Community Education
The HPLP is currently developing community education curriculum in close collaboration with Fokas Nchimbi and the Learning in a Village program. Currently, classes are available for children and teens at the HPLP, to reinforce and supplement government school education. Functional, relevant education programs for community members of all ages will soon become the backbone of the HPLP's community empowerment programs.
Community education programs at the HPLP are being designed to enable members of the community. Enabling rural Tanzanians to diversify their economic activities is of significant importance given the rapidly changing, and ever-more globalized world. In today's competitive economy, the poor-and especially the poorest people in rural areas-are confronted with economic challenges that require new solutions.
One example from the Mbinga District, in southwestern Tanzania, is the falling price of agricultural products such as coffee and cashew nuts in the world market. Over-dependence on coffee as the dominant cash crop in Mbinga has shaken the local economy and affected the lives of the Matengo people, due to the falling price of coffee in the world market. The people of the Mbinga District and other poor rural areas in Tanzania must diversify their economic activities. The people of Mbinga, for instance, could find alternatives of using the water resources from the existing streams, rivers, dams, and Lake Nyasa to introduce cultivation of other crops such as Irish potatoes, onions, tomatoes, rice, and varieties of fruits. This would yield local markets for crops, supplied by the natives, rather than bringing these products from other regions.
Today, Mbinga is one of the districts in Tanzania included a pilot study in which the government intends to find reliable market opportunities for agricultural products. It is imperative, therefore, for the government, NGOs, and individuals to provide functional education more strategically to enable people in rural areas to cope with their changing socioeconomic, cultural, and political environment.
To achieve the desired benefits from all the resources invested in education-from nursery schools to higher learning institutions, from urban areas to rural areas-it is necessary to have sustainable policies and tangible developments in libraries and learning centers. Current efforts directed at alleviating poverty, controlling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, ending the abuse of rights of women and children, ending female genital mutilation, and avoiding corruption must be coupled with relevant educational programs featured as a continuous agenda.
For example, genital mutilation or female circumcision violates a number of recognized human rights protected in international conventions and conferences (PRB, 2001:5). But instituting policies to address these issues will be useless unless women are educated to understand their rights, and know how they can be protected. The commission for human rights and good governance in Tanzania (CHRAGG) reports that abuse of human rights in Tanzania is more rampant in rural areas than anywhere else. Further, the commission argues that the urban dwellers are more enlightened on their rights than their rural counterparts who desperately need the educative services of the commission. Thus, the establishment of learning centers for the disadvantaged and marginalized, including women and especially those living in rural areas, is among the most desirable goals. Learning centers offer an effective, strategic, and essential investment in education in Tanzania. As UNESCO insists:
Education is an effective way to fight poverty and to build well-functioning democracies and peaceful societies. It is a sound investment that helps nations and communities to develop economically and socially...History shows that no country developed without investing in the education of its people.
Working closely with the Learning in a Village program in the years to come, the HPLP hopes to assist rural Tanzanians in unlocking all of their untapped resources, and becoming more active, more informed, and more effective agents of change in their own communities. Community education programs-meaning library and learning center services-will be the primary means of achieving this goal.