In Ngorongoro district, Arusha region, an innovative project for the establishment of a comprehensive district response to HIV/AIDS among the Maasai provides learning on confronting the pandemic in pastoralist communities in the East and Horn of Africa. Understanding the dynamics of livelihood strategies in the community is fundamental when mobilizing communities to participate in non-livelihood interventions. As a result of the prolonged drought in this region a complementary emergency drought response project is underway contributing food assistance to vulnerable households and strengthening the capacity of government structures in disaster management.
Ongoing projects
ACORD has been working in Tanzania since 1991, initially established as an integrated rural development programme in Biharamulo District, Kagera Region. Up until 2005 it was known as the Lake Victoria programme which comprised Tanzania and Mbarara in South West Uganda. Scaling up of intervention in 1995 coincided with the Rwandan refugee crisis. Following repatriation of Rwandan refugees the programme evolved to focus on long-term local development.
Today the programme promotes the well being of marginalised people in the Lake Victoria Region, through strengthening civil society and promoting participatory local governance, preventing the spread and mitigating the impacts of HIV and AIDS as well as improving livelihoods. To this end ACORD is implementing programmes focusing on livelihoods, governance and HIV/AIDS.
>> Livelihoods and Governance: ACORD Tanzania is strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations to develop strategic linkages with local government and promoting people's access to natural resources that are critical for their livelihoods and local development. In 2009 food security dialogues through forums on Kilimo Kwanza, agro-fuels and climate change contributed to strengthening reciprocal accountability of governance structures.
>> Ngorongoro Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Project: reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS and building community competence to respond to HIV and AIDS and its impacts in Ngorongoro District among the Maasai pastoralists. The purpose is to facilitate the establishment of appropriate comprehensive and institutionalized response to HIV and AIDS through multi-stakeholder partnerships ACORD is popularizing the use of Stepping Stones methodology (on Gender and HIV/AIDS) to open discussions on HIV and AIDS at community level and challenging community structures to take responsibilities in leading the fight against the pandemic.
>> Gender equality: ACORD is playing a pivotal role to end the impunity on Sexual Gender Based Violence in countries within Africa's Great Lakes Region and their migrant/refugee populations in Tanzania.
Where we work
ACORD works in four regions in Tanzania, Mwanza, Kagera and Kigomo in the North West and Ngorongoro District in Arusha Region.
View Lake Victoria Area Programme in a larger map
Communities in Tanzania tell their stories
Balthazar, who is HIV positive, is trying to bring the HIV and AIDS situation out in the open in the community. By trying to get people to talk about it, he hopes to banish the stigma. He narrates that many doctors will not speak openly to patients or relatives of deceased patients about AIDS. Apparently they diagnose cases as ‘cancer' and then the spouse of the deceased goes away with no knowledge of their potential situation. "They go on living their lives and later get sick and don't know why. If getting tested is suggested, they are afraid, because they don't want to know and of course, by living in denial, they take no precautions", he explains. Balthazar is therefore working closely with non-governmental organisations including ACORD to sensitise the communities about the importance of seeking medical support to firmly address the pandemic.
Our partners in Tanzania
ACORD has been requested to take the lead on a national dialogue on extractive industries in collaboration with the National NGO Policy Forum. ACORD works closely with partners in the process including Geita and Biharamulo district councils, Tanzania Chamber of Commerce and National Bank of Commerce in addition to 2 District-based Civil Society organisation networks in Biharamulo and Geita. Up to 60 per cent of funding contributed to the Biharamulo District Council by TULAWAKA Gold Mining Company has been channelled to education projects.
We work alongside civil society networks, government authorities, corporate and private sectors. Our projects in Mwanza work closely with IHACNET, TAWOLIHA and Mwanza Press Club; our Karagwe programmes collaborates with KADENVO, KADACONET and UWAVIUKA and Biharamulo with BANN (Biharamulo AIDS NGO Networks).
ACORD receives valuable support from donors including Oxfam Novib, Oxfam Ireland, HIVOS and the Dutch Government.
Photos, videos and publications
Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS using a community-led rights-based approach: a case study from ACORD Tanzania. ACORD Tanzania's experience in community-led mainstreaming of HIV and AIDS suggests that mainstreaming HIV and AIDS goes hand-in-hand with a rights-based approach.
english | français | português
Making the law count: Tanzania: an audit of legal practice on sexual violence. A review of legal practice on sexual violence in Tanzania. The review looked at: what national laws deal with sexual violence; how judges and other court officials interpret the law; police attitude to sexual violence; and the role of health institutions. The review also makes recommendations for civil society advocacy to improve the response to sexual violence.
english
A summary is also available of all the 'legal audits' carried out in five countries in the Great Lakes Region:
english | français
ARV community knowledge, awareness,
accessibility & the policy environment. A compendium report of Tanzania, Mozambique and Burkina
Faso.
english | português
You can also find more resources on ACORD's work in Tanzania on our website.
Photos and videos of ACORD's work in Tanzania can be sent upon request by writing to: communications@acordinternational.org.
How you can support communities in Tanzania
Financial donations and in-kind support to ACORD's Tanzania Area Programme go a long way in providing support to preventing and mitigating the spread of HIV/AIDS among pastoralist communities, strengthening civil society and promoting participatory governance. These act as crucial capacity building factors for successful implementation of our projects. Commitments and ownership by communities themselves to sustain their own facilities ensures that our programmes have a lasting impact on their livelihoods and their development.
For more information on our work in please sign up to our newsletter, visit your nearest ACORD office or call us.
Walking the Talk in the Workplace: Scaling up initiatives for managing HIV and AIDS at workplaces in Tanzania. 
Donald Kasongi, Area Programme Manager for ACORD in Tanzania.
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