POLICY ADVOCACY: THE CASE OF TANZANIA MEDIA WOMEN
ASSOCIATION (TAMWA)
Prof. Andrew Kiondo
INTRODUCTION
To a great extent, the development of civil society and its relationship to the state on governance issues has been a reflection of the prevailing socioeconomic and political environment. At independence the neo colonial state inherited a state monopoly system which curtailed the levels of popular participation. The political framework that developed ensured that civic associations were deeply entrenched into the stateparty system. In this context, it has been pointed out that "the dominance of single party state during the first years of independence has constricted the space for democratic participation and disrupted the balance between societal and individual fundamental rights"(Halfani and Nzomo 1995). Within this framework, the state continued to maintain and consolidate state hegemony thus sowing the seeds for the undemocratic political culture that ensued and continued until the 1980s and 1990s where signs of change started to emerge though in a limited way. This situation affected associations such as cooperatives, youths, parents and women, all of which were affiliated to the ruling party.
In the case of women organization, the UWT (Union of Tanzania Women) which was formed to fight for the interests of women in Tanzania was no exception to this situation. The Organization was deeply entrenched into the party state system, and was therefore seen as the only legitimate political organization, which articulated the interests of women. According to Rusimbi (1999) this situation denied the opportunity for alternative points of views, the right to voice their views and hence undermining their role in influencing the political process and thus contributing to good governance. The situation further denied them the power and space which they needed to voice their concerns since they were not part of mainstream political decision making. In addition, UWT as an organization entrenched in a maledominated patriarchal system, lacked independent critical thinking in analyzing broadly gender and women issues. As a result women continued to suffer oppression and domination in almost all spheres of social, economic and political life.
In the late 1980s and 1990s the country underwent major social economic and political transformation. In the economic sphere, it moved from a centralized economic system to economic liberalization while in the political sphere the country moved from a single party system to multiparty system. This new orientation created a space for voluntary action in the form of civic associations. As such in the 1980s and 1990s Tanzania witnessed an unprecedented growth of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
Women CSOs were also established not only as a result of liberalized social economic political system but also as a response to International movement, which encouraged women, all over the world to fight for their rights, a call made at the 1985 Nairobi World Conference on Women. Several women organizations were established after the 1985 conference including TAMWA, which was born in 1987. These women CSOs have been working hard to empower women socially, economically and politically in order to build their capacities to participate effectively on governance issues as part of the civil society and the public in general. Women CSOs have therefore placed on top of their agenda issues of democratization, governance, civic education, political empowerment, women and human rights (Walker 1997).
In the democratization process, women demand for the incorporation of gender issues and inclusion of women rights as part of the struggle to institute good governance and a democratic culture. Therefore the formation of women civil society organizations such as
TAMWA and others should be seen as an effort to enable women to participate effectively in influencing good governance by placing lobbying and advocating for women's and children's rights at the top of the agenda.
This case study (Policy Advocacy: the Case of TAMWA) has been undertaken to demonstrate the extent to which civil society organizations interact with governments to promote good governance. TAMWA has been singled out in this case study because it has demonstrated an impressive capacity in policy advocacy in Tanzania. Its policy advocacy strategy focuses on women and children rights in social, economic, political and cultural aspects of Tanzania's societal public.
The objective of analysing organizational activities of this particular CSO is to gain a clear perspective of its lobbying and advocating techniques and how it interacts with the government to effect policy changes. This study will examine this TAMWA /State relations in a wider social, economic, political and cultural context. It will therefore examine in details the relations between TAMWA and the State, focussing attention on TAMWA's campaign against sexual harassment of women and children. The case study will specifically examine the impact of TAMWA's organizational activities in terms of influencing policy changes and creating awareness of people's human rights among the members of the public. It will also examine changes that have occurred as a result of these activities and how these have had impact in a wider social, political, economic and legal environment.
The main objective of the case study is to shed light on organizational capacity of Tanzania's civil society organizations in general and women organizations in particular in promoting public awareness on critical societal issues and in advocating and lobbying for policy changes and thus contributing to good governance. In addition, the empirical analysis of state/civil society relations that is undertaken through analysing the way TAMWA encounters the government by lobbying for policy changes. This will widen our knowledge of the nature of state/civil society relations and the techniques employed and how these techniques were instrumental in impacting on the policy process.
1 TAMWA: BRIEF HISTORY
TAMWA (the Tanzania Media Women Association) was established in 1987. It defines itself as both a professional and an activist organization. Its mission is "to use the media to sensitize society on gender issues and advocate and lobby for policy and legal changes which favour the promotion of the rights of women and children". (TAMWA Annual Report 1998:1). It is a membership organization that confers full membership to Tanzania professional women journalists. It began with 12 members and today it has almost 150 full members and 50 coopted members.
Its specific objectives include the following;
(i) to collect and disseminate gender, population and development information.
(ii) to undertake research, advocacy and lobbying for legal and policy reforms.
(iii) to publish information dissemination magazines and other productions and
(iv) to collaborate with other NGOs, CBOs, HIVOs, lawmakers, religious groups, traditional healers and youths.
In fulfilling its objectives TAMWA has designed several programmes. TAMWA's strategies include identifying problems facing women and children and creating awareness on the problem and then lobbying for legal and policy changes. One of the problems that TAMWA has taken up is the campaign against sexual harassment of women and children. Therefore TAMWA sees its mandate as, not only to advocate for change and promote rights for women and children, but also to create a gender sensitive society in order to achieve gender equality. The following section discusses the extent of the problem of sexual harassment and abuse of women and children in Tanzania, its consequences and why TAMWA has decided to take up steps to solve this problem and advocate for policy and legal reforms.
2 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM
In the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, the term "violence against women" has been defined as follows;
"any act of genderbased violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life".
Accordingly, violence against women encompasses but is not limited to the following:
(a) physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, include battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowryrelated, violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, nonspousal violence and violence related to exploitation.
(b) physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution.
(c) physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated and condoned by state, wherever it occurs" (Cited in Violence Against Women 1999:2)
Violence against women is a global problem, it is not therefore confined to Tanzania. In almost all societies, both developed and developing, to some extent women are subjected to some form of violence which may include physical, sexual and/or psychological abuse that cuts across socioeconomic and cultural lines, that is without due regard to income, class and culture. Global statistics on gender violence indicates that in the United States 3 to 4 million women are beaten by their partners each year, every minute and a half a women is raped in South Africa, totaling approximately 386,000 women raped each year, and in Santiago Chile statistics indicate that 80% of women have suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse by a male partner or relative ( Heise 1994:79).
Acts of violence against women take place both in the public and private spheres, in the home, where it is referred to as domestic violence and in the public arena where it can be seen in the form of sexual harassment and intimidation at workplaces. In Tanzania, the magnitude of the problem is phenomenal. It manifests itself in the form of domestic violence such as wife battery, as well as sexual assault, rape defilement, abandonment, forced early marriages, female genital mutilations and violence against aged women in the form of witch killings. In recent years, violence against women and children has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. It has been estimated that as many as nine out of ten women have experienced violence in their relationship with men, while witchkillings of aged women has increased tremendously. For instance, between 1996 and1997, about 399 people were killed in Shinyanga with 43 percent of the killings were associated with witchcraft (Core Programme Annual Report 1998:19). In addition, surveys of domestic violence over the past six years in Tanzania indicate that there were 1,922 cases of domestic violence and 2,432 rape cases (TAMWA and reported cases represent a fraction of the actual situation since such cases normally go unreported for various reasons. There is an identified culture of silence among the victims of violent actions since traditional customs and culture sanction some of these. This culture of silence is orchestrated by socialization process whereby children grow up in violent ridden families. The social stigma associated with such acts leads to general acceptance among women that violence is part of cultural heritage. In some cases, victims are either ashamed to report cases of violence against them or are discouraged from taking action by relatives and friends or fear possible abandonment from their spouses whom they are totally dependent upon. Other reasons include lack of awareness among the victims of laws protecting them against violent actions and even where women are aware of the laws they lack the resources to engage in and access to legal processes.
3 ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES, POLICY ADVOCACY AND POLICY REFORMS
Considering the magnitude of the problem in Tanzania, TAMWA as a civil society organization decided to campaign for the elimination of violence against women. The decision to campaign for elimination of violence against women is in line with its main objective of sensitizing society on gender issues and advocating and lobbying for policy changes that will promote the rights of women and children.
The first challenge TAMWA faced was to raise awareness among women and the general public including public officials in all spheres of social life, on the magnitude of the problem of sexual harassment and abuse of women and children. This included the publication of a popular magazine Sauti ya Siti, and other promotional and educational materials, which were instrumental in creating awareness and sensitizing the public on the magnitude of the problem. Seminars and workshops in which victims of violence provided first hand information followed in this strategy. These workshops demonstrated the extent of the problem and its consequences in terms of physical and psychological impact on the victims. As part of its sensitization strategy, TAMWA also held night vigils in honour of all those who either lost their lives or suffered extensively as a result of violence against women and children.
The above efforts were consolidated when in 1991, under the leadership of TAMWA, a committee against sexual harassment, discrimination and violence against women and children was formed. The committee involved members of other civil society organizations that, due to their expertise in one way or the other can contribute to the campaign to eliminate violence against women and children. These associations included the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA), the Medical Women Association of Tanzania (MEWATA), the Department of Women Affairs of the Organization of Tanzania Trade Unions (OTTU), The association for fighting HIV/AIDS in Tanzania (WAMATA) and the Tanzania Welfare Counseling Mission (TAWECOMI). The committee had 60 members comprising of people from almost all professions, that is including lawyers, journalists, doctors, teachers, welfare workers, representative of the trade union, religious organizations and community development workers (Sauti Ya Siti 1991:12).
The objective of the committee was as follows;
(i) to enhance the struggle and safeguard the rights of women and children on matters such as rape, sexual harassment, family conflict, discrimination in workplaces, custody and maintenance
(ii) to provide counseling services on health and law to women and children who are victims of rape and sexual harassment
(iii) to provide counseling on labour laws to women who face problems at work places
The Committee reconstituted itself into four subcommittees or groups to work on various issues related to violence against women in order to fulfil its objectives. These included;
(i) Group one: sexual harassment, rape and child abuse
(ii) Group two: "rights of women and children"
(iii) Group three: sexual harassment at work places
(iv) Group four: counselling victims of violent actions