Definition of Youth
The National Policy of Youth Development (2007) in Tanzania defines youth as 15-35 years.
Marriageable Age
- Opposite Sex
- Same Sex
- Without parental consent
- with parental consent
- Male
- 18
- 14
- XX
- Female
- 18
- 14
- XX
Criminal Responsibility
From 10-12 years, the state must prove criminal capacity. A child below 10 cannot be held legally responsible for their actions. Source: Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act (1998)
Situation of Young People
Literacy Rates
- 76.49% Male (15-24) %
- 72.77% Female (15-24) %
- Year: 2010
- Source: UNESCO
Youth Development Index
- Year: 2013
- Source: Commonwealth Youth Programme
Tobacco Use
Consumed any smokeless or smoking tobacco product at least once 30 days prior to the survey.- 12.4% Male (13-15) %
- 8.8% Female (13-15) %
- Year: 2010
- Source: WHO
Policy & Legislation
The National Policy on Youth Development (2007) intends to create an enabling environment that builds the capacity of young people and promotes employment opportunities and access to social security. The policy focuses on a number of areas including employment, healthcare, education, the role of local agencies, HIV/AIDS, disability, equality, financial services, juvenile justice, the informal sector, and ICTs. A 2009 critique focuses on the hurried development of the policy, with the result that it is “not thoroughly informed by what the youth on the ground really demands”. As a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Tanzania is a signatory of The Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE) 2006-2015. Tanzania has signed and ratified the African Youth Charter (2006).
Public Institutions
(ministry, department or office) that is primarily responsible for youth?
Youth and Representation
So far efforts to create the council have not been successful because of the apparent fears and mistrust between stakeholders and the government. This [...] has also delayed the establishment of youth development committees at the District level.
Budget & Spending
According to the World Bank, Tanzania spent 21.16% of its government expenditure and 6.18% of its GDP on education provision in 2010.
Source: World Bank
Gaps indicate missing data from the original data source. (Accessed May 2014).
Additional Background
The 2011 report Does The ‘New’ National Youth Development Policy Reflect Youth Demands? provides critical reflection on the 2007 National Policy on Youth Development:
- There are few initiatives to monitor progress toward measuring achievement of policy aims affecting young people, and hence there is limited data available.
- Young people have a limited understanding of participation. Qualitative studies illustrate clearly how elders marginalize youth in decision making. A recent study by TAMASHA found that young people understand “participation to mean the act of being present” and had nothing to do with whether or not they had “taken any part in influencing or making decisions”.
- Young people have limited understanding of the laws and policies affecting them and therefore what the provisions are for them which holds them back from taking part in monitoring.
- Young people are not aware of the structures for and the ways of becoming involved in decision making and therefore are simply not getting involved because they don’t know how.
[T]he quest to quickly come up with a new National Youth Development Policy has resulted into a policy that is not thoroughly informed by what the youth on the ground really demands. Even where it attempts to outline these demands the new policy does not adequately articulate the priority demands. Arguably, Tanzania hurriedly transformed itself into what has been referred to as a veritable policy factory as a response to global pressures to go with the times – the days and times of globalization. This fear of being left behind is what has informed yet another patchy process of revising the policy without carrying out a thorough country situation analysis.The report also comments on the policy aim to create a National Youth Council:
The complaints about the lack of inclusive participation during the National Youth Development Policy review has been extended to the implementation of one of the policy statements, that of forming a National Youth Council. For instance, the Secretary General of TYVA, Michael J. Dalali (2007), draws attention to the struggles for representations at the meeting on the formation of the council that was called by the government on 23-25 July 2007. In a similar vein, the Women and Youth wing of an opposition party that has been monitoring closely the implementation of the National Youth Development Policy issued the following statement: […] [We regret to note that the government has started a shady process to form this council bureaucratically, secretively and on the basis of favouritims by making basic decisions about the process of forming it without the consent of the youth themselves] (CHADEMA: 1 June 2008)