanzanian children are vulnerable to sexual predation regardless of where they grow up. This is because the cultural practices that subordinate women and children have remained strong in both rural and urban areas. This dissertation is presented in seven chapters: introduction, review of relevant literature, social and cultural background of Tanzania, methods and goals, analysis and results, discussion, and conclusion.

Community perspectives: An exploration of potential barriers to men's involvement in maternity care in a central Tanzanian community.

BACKGROUND:Male involvement in maternal health has been linked to positive health outcomes for women and children, as they control household resources and make significant decisions, which influence maternal health. Despite of the important role they have in maternal health care, their actual involvement remains low. The objective of this study was to explore community perspectives on potential barriers to men's involvement in maternity care in central Tanzania. METHODS:Qualitative research methods were used in data collection. We conducted 32 focus group discussions (16 FGDs with men and 16 FGDs with women) and 34 in-depth interviews with community leaders, village health workers and health care providers. Interview guides were used to guide the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. The interviews and discussions were audio recorded, transcribed and translated into English and imported into QSR NVivo 9 software for thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data; men's maternity care involvement indicators, benefits of men's involvement in maternity health care services and barriers to men's involvement in maternity health care services. RESULTS:Both men and women participants acknowledged the importance of men's involvement in maternity health care services, even though few men actually got involved. Identified benefits of men's involvement in maternity health care services include: Learning any risk factors directly from the health care providers and getting prepared in addressing them; and reinforcing adherence to instruction received from the health care provider as family protectors and guardians. Barriers to men's involvement in maternity health care services are systemic; starting from the family, health care and culture-specific gender norms for maternity related behaviour as well as healthcare facilities structural constrains inhibiting implementation of couple-friendly maternity health care services. CONCLUSIONS:Men's involvement in maternity care is influenced by culture-specific maternity-related gender norms. This situation is compounded by the conditions of deprivation that deny women access to resources with which they could find alternative support during pregnancy. Moreover, structures meant for maternal health care services lack privacy, thus inhibiting male partners' presence in the delivery room. Intervention to increase men's involvement in maternity care should address individual and systemic barriers to men's involvement