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DO YOU WANT TO EMPOWER GIRLS IN RURAL TANZANIA?

Lyra in Africa (Lyra) is a registered Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organization based in Iringa, Tanzania. Lyra’s mission is to create vibrant communities by improving education and income opportunities for girls and women across rural Tanzania. We’re currently recruiting for two positions:

Project Officer, Tanzania

Lyra in Africa is expanding the Imarika Kijana Program (Youth Livelihoods Programme), and is now looking for a dedicated, self-motivated and highly organized Project Officer.

Digital Learning Project Officer, Iringa, Tanzania

Lyra works with Rural Ward Secondary Schools in Iringa to leverage learning through provision of Digital Learning Equipment, Offline Educational Resources, and Coding Training to Teachers and Students. We are now recruiting for a Digital Learning Program Officer: dedicated, self-motivated, highly organized, with necessary IT and Coding Skills.

Celebrating #GirlsinICT Day with our Coding Club Winners

Celebrating #GirlsinICT day with our Coding Club Girls'Achievements: Working to empower girls in tech and close the digital gender gap

On 23 April, Lyra joined UN Women and girls around the world to mark the International Girls in ICT Day, drawing attention to the critical need for more girls and women in the ICT sector.

With technology playing a role in all kinds of careers, from art and history to law, primary teaching and graphic design, learning tech skills at a young age will set girls up for economic independence. And, the ICT sector needs more girls and women. According to She Codes For Change, only 20% of girls enter STEAM careers, and this number is much lower in rural areas, where access to technology is non-existent. The jobs of the future will be driven by technology and innovation—65 percent of children entering primary school today will have jobs that do not yet exist.

Lyra partners with 8 rural schools on the Digital learning program. None of these schools are online, so all teaching is offline, using world class educational materials and hotspot devices. The students and most teachers had never touched a tablet or a computer before.

Since introducing its Digital Learning program in 2017, Lyra has helped 4,000 students (2,200 girls) and teachers develop skills and passion for technology and coding. These skills support the girls to develop curiosity, independence, equality and to share their knowledge within their local community.

Pictured, are Lightness and Dorcas with Roselyne, Lyra’s National Director. Lyra has sponsored Lightness and Dorcas to attend a six months Advanced IT and Entrepreneurship training for underprivileged girls and young women offered by Apps and Girls in Dar es Salaam. With this program, students will gain important tech skills that will help them navigate the workplace of the 21st Century, and be able to create their own technology-based start-ups thus elevating women’s socio-economic empowerment.

Lightness and Dorcas are both girls who stayed in Lyra Hostels, and will become the very first Lyra Digital Mentors who will support Lyra’s Digital learning program. Over the next two years, Lyra will continue to train an additional number of Digital Mentors (all Lyra alumni) to ensure sustainability of Lyra’s Digital Learning Programme.

19 girls and 6 teachers from 6 Lyra supported schools participated at the Regional International Girls Entrepreneurship Summit. This is a coding competition, where the Lyra sponsored coding club from Ilambilole school girls' coding team won 2nd place. We were so happy to see that all Lyra teams entering the competition came within the 20 best project ideas.

In 2020, Lyra will implement coding clubs in ten rural schools, teaching design thinking process, idea generation, coding and programming, in partnership with NLabs – an Apps and Girls initiative.

You can read more about our Digital Skills program here>>

Dr Philip Marsden joins Lyra as Chairman and Board Member

The Trustees of Lyra in Africa are delighted that Dr Philip Marsden has agreed to join us as Chairman and board member.

With such a distinguished career in the government, NGO and private sector, and with a strong interest in education and digital platforms, we know that Philip's experience will greatly assist us in our mission to improve the education and lives of girls and women across rural Tanzania.

Dr Philip said of his appointment:

"Lyra In Africa’s work is so important, protecting and empowering these young Tanzanian women - it is an honour to join and help grow such an essential and important mission.”

You can follow Dr Philip on Twitter.

Lyra's programs are temporarily closed, but the Girls in Tanzania need your help more than ever

We’ve temporarily closed all Lyra’s programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the girls still need your help to meet their vital needs to keep healthy and safe.

Due to the global pandemic caused by Coronavirus, we’ve suspended all our programs until it is safe to reopen, safeguarding children and adults in the communities we serve. We continue to monitor the situation very closely.

We do still have a group of community based trainers ‘virtually’ teaching the girls and their families to make soap and face masks to protect their wider communities, reaching more than 5,000 households.

We desperately need your help to meet the girls most basic needs, such as reusable menstruation and sanitary kits, and to ensure they receive the much needed training on Covid-19 to help protect themselves and their communities at this crucial period.

Find out how you can help give hope to the girls and their families here.

Celebrating International Women's Day 2020

Sunday marks International Women’s Day 2020. A day to celebrate the achievements of women all around the world, and a great opportunity to raise awareness about the need for greater gender equality.

In today’s world, women’s economic equality is non-negotiable.

All over the world, women earn less than men and are more likely to own small, informal businesses. They are less likely to have access to assets and property.

Women are more likely to do unpaid work. This doesn’t just limit their opportunities and livelihoods. It means half the world’s population is being denied basic human rights.

Lyra is committed to help change the lives of girls and young women who would otherwise feel like they had no other option

Through our education and entrepreneurship, we help women take control of their lives and create a route towards financial independence based upon our core values. By providing basic facilities that so many of us take for granted, we can help to change lives for the better and empower girls and young women. We now have 1,000 girls in safe accommodation so they can go to school.

"We ran 16kms to school and back, crossing mountains and rivers. Four girls in my class got pregnant because of unsafe accommodation, and that was the end of their education. Living in the Lyra dormitory changed my life. I was the first girl from my school to pass Form IV exams. I am now at University studying to be a teacher, thanks to Lyra. My Mum is so proud of me!" –Zainabu

Find out how you can help us to empower thousands more girls and young women in Tanzania and continue to champion equality for everyone.

Stories of our Imarika Kijana Entrepreneurship Program: Meet Ngojea

Imarika Kijana (Thriving Rural Youth) Program

One of four interlinked programs across the key problem areas of health, education, sexual violence, gender equality and economic stability, livelihood training is delivered to rural students and girls, and targets the urgent need to support young people to develop new business ideas and improve livelihoods when they leave school.

This is specifically important in the rural areas where Lyra is active, as over 80% of the community members are subsistence farmers. To-date we have trained 175 young adolescents in 2019 and we will treble this number in 2020.

Introducing Ngojea Mgata, budding entrepreneur and basket maker

Ngojea is a 25 year old single mother to two boys aged 8 and 2. Her mother died when she was 7 years old, and her father moved away and remarried. She became a housemaid looking for work, but returned after the birth of her two sons to live with her grandmother.

In 2016, Ngojea decided to start life afresh, taking up small scale farming and hair braiding to earn a bit of income to support her children and her grandmother. When the Lyra entrepreneurship training arrived in her village, Ngojea was keen to take part.

Lyra invited Catherine of Vikapu Bomba (a successful local entrepreneur who makes and sells woven reed baskets) to speak to the girls about the opportunities in basket weaving. This was particularly relevant to Ngojea and her group, as they already had the right skills, and access to local materials needed for basket weaving.

Now, Ngojea is earning an additional income making and selling baskets, and she is also a Community Based Trainer, supporting others to improve academic performance in both primary and secondary schools locally. She is also a youth chairperson for her church.

Together with 29 other people, she has also joined a Lyra savings and loan group, and in the first six weeks of the program, Ngojea had saved USD 16 and doubled her weekly income with her basket weaving.

“In our community, basket weaving is for home use. Little did we know that this can be an important income generating activity. The opportunity to meet Catherine, the founder of Vikapu Bomba, was an eye opener to all of us. I have already starting weaving better, continually improving my skills. I aim to be the lead trainer in good quality baskets in our community”. Ngojea

Lyra is now supporting Ngojea and twelve other youth from the same community to weave baskets with a view to export. We’ll check in again with her soon, and see how her career is progressing.

Our Imarika Kijana Entrepreneurship Program: Checking in with Sayuni

Stories from our Imarika Kijana (Thriving Rural Youth) Program

One of four interlinked programs across the key problem areas of health, education, sexual violence, gender equality and economic stability, youth entreprenurship is delivered to rural students and girls, and targets the urgent need to support young people to develop new business ideas and improve livelihoods when they leave school.

This is specifically important in the rural areas where Lyra is active, as over 80% of the community members are subsistence farmers. To-date we have trained 175 young adolescents in 2019 and this will treble this number in 2020.

Checking back in with Sayuni

Now, 20 years old - Sayuni (pictured) was one of the first girls to stay in the hostel at Lundamatwe Secondary School, built by Lyra in 2013. She joined Lyra’s pilot school leavers program in 2018 and is now teaching other young people in her community how to start their own businesses.

Before joining the entrepreneurship training, Sayuni was running a small Genge (road side stall) which was earning her just 50,000/=Tsh a week (which equates to USD 17). Since joining the program, she’s used her newly-learned skills to double her income, and also put in place plans to diversify with a first ever fishpond in the village.

Funded by the Lyra Savings & Loans scheme, Sayuni has now taken out a loan to create a fish pond for the village, which will supply fresh fish and give her an additional source of income. She also dug a well in the village to create a local water supply, to save hours travelling to and from the nearest water supply, saving her time and effort.

As a result of Sayuni’s training and initiatives, she’s now seen as an educator in the village, and is able to share her skills and learnings to help the wider community.

“Before I didn’t see any importance in my life. Now I am self-motivated and valued as a knowledgeable person in my community. Now I see challenges around me as opportunities.” – Sayuni Msigala

We look forward to seeing Sayuni’s progress this year with her business initiatives and will check back in with her soon.

Collaboration in the Community: A new classroom for Idete

Having been built originally in 1950, the primary school building in Idete was in desperate need of refurbishment. In late 2019, that project was successfully completed in collaboration with the local community.

The long-awaited project received much support from the villagers and district authorities, with the village women running a rota to deliver water to the building site, and when rain made the local roads impassable, the villagers stepped in with 'all hands on deck' to deliver materials from the vehicle. A true display of one of Lyra's key values 'Recognising the energy and creativity of rural communities.'

Lyra's founder, Maria says of the project :

"Every family we have ever worked with, has been striving tirelessly to secure a better life for their children. We are always amazed by how generously the community contributes to construction of girls' dormitories, despite low family incomes. Women and men, old and young, entrepreneurs and subsistence farmers - all with the same drive to improve their lives."

At the opening in November 2019, the whole village took part in the celebrations - recognising the lasting investment for the Idete community. Since its opening in November 2019, 244 children and 6 teachers have benefitted from the new school building, and Government has promised to refurbish 2 other buildings in the school. The construction was generously supported by the Michael Matthews Foundation, a long-term partner with Lyra.

(Pictured: Maria, Lyra's founder with the District Executive Director and students and villagers officially open the classroom)

From Tablets to Computers: First Computer Labs installed in ward secondary schools of Iringa - Funded by Capital Group

In June 2019, Lyra received funding support from Capital Group for installation of 19 Computers in a rural based secondary school in Iringa. Lyra used the support to benefit two schools, each with 11 computers impacting 741 students and 50 teachers. These are the very first Computer Labs installed by Lyra since the beginning of Lyra’s Digital Learning program in January 2017. They are also the very first computers that all students, and the majority of teachers have ever seen, or used.

Desktops will enable students to achieve a better grasp of handling a proper computer, a skill that is highly relevant in today’s labour market.

The Computers bring a transformation in learning, with a high increase in usage among students and teachers immediately after installation. The program included five days training to all teachers by Camara Education in basic computing, MS Office, Classroom teaching, management and monitoring.

Historically, the digital learning project was introduced as a pilot in January 2017 in 3 partner schools (Lundamatwe, Mazombe and Madege Secondary Schools), and 3 Lyra coaches were trained to introduce, supervise and support teachers and students on digital learning (DL).

We started the project with 90 tablets that were distributed to the 3 schools, 30 per school. Lyra introduced e-learning using resources available through ‘RACHEL’ (Remote Access Community Hotspot Educational Learning), a hot spot device containing different educational material of all levels of studying. The server enables students to access materials offline and is the perfect solution in rural schools with limitations in electricity and connectivity. The material is also suitable for teachers, as a vast amount of supplementary educational resources is available including content by Khan Academy (KA Lite). To improve the program further, In July 2018, Lyra partnered with Shule Direct for provision of Tanzania based Curricula content (notes and quizzes) for five core Science subjects, leading to increased usage in Digital learning.

With growing number of students per class, sharing of a tablet continues to be challenge, making it difficult for each child to handle the tablet on a daily basis (see photos). The ideal number of tablets per school is 50 -60, so that at least every student in a class could have a personal tablet. The alternative is to install computer desktops to leverage the Digital Learning platform throughout the day. Installing computer labs require main grid electricity and can therefore only be introduced in schools with electricity. Prior to the Capital Group funded computer labs being installed in Q4 2019, both schools had 20 tablets each.

Following installation of the Computers at the Lulanzi and Nyang’oro Secondary Schools, there was a significant rise in usage by both students in hostel and others, while hostelers have the biggest benefit.

The significant increase in use from installation in Q4 2019, in the number of students using Shule Direct is also

evident in the usage data from the hostel.

Beni Hamis Mwakafwila, a Civics and Kiswahili Teacher at Nyang’oro secondary school says:

“First of all I would like to thank Lyra in Africa for installing a Computer lab in our School, and I am so happy to hear that this is the first lab to be installed by Lyra. Also, I would like to thank Lyra for the training that they have provide to us teachers. For me before the training, I was using computers for leisure, however after the training I came to realize that there were a lot things which I had no idea of.

I bought my computer soon after being employed for sure it was my desire to know how to use it effectively but instead, I was using it to watch movies. My computer eventually collapsed. I saw my fellow teachers typing exams and arranging their examination results. I was envious and desired to do the same, but failed because I lacked computer skills.

I am so thankful that I have received free computer training. Before installation of computer lab materials, the tablets had Tanzanian Science subjects only, discouraging the rest of us Art teachers to use digital equipment. But with the Computer Lab, all the subjects are there, and I am happy that I can see all the notes needed for teaching and learning. I was so excited when I saw ‘Ngoswe penzi kitovu cha uzembe’ notes in which for me was a big surprise.

I am very interested in using the class management tool (veyon) installed for teaching because it makes students to love the class and session very well and it makes my work a lot easier and fun.”

Tanzanian girls' education icon, Dr Maria Kamm joins Lyra

Dr. Maria Kamm, an icon in the education sector in Tanzania and beyond, joins Lyra in Africa as Honorary Member and Patron

By Roselyne Mariki, Lyra Tanzania National Director

“It was one of my greatest moments, when Dr. Maria Josephine Kamm accepted our request to join the Lyra Tanzania Board as Honorary Member and become the very first Patron. I’m one of many who call her ‘Mama’, a person who shaped the education of thousands of girls over a four-year period of lower Secondary Education. She was the larger-than-life headmistress of the Moshi-based Weruweru Girls’ Secondary School from 1970 to 1992. To-date she still treats all of us as her daughters.”

Roselyne Mariki, Lyra National Director, and Weruweru alumni

So how does one describe Mama Kamm? While it’s impossible to capture her journey, it is notable that she is and started her life from a humble beginning, born in rural Iringa in June 1937. She attended Tosamaganga Girls School (Iringa), Loleza Girls (Mbeya) and later Kilakala Secondary School (Morogoro). Her foundation in education was built in Tanzania, and in her later years she studied at St. Mary Notre Dame, Indiana and Syracuse University NYC for her Masters’ degree.

She started teaching in 1965 at a number of Secondary Schools and later at Weruweru Girls - Tanzania's top school for girls under her 22-year leadership - where she inspired and motivated thousands of girls who have later become very successful women in different fields. She is a strong believer of combining classroom teaching with entrepreneurial skills building (self-reliance spirit), and all girls who passed under her leadership have and continue to achieve both. She retired in 1992 after registering the Mama Clementina Foundation to help educate young girls who became pregnant while at school.

Mama Kamm, has a record of breaking down barriers so that girls, especially those less-privileged, get a valuable education. Her name has been engraved on the plaque containing the history of the struggle of girls in Tanzania, in the last five decades.

Mama Kamm was deeply inspired by the educational philosophies of Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first President, known affectionately by Tanzanians as ‘teacher’- Mwalimu. Mama Maria Kamm founded the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation in honour of Mwalimu’s great legacy. She is a beneficiary to many awards both in and outside the borders of Tanzania.

A mother, a teacher, a politician, a businesswoman and a philanthropist, she is a shining example of a true Tanzanian woman achiever. It is a great pleasure to Lyra in Africa to have such an iconic woman, a driver of education in Tanzania, as part of our team. We welcome you Mama on behalf of all the girls in Iringa and Tanzania whose lives you continue to touch. -

New hostel at Mlowa Secondary School promotes wildlife conservation

The commissioning of Mlowa Girls’ Hostel was a highlight for Lyra in March 2019. Located in the largest Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania, Mlowa Secondary School has 446 students. 80% are from Maasai Pastoralist families spread out across Ruaha National Park. Some children have to walk up to 24kms a day to reach school. The distance, and the risks that they face en route, means that there is a high dropout rate, especially from girls who encounter challenges like sexual advances and attacks on their walk to school.

The Mlowa hostel was badly damaged by fire in 2017

After a fire destroyed the hostel in 2017, Lyra has completely refurbished it, with the generous support of the Infinity Foundation. Currently housing 92 girls, Mlowa hostel is our 10th hostel. We are delighted that nearly 1,000 girls now have safe places to live while they study for the education they deserve.

Tumaini Mbepati, 17, was ready to drop out of secondary education when a motorcycle driver made sexual advances toward her. She believed that being with him was the best option for her future.

 “I thank my parents, community leaders and school management, for rescuing me from what would have been the worst decision of my life. I am now back in school and I live in the hostel. I am studying very hard to ensure that I pass my final exams and make a difference to my society, and also to be a leading example to other girls. My plea to parents is to bring their children to stay in hostel. It is safe, there is a lot of time to study, and it helps us not to be exposed to the daily challenges as we walk to and from school every day. Thank you so much to Lyra for restoring this hostel – we now have a safe space place to live and study. I now love studying, I love this hostel.”

Lyra is introducing Digital Learning to Mlowa secondary school too. Teachers and students will benefit from the world-class educational resources available through ‘Rachel’ (Remote Access Community Hotspot Educational Learning). Also, in partnership with Southern Tanzania Elephant Programme (STEP), Lyra is working to lessen wildlife and community conflict by engaging students with conservation of the land and animals around them. The beautiful mural painted on Mlowa hostel’s wall was collaboratively drawn by a local artist and the girls, to inspire the community to celebrate their rich wildlife heritage.

Building a hostel always amounts to more than the bricks of a building. Mlowa Girls’ Hostel is another example of a community expressing their commitment to girls’ education and a better future for their children.