Our Mission
Embracing a different perspective
Chipua is a Kiswahili word that means growing, sprouting and developing. Chipua is a registered NGO with the aim of empowering disadvantaged girls. Chipua believes that every girl is capable of contributing to the advancement of society. No one should be deprived of their right to contribute by the circumstances of their environment, whether it is from the overwhelmingly impoverished condition of their family or any violation of their rights. We design our programs to target the most vulnerable girls in society and provide them with skills to advance themselves and their communities.
Chipua is a Kiswahili word that means growing, sprouting and developing. Chipua is a registered NGO with the aim of empowering disadvantaged girls. Chipua believes that every girl is capable of contributing to the advancement of society. No one should be deprived of their right to contribute by the circumstances of their environment, whether it is from the overwhelmingly impoverished condition of their family or any violation of their rights. We design our programs to target the most vulnerable girls in society and provide them with skills to advance themselves and their communities.
Location
Chipua’s main training centre is in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania with an estimated 3 million residents. Tanzania is a multicultural and multi-faith country with a population of over 37 million, GDP of US$22 billion, and GDP per capita of US$610. An estimated 51% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Despite being peaceful and politically stable, Tanzania has been unable to achieve meaningful progress in poverty reduction and is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. The vast majority of Tanzanians spend their meager incomes on the absolute necessities of life, such as food, rent, fuel, and transportation. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has also hit the country particularly hard, creating an unsustainable burden for the healthcare system and affecting economic growth. Dar es Salaam in particular has suffered as a result of the country's poverty: extraordinary increases in urbanization have fueled ever rising levels of urban crime, delinquency and violence.
Despite being peaceful and politically stable, Tanzania has been unable to achieve meaningful progress in poverty reduction and is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. The vast majority of Tanzanians spend their meager incomes on the absolute necessities of life, such as food, rent, fuel, and transportation. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has also hit the country particularly hard, creating an unsustainable burden for the healthcare system and affecting economic growth. Dar es Salaam in particular has suffered as a result of the country's poverty: extraordinary increases in urbanization have fueled ever rising levels of urban crime, delinquency and violence.
The Participants
Chipua's target group is disadvantaged girls drawn from the sprawling slums on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, where poor access to water, lack of sewer systems, appalling environments, inadequate public transport and unaffordable medical facilities are the way of life and where gender inequality is at its highest with domestic violence hushed and considered only a "family matter."
Prejudiced by poverty and environmental settings the group naturally accepts the cultural norms; unaware of their rights, indifferent to progress or regress, they take no part in decision-making opportunities. These impressionable youth could out of desperation and in search of a better life plunge into any option that may offer them a chance for easy money, including pornography, prostitution, theft, drugs and slavery. Surrendering to discrimination based on status, wealth or gender ends up poisoning the next generation. This vicious cycle of ignorance continues and leads to an unfulfilled life for many generations.
Aside from the effects of their environment, youth in Dar es Salaam are put at a disadvantage by the Tanzanian education system, which is structured in such a way that the primary level ends at Standard Seven and the students are required to sit for the National Examination. Those who fail the National Examination are not given a second chance to re-sit simply because the Ministry of Education cannot handle the overwhelming number of the applicants.
Consequently those destitute youth with no financial means at their disposal face a dark and hopeless future if they fail. They wait around to either find a sponsor to help them continue education through private/adult/vocational institutions or be employed in the labor force. Girls subjected to cultural bias will grapple with a more grim destiny. Year after year the pool of disadvantaged youth gets larger and larger, causing a suffocating and desperate situation that leaves youth wondering where they can turn for help.
Prejudiced by poverty and environmental settings the group naturally accepts the cultural norms; unaware of their rights, indifferent to progress or regress, they take no part in decision-making opportunities. These impressionable youth could out of desperation and in search of a better life plunge into any option that may offer them a chance for easy money, including pornography, prostitution, theft, drugs and slavery. Surrendering to discrimination based on status, wealth or gender ends up poisoning the next generation. This vicious cycle of ignorance continues and leads to an unfulfilled life for many generations.
Aside from the effects of their environment, youth in Dar es Salaam are put at a disadvantage by the Tanzanian education system, which is structured in such a way that the primary level ends at Standard Seven and the students are required to sit for the National Examination. Those who fail the National Examination are not given a second chance to re-sit simply because the Ministry of Education cannot handle the overwhelming number of the applicants.
Consequently those destitute youth with no financial means at their disposal face a dark and hopeless future if they fail. They wait around to either find a sponsor to help them continue education through private/adult/vocational institutions or be employed in the labor force. Girls subjected to cultural bias will grapple with a more grim destiny. Year after year the pool of disadvantaged youth gets larger and larger, causing a suffocating and desperate situation that leaves youth wondering where they can turn for help.
The Need
It is within this environment that Chipua is trying to help. We realize that there is a pressing need for a unique program that helps these youth to address their issues in a holistic approach. It takes more than just providing health education or conventional education and vocational training to enable them lead a good life. The complex situations they face everyday demand programs that are tailor-made and address the root cause of their problems. These programs must foster dynamic coherence between moral and physical requirements of life; increase their capacity and ability to deal with the shocks associated with poverty and contemporary moral decay; and invigorate a desire for transformation and a yearning to serve their fellow community member.
It is with this conviction that Chipua: Institute for Social Transformation was formed by a group of responsible Dar es Salaam residents who are determined to help these youth transform and become positive, self-sufficient members of a global society.
It is with this conviction that Chipua: Institute for Social Transformation was formed by a group of responsible Dar es Salaam residents who are determined to help these youth transform and become positive, self-sufficient members of a global society.