Midwifery isn’t seen as a respected career choice in Tanzania and even if it was, science isn’t taught to girls so they can’t choose it as a career. 

Why we care: Midwives save lives. Yet two thirds of women in the poorest, least developed countries give birth without one. 

How we’re solving this: Working with schools to promote teaching science and midwifery as a career and advocating at the national level for policies to support midwives.

White Ribbon Alliance Tanzania is campaigning for science to be taught to girls at school, as well as working with schools to promote midwifery as a profession by engaging faculty, meeting with students and establishing youth groups.

A total number of 20 faculty members are involved in the process, working with 100 students in monthly meetings throughout the year.

Going out to the schools makes a difference building health and science education futures for a new generation of young women.  $6,000 will pay for the White Ribbon Alliance to talk to school pupils and their parents in the country’s most remote districts, so that more girls are encouraged to become midwives and more women in Tanzania are able to choose to have the life-saving skills of a midwife during childbirth.

We are also working with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance to advocate for better pay and conditions so that midwives don’t have to care single-handedly for dozens of women at a time – and for only a pittance. We do that through public hearings and through dialogue with members of the Parliamentary Group for Safe Motherhood. These meetings occur twice a year and involve 30 people. Although the group has managed to secure a number of commitments, there have been no pay increases since the start of these hearings.

After visits from WRA Tanzania, 83% of students reported having a change in their career plans and aspire to join midwifery training schools after their secondary education. WRA Tanzania has been doing this work in schools for over 2 years.

White Ribbon Alliance Tanzania
White Ribbon Alliance Tanzania, led by its brilliant and committed National Coordinator Rose Mlay, is working to enact the Safe Motherhood Act and to increase enrollment of students in nurse and midwife training. The alliance aims to continue a dialogue with communities about safe motherhood, involving men, women, girls, and boys.