Congratulations on your TAMWA Board Appointment Leah Mushi
Graca Machel Trust Leah Mushi- WIMN
The Graça Machel Trust is so pleased and would like to congratulate one of its Women in Media Network members from Tanzania, Leah Mushi, for being elected as board member of the Tanzania Women’s Media Association (TAMWA). Leah, who will serve the board for the next three years, was elected on the 6th April 2019, and will be responsible to overseeing secretariat activities which include advocating for women and children’s rights by conducting awareness raising activities for cultural, policy and legal transformations in the society through the use of media.
Leah is a Communication Specialist and Digital Trainer who started her carrier as a cub reporter in a community radio station in Mwanza Region Tanzania and she has committed to work on the vision of the association which is to have a Peaceful Tanzania that respects human rights from a gender perspective.
Leah is also a very active Graça Machel Trust’s Women in Media Network member who contributes content to the Trust’s SWENGA publishing portal, she currently dedicates her work to train female journalists in her community on digital storytelling.
TAMWA is a non-profit human rights organization founded in Tanzania which has been operating for the past 32 years. TAMWA, in collaboration with other like-minded organizations, has contributed to the perceived transformation of the Tanzanian society including the government enacted The Sexual OffencesAct (SOSPA) 1998 which criminalize carnal knowledge with a girl below 18 years and for the first time criminalized FGM for a female below 18 years.
Women still on the forefront of shaping global standards on gender equality and women empowerment
Barbara Banda- at the Commission on the Status of Women
We are happy to see Graça Machel Trust’s CEO of Women in Business network in Malawi, Barbara Banda attended this years’ Convention on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting which took place between the 11th and 22nd March 2019 in New York. CSW is a well-recognized UN-led annual congregation of intergovernmental bodies that aims at taking time out to celebrate progress towards achieving the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
The event was attended by over fifty delegates from across the world who came together and offered their time to interface with different concepts which are very instrumental in promoting women’s rights and documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world and shaping global standards on gender equality and women empowerment.
“Social Protection Systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality”, had an appeal to my women’s rights and environmental management background. It was my first time at CSW and I had a one in-country government-led preparatory meeting having missed the Africa Union preparatory meeting which shapes the Africa position at CSW.”- Barbara Banda, CEO Women in Business Network- Malawi.
The meetings include sponsored sessions where stakeholders showcase their best practices. For Malawi, the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disabilities and Social Welfare demonstrated how its “Social Cash Transfer” project works.
The Graça Machel Trust works with network partners to strengthen, connect and amplify their work to support women entrepreneurs at national and regional levels and to build a strong force of businesswomen across the continent.
Read more on our Women’s Rights programme
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.