In 2001, Tanzania eradicated school fees for primary education and by 2009, enrollment had expanded to 95 percent. This rapid enrollment led to a shortage of teachers and an average teacher to student ratio of 1:47 (World Bank, 2017), thus reducing the quality of education and access to educational resources. The country also has high rates of child labor, especially in rural communities, which have the highest rates of primary school dropouts. This means students are unable to build the skills necessary to break the cycle of poverty for themselves or their community. By partnering with educators, community leaders and the local government, WE Villages is helping to improve the quality of education available to rural children and breaking down the barriers that keep children from graduating. Our work includes helping to increase the number of qualified teachers, building more schoolrooms and improving the ones currently in use.

About 44 percent of those in rural Tanzanian communities have access to improved water sources (UNdata, 2010), forcing women and girls to spend hours a day collecting water for their families to drink, bathe in and cook with. Communities in the Arusha region are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drought and to the negative effects of changing weather patterns. WE Villages works in partnership with communities to provide educational workshops on clean water and hygiene practises, water conservation and waterborne disease prevention to help lower the incidences of waterborne illnesses and improve the health of families and communities.

In Tanzania, life expectancy is at the age of 66.3 years (UNDP, 2018) and the maternal mortality rate is at 398 per 100,000 live births (World Bank, 2015). With illnesses such as malaria, respiratory and diarrheal diseases that are common in rural regions, millions of community members are affected without access to improved health care. To tackle these statistics, WE Villages health programming focuses on educating community members from the school to the household level on health, promoting the importance of good health and hygiene.

Especially in rural areas, many community members face malnutrition because they lack the means to maintain a nutrient-filled, well-balanced diet due to factors such as rising food prices, drought and food insecurity. With 66.7 percent of all employment in the country relying on agriculture (UNDP, 2017), achieving food security is a significant challenge in the Arusha region because of erratic climate changes. By implementing school nutrition programming, agricultural training and tree planting activities under WE Villages food pillar, community members are empowered to thrive with better access to healthy food and surplus food to sell.

A large part of Tanzania’s economy and employment relies on agriculture and raising livestock, industries prone to external factors such as changing weather patterns. Without a sustainable source of income, families cannot send their children to school or invest in their health, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. With WE Villages programming, we work to implement lending circles, financial literacy and business training, empowering marginalized community members—especially women—to generate a sustainable source of income, build savings and start their own businesses.