Human Rights of Women
Source: Tanzania Daily News
VODACOM Tanzania has reiterated its commitment to continue supporting the government to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Vodacom Managing Director, Mr Rene Meza, said the company was keen to support as many development projects as possible in the country in a bid to achieve the MDGs.
"In a country where education, health, and entrepreneurship are greatly needed, it is important to give a helping hand to those involved," said Mr Meza. He added: "Vodacom is committed to ensure that we step in where we can to ensure that such projects take off."
The MD said Vodacom will work closely with all relevant authorities in the government to ensure that this processes succeed. On matters education, Mr Meza said recently Vodacom launched the e-Learning project. "This is an initiative aimed at connecting secondary schools to the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) across the country.
"Powered by Vodacom network, we believe that this system will change the current teaching situation tremendously," the Vodacom Chief said. Vodacom will enable teachers do away with the practice of writing notes on chalkboards and students copying them on exercise books. Vodacom, the leading telecom firm in the country, has also pioneered the Community Power Project in Tanzania.
This is an initiative geared towards supplying power to rural schools located near network sites. "Excess solar power generated from the network sites is channeled to closer schools," Mr Meza. Vodacom is also committed to ensuring that teenage girls are kept in school. Through this, Meza says, Vodacom together with T-Marc launched the "Hakuna Wasichoweza" Initiative.
"This is an initiative that aims at providing sanitary pads to school-going teenage girls. Every year, girls from poor families skip over 100 days during their menstrual periods since they cannot afford sanitary pads. However, we plan to keep these girls in school by giving them sanitary pads free of charge. So far, we aim to reach over 10,000 girls from Lindi and Mtwara," he said.