There are an estimated 1,300,000 orphans and 437,000 street children in Tanzania. As a result, legally registered orphanages and children’s homes are severely overcrowded and struggling to absorb the numbers. This has led to the proliferation of unregistered establishments where vulnerable children live in squalor and are sometimes subject to exploitation and abuse.
DOWNLOAD PROJECT BROCHURE
The Project
Kijana Kwanza is now reinventing the welfare model for orphaned and abandoned children aged 5-12 years. We have recently purchased a 1-acre plot in Shabaha District, and we will shortly start construction of a new children’s complex.
The total cost of this ambitious project is £750,000/$995,000 and is expected to take up to 2 years to construct. Construction is scheduled to start in 2024.
Why is this project different?
We believe that children aged 5-12 years should grow up in a loving family. Where a child has been abandoned due to poverty, we will prioritise family reunification, by supporting the family unit to stay together or place the child in a foster family. The new children’s home will operate as an emergency shelter – and only in the most challenging circumstances will children be kept in long-term care on-site.
Once place in community care, families will continue to receive financial and in-kind support, scheduled and surprise home visits from social workers and children will attend weekly activities on-site at the children’s home.
For more information, download our brochure here.
