“Promoting Strengths and Economic Resilience of Single-Mother Families in Dar es Salaam and Morogoro” is the CADIS post-COVID project in Tanzania, with the aim to promote the strengths and economic resilience of single-mother families in the two cities of Dar es Salaam and Morogoro.

The pandemic affected the most vulnerable groups of the society, especially elderly, women and children. Among the women, single mothers in the informal sector and self-employed were the most affected as they struggled alone to take care of their children without income during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The beneficiaries of the project are 100 youth and 40 single-mother (30 in Temeke and Ilala - Dar es Salaam region), and 10 in in Mikese and Ifakara - Morogoro region). The programs aim to build their capacity to recover quickly from the difficulties they are experiencing during the Covid-19 pandemic and to empower the youth so that they do not fall into the poverty trap.

The project, promoted by CADIS International and CADIS Tanzania, of the Camillian Delegation in Tanzania, started in 2021 and will last for 24 months. The main goal is poverty reduction of the 40 single-mother families. This could be achieved by teaching them skills to start rice farming and pig raising to generate and manage income; strengthening the marriage institution and empowering the youth through seminars on peer pressure and relationship.

The expected outcomes are increased family income among the single-mothers, increased skills in business and financial management and peer relationship skills, and increased life skills.

The project foresees several activities such as trainings, workshops and seminars for the single mothers using participatory approach to improve and develop their expertise and make them self-sufficient in starting their own business.

The Project leadership group also known as Project Board is responsible for the management of the project, monitoring and supervision of project activities which will be conducted regularly to ensure accomplishment of the goals.

The project team has already finalized the list of target beneficiaries. They have visited different villages searching for a land suitable for farming by the single mothers. After a long time search and meticulous evaluation of the land prospects, they chose a 100-acres of land in Idete village. The land was leased by a farmer. To facilitate management of the project and implementation of activities, they bought office equipment like photocopy machine, printer, laptop computers, tablets, projector and a sound system for the training sessions. Moreover, a series of trainings is scheduled to start soon to begin the learning process of the beneficiaries.