Traditionally, Governments carry the sole responsibility of ensuring the well-being and development of their people in all sectors. Through short and long-term development plans, countries define what they would like to achieve in making their citizens enjoy their rights of living. The Governments of the United Republic of Tanzania (URT) and that of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGoZ) are not exceptional on this. Over the years since independence, these Governments have strived to do their best in fulfilling this commitment.

However, as is the case in many of the low and middle-income countries, not all envisioned plans and desired targets are met as planned. The two governments have and are marking quite several significant achievements in all sectors. However, some gaps exist and from time to time these gaps need a helping hand to fill the vacuum.

The idea of creating the Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation (MIF) has its origin in this line of thinking. In Zanzibar, while the RGoZ has and is making rapid progress in all sectors, gaps exist; MIF is developed with an envisioning of supporting and complementing the Government efforts to fill those gaps. While our wish was to support the Government comprehensively, we ended up directing our support to the education, social economic, and health sectors.

On 18th June 2021, MIF was officially registered as a non-profit organization, initially as a non-government organization, and later as a Foundation. The Foundation was established to set up a framework for dialogue, networking, information, and skills exchange regarding women, youth, and children’s welfare in health, education, and socioeconomic dimensions. I conceived this idea to create the Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation (MIF) from my personal experience as a Zanzibarian but also as a Member of Parliament and a young woman activist, who have witnessed, heard, received, and documented concerns regarding declining education performance in Zanzibar, deteriorating socio-economic status of women and youth, growing evidence of substance abuse and gender-based violence, etc. I felt a need to serve the nation in an additional way beyond representing people’s views in Parliament. I decided to involve a few colleagues with similar interests who joined me to become the founder members of the Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation.

A year later, after we received the official registration, MIF was officially launched. We were indeed very blessed to have our launch officiated by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Her Excellence Samia Suluhu Hassan on 19th June 2022.

Time flies. Today, we are marking two and a half years since the first activity of MIF was conducted. Since August 2021 when a team of consultants was deployed to conduct a situation analysis and later develop our first Strategic Plan, several activities have been implemented, many events have occurred, achievements recorded, opportunities for improvement identified, lessons learned and above all, MIF identity has been created and partners and friends acquired.

MIF’s philosophy is partnership and networking. We are not here to claim individual credibility for the change we cause but to harness the benefits of partnerships and collaborations. We believe that anything good is usually shared and we share our thoughts and ideas, visions, missions, and plans with a wider global community so that we can walk together. I welcome you to walk with us through this endeavor as we unveil our own experience of working as a Foundation. We invite you to jointly cultivate the land and plant the seeds whose harvests shall be used to break the cycle of ignorance, poverty, and disease in Zanzibar, in the United Republic of Tanzania, and beyond.

Hon. Wanu Hafidh Ameir

Chairperson, Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation.

As we mark the beginning of the year 2024, Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation (MIF) is proud to set a record of two and a half years of its existence since it was founded. This reference period has been a time of sweat and breeze all at the same time. We all know that the beginning may, most often, be the hardest part of a journey. Starting with a wish to a vague idea; and then moving towards shaping the idea into a reality is always challenging, scary (of losing your way as you navigate around), and uncertain. We are very proud to say that, we are beyond these phases of uncertainty, as we are now clear and firm in our vision, mission, and course of action.

Through its Strategic Plan, MIF defined its scope of work which targeted four areas of work: The first area is to improve the quality and performance of education for youth, with a special focus on girl’s education. Second is poverty alleviation through economic empowerment of women and youth, especially through activities targeting the agricultural value chain, blue economy, and tourism, and improving youth self-employment through vocational training. The third is to address mental health and psychological and social support to the people affected by mental disability, depression, Gender Based Violence and Violence Against Children (GBV&VAC), and family trauma. The fourth is to improve maternal, newborn, and child health with a focus on family planning and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH).

We carefully chose the approaches that we use to implement our planned interventions and activities leading to the realization of our strategic objectives. Primarily, we employ a framework for dialogue, networking, information, and skills exchange as our main approach. Through this approach, we conduct advocacy activities and lobbying, build capacity within and outside the organization for resource mobilization, and engage frontline implementation allies, including those working in awareness creation, education and sensitization, capacity building, and training. We also aim to demonstrate what we advocate through our state-of-the-art resource center, which is under construction. We strive to excel in innovations for education, health, technology, and socio-economic empowerment. Our identity is marked by our ability to provide coordination and leadership proactively in the sectors that we work with.

A period of two and a half years is too short a time to make a dream come true, but we have demonstrated within this period that nothing is impossible, especially if there is commitment, strong and dedicated leadership, and partnership. With the invaluable support that we have and are receiving from our partners, we have made satisfactory progress that we are happy to share with our networks and partners. We hope that our work will inspire most of you and be a reason to either further strengthen our working relationships or develop new partnerships with those whom we haven’t reached yet.

Hon. Sabra Ali Mohamed

Chief Executive Director, MIF.