Global Fund Completes Year One Operations to Serve Most Vulnerable Children in Tanzania

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 11:19

Rwegasira Kagoma's eyes shine hopefully when asked of his career aspirations once he finishes his studies at Shanta Mine Secondary School.  Sitting at a desk in a small classroom near rural Geita, Tanzania, the 17-year-old Form II student smiles shyly. 

"A doctor," he says resolutely, "so I can help other Tanzanians to improve their quality of life."

Just two years ago, even a secondary school education seemed like an impossibility for Rwegasira.  His father had died several years earlier, and his mother, a vegetable farmer, was struggling to provide even the basic necessities to him and his seven siblings.  In 2005 she was able to save 5,000 Tanzanian shillings (about four U.S. dollars) of the 20,000 required for his first year of secondary school studies.  The school provided a loan so he could begin Form I, but without further assistance, he doubted if he would be able to continue his studies for more than a few months. 

In July 2005, just as Rwegasira was preparing to begin at Shanta Mine, Pact Tanzania signed as Principal Recipient of Civil Society Organizations to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and Malaria Round 4.  This five-year, $58M Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Project was designed to assist orphans and other vulnerable children to improve their access to education, health, food and nutrition, shelter, and legal protection by collaborating with local NGO partners to provide rapid services to areas in most need of assistance.

Rwegasira was one of the children targeted as most vulnerable during the initial identification process, and later that year GF stepped in to pay both his 15,000-shilling debt and his 20,000-shilling fee for his Form II studies.  He also received school uniforms, materials, healthcare coverage, and food donations of maize and beans.  He, like his fellow classmates identified as MVC, will continue to receive Global Fund financial support through 2010, at which time he will be eligible to attend university.

In total the Global Fund OVC Project, under the guidance of Pact Tanzania in collaboration with the DSW and the Local Government and with on-the-ground support from local NGOs like Plan International-Geita District and Social Action Trust Fund, has supported more than 14,000 children in five districts in their first year of project implementation.  In year two, Pact will expand their support to seven new districts and broaden their coverage in the five year-one districts. Approximately 46,000 additional children will be served in year two.

For Rwegasira and many other MVC, the assistance from the Global Fund through Pact and its partners at the district level could not have come at a more critical time.  Seven of every one hundred children in Geita district are orphaned, and countless others are made increasingly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by climbing poverty rates.  But in the face of these statistics, the students at Shanta Mine are flourishing.   Even Rwegasira, who once doubted whether he would ever be able to attend secondary school, is now at the top of his class.  His dreams of becoming a doctor and contributing to his own community now seem a bit more tangible, thanks to Pact, the Global Fund, and the support of his local community.