Citizens 4 Change

Young people leaving institutional care often face profound, long-term challenges that limit their opportunities to thrive. In 2022, we listened to the experiences of care leavers in Tanzania and the support networks surrounding them. One message stood out clearly: investing in family-based care is essential for sustainable development. Equally important is ensuring that young people are meaningfully involved in decisions that shape their care and future. Today, we had the privilege of launching and presenting the findings and policy recommendations from our care leavers’ research, conducted in collaboration with Railway Children Africa, Pamoja Leo and Families and Futures Coalition of Tanzania. Graced by Hon. Mwanaidi Ali Khamis, Deputy Minister of Community Development, Gender, Women, and Special Groups, the launch event provided a platform for the government and partners to reaffirm their commitment to ensuring that every child grows up in a safe and loving family. We remain dedicated to advancing the Tanzania care reform agenda in 2025 and beyond. Find out more from our research: https://lnkd.in/gJ5ZWC-3 Kate McAlpine

🔍 Too often in research, young people are viewed through the lens of their challenges, rather than their strengths, resilience, and resourcefulness. At the Building Brighter Futures: Evidence for Children International Conference, recently organised by the Planning Commissions of Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania in partnership with UNICEF Tanzania, we shared findings and practical insights from our recent collaboration with Railway Children Africa. Our research, titled “Moving from precarity to security: Empowering Street-Connected Youth to access Livelihood Opportunities through Youth Associations”, co-authored by Dr. Kate McAlpine, Raphael Denis, and Isabel Cooper, highlights the effectiveness of RCA’s Youth Association Model in empowering street-connected young people to build stable, supportive relationships 🤝 and secure better livelihoods. 🔑 In doing so, we put forward a case for investing in interventions that strengthen the existing social connections and informal networks that young-people already rely on. Find out more about our research 👉https://lnkd.in/ehkQimw2

The digital age offers unprecedented opportunities for youth to amplify their voices, solve real-world problems, and build safer and more inclusive communities. 📱📣 As the students we are working with in Tanzania begin to design and implement their own projects to make their schools safer, we are training them on participatory photography technique and providing them with digital devices to allow them to tell their own stories of change through photography. 📸 Stay tuned to see what these talented students will be producing. #YouthDay2024

We're so proud to have youth advocates like Raphael Denis leading our Safe Schools project. Join us in celebrating him and our other inspiring team members, all of whom work tirelessly to ensure the voices of young people are listened to, learned from, and amplified. 🧡

Well done to the 500+ Tanzanian students who have facilitated and taken part in our #ProtectiveBehaviour clubs. Thanks to the sessions, these inspiring change makers now know how to keep themselves and their peers safe! 🎉 We can’t wait to join them again in July, when we’ll be working together to turn their new learnings into actions for safer and more inclusive schools. 🌱 Stay tuned for more! #SafeSchools #MACS

Our latest research explores the impacts of growing up in residential care in Tanzania, according to young people who experienced it. You can read their stories in our report 'Understanding the Lived Experience of Young Adults Who Grew Up in Residential Care Centres in Tanzania and a Theory of Action to Reorient Care for Vulnerable Children' 👉 now available in Better Care Network's global knowledge hub. 🌍 ⭐ 🔗 https://ow.ly/N03R50Smksi

Every child deserves to grow up in a loving family. Unfortunately, thousands of children in Tanzania living on the streets or in residential care lack access to this fundamental network of support. Last week, in our efforts to ensure that every child has access to a safe and supportive family, we met with inspiring child protection practitioners from across East Africa for a three-day care reform workshop. Convened by the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups in Tanzania and Railway Children Africa as a secretariat for the Familia Kwa Watoto Wote Alliance, we developed strategies to improve the support system for vulnerable children in Tanzania, with a focus on family-based care. We also heard successful care reform stories in Uganda and Rwanda from Child's i Foundation and Hope and Homes for Children. To find out more about why collective action to galvinise care reform is so important, read the findings we presented at the event 👉 https://lnkd.in/eFQ-Rzkh

To ensure an equitable and safe education for all children in Africa, students should not be left behind! In East Africa, we have seen students play a critical role in transforming their schools into spaces where everyone feels safe to express themselves and supported to achieve their fullest potential. This year’s #DayoftheAfricanChild reminds us to tap into student’s wisdom and agency to ensure all children in Africa have access to safe and equitable education. #DAC2024 #EducationForAll

We recently met up with some amazing teachers in Kenya and Uganda, all of whom had recently embarked on a journey of profound self-discovery. What did we learn from them? Among many things, we learnt that all changes - big or small - start with the individual. They taught us that it is only by learning to understand, appreciate, and nurture yourself can you begin to understand, appreciate, and nurture the world around you. #InnerPower

A few weeks ago, the C4C team had the wonderful opportunity to meet some amazing young people in Kenya and Uganda. We came together to discuss the things in students’ schools and communities that matter to them, and the ways they would like to change these spaces for the better (and to dance!) It was an honour to offer these inspiring individuals a seat at the table. By doing so we hope to make their voices heard and their ideas amplified! #YouthParticipation #MyVoiceMyPower