FWI Impact Report 2019 - A brief overview
Education
In late 2018, upon assessing the success of projects of that year, clearly our standout failure was the complete lack of progress in abolishing corporal punishment (hereafter referred to by its Swahili name ‘chapa‘) in the schools. For more than a year, the subject had been discussed ad nauseam with heads of school and teachers at every school visited. But there was not one success story to be told. It was time for a change of tactics.
As of the beginning of 2019, FWF would let it be known that it would no longer support any projects at schools that practiced chapa. Our strategy would now be to incentivize schools with promises of generous support should they abolish the abomination of chapa.
Clearly, introducing such a massive change to the teaching method would not be easy. Many schools have a student-teacher ratio approaching 100:1 and the challenge for teachers cannot be underestimated.
However, we have since been able to develop a network of heads of schools who are willing to mentor their associates in this process. And, new disciplinary structures have become an intricate part of the change, in which students are given tasks after school during which, hopefully, some reflection on their behaviour takes place. But, of course, the change we request is significant and takes time.
Nonetheless, we have been pleasantly surprised by the ever-increasing support we have received and are definitely not a lone voice in the wilderness. Teachers, district education officials and parents have all expressed the desire for change. We fervently believe history is on our side!
Also, of no surprise was the universal agreement of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) that the practice of chapa was an abuse of the human rights of schoolchildren. Whereas the PCVs need to be somewhat cautious in their reactions to chapa due to their understandable need to maintain acceptance in the village in which they live permanently, no such impediment applies to us. The PCVs were often the message bearers, but as we were at pains to make clear, in the face of any blowback, the responsibility for the message itself rested solely with FWF. However, the feared reactions have not arisen. Not at all.
We were adamant that the change should be permanent and required schools to demonstrate their strong commitment before we demonstrated our own reactive commitment to them.
HEALTH
According to WHO statistics, five million children die every year before the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa. Five countries are responsible for half of these mainly avoidable deaths: the DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania.
The leading causes of death in Tanzania are malaria, respiratory diseases, HIV/AIDS, anemia, and cardio/circulatory diseases.
Fortunately, things are improving, with life expectancy in Tanzania rising to nearly 66 years, compared to 57 years in the mid-2000s. But there remains much to be done.
Thus, confronted with the perilous state of health care in Tanzania for many people, it is a given that we support health clinics as much as possible, particularly in isolated rural villages where health services are at their most basic. This support is reflected in our increased willingness to complete health clinic buildings and subsequently equip the clinics with diagnostic tools to better care for people.
As reported below, the reactions varied from village to village and school to school. But most were at least willing to seriously consider the issues involved. Patience is a virtue, but thankfully it is not always required.