Information from people to the people

TYC wants yourth to shout out

Text: Maj-Britt Rasmussen

14. september 2006

“Of course, the challenges are not small. Often young people don’t know about MKUKUTA in detail, and what’s more they are scattered all over Tanzania”.

The words are Isdory Phocus’ from Tanzania Youth Coalition (TYC) on informing young people about the content of MKUKUTA.
TYC is a loose network of approximately 78 organisational members and is one of the few organisations that target their MKUKUTA-activities towards young people in local communities.
Just now they have started a pilot project with support from UNICEF. The project’s purpose is to let people know about the opportunities stipulated in the MKUKUTA and what means there are to access, among others from TASAF (Tanzania Social Action Fund) or from local government authorities. It is targeted towards organisations and local communities on district level, and will initially take place in one zone comprising of fifteen districts. As Isdory points out:
“It is very important that young people have a solid knowledge about MKUKUTA because everything is actually inside. It guides young people to ways of self employment.”
One of the challenges Isdory sees in the work of TYC, is that even if people do know the content of MKUKUTA, they are not vocal or do not know what action to take.

“Actually I need young people to shout out: We need to do this and this! Now! I therefore encourage other youth groups to join TYC”, he says with a smile.
Prior to the pilot project TYC has carried out consultations with 1900 young people on what they wanted to be in the MKUKUTA. This work was assisted by the Vice Presidents Office. Because TYC has been involved in several pre-MKUKUTA activities Isdory from TYC was asked to represent youth in the Communication Technical Working Group, part of the monitoring set-up for MKUKUTA under the Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment.
The overall goal of this group is to ensure that every Tanzanian know what MKUKUTA actually entails, especially for the people on the ground.
The visible outcome of the group so far mounts to The Mapambano Magazine that mainly target organisations. Another example is the Poverty Policy Week, which they have organised since 2003. They will also produce the Peoples’ Views Report for the year 2006/2007 and publish the annual report on the implementation of MKUKUTA together with the Research and Analysis Working Group.
Isdory believes the group works well. However, he is calling for greater participation of people, especially young people in planning and implementing development activities within their localities. “Time is rushing, I need to see young people using opportunities stipulated in MKUKUTA, we hardly have four years of MKUKUTA, let’s break the silence”.
“The working group is small and cannot reach everybody all over Tanzania and therefore has to ally itself with NGO’s and CBOs. It goes without saying that the NGO’s and CBO’s play a very important role for the good intentions of MKUKUTA to actually take place”, he points out.