Who we are
The Tanzania Feminist Collective is a group of women and non-binary people who have come together to operate as an online resource which provides feminist education against rape culture, patriarchy, and other forms of bigotry in Tanzania.
We strive to be an online and physical space which centers the wellbeing of our members, as well as the wellbeing of survivors of sexual assault. We provide insight on hard-hitting topics that primarily affect women and non-men within our society, and we all work together to build language for concepts in Swahili that definitely exist, but have not yet been expressed to the full linguistic capacity that it should.
We choose to operate primarily as an online resource because we recognise the growing power of being digitally connected, and we want to fill the large gap in discourse with regards to Tanzanian feminism in a way that can be accessible to anyone with internet and a device.
That being said, we are aware that digital poverty and exclusion is rampant within Tanzania, which is why we also engage as a facilitator of ad-hoc on-the-ground projects, in partnership with other established companies and organisations within Tanzania.
Picture taken during the Collective's first "Girl Talk" workshop, delivered by Choose Yourself
OUR WORK SO FAR
Our collective launched an Instagram account in August which to date has over 2000+ followers. This account served as our debut into the realm of social media and we chose Instagram due its accessibility through one’s smartphone as well as the fact that it is a platform known by many and information shared on it can easily be consumed by a wider group of people. On Instagram we launched our Afrocentric Feminist series, this series seeks to highlight and celebrate African and Afrocentric feminists on the continent and beyond. It is a weekly series and a feminist is highlighted each Thursday with their feature in both english and Swahili.
In our role as facilitators for ad-hoc on-the-ground projects, we partnered with Safe Space Co. and organised a discussion on Patriarchy, Rape Culture and Mental Health. Our guest speaker was Araika Mkulo, cognitive psychologist and founder of Safe Space. We were joined via video-conferencing by people from all over East Africa and beyond, the discussion was lively and informative as there was good rapport among audience members and the organisers. Additionally we started a fundraiser through GoFundMe to help sexual assault survivors access funding for mental health assistance through group and individual therapy sessions offered by Safe Space.
For the future
In the long term, the Tanzania Feminist Collective aspires to be a widespread physical and online resource for people across Tanzania. We aim to address pervasive sexual assault in Tanzania by providing comprehensive and accessible education on sexual health across the country, from university campuses to high schools. Furthermore, we aim to expand access to affordable therapy for survivors of sexual assault across the country.
We work and aspire to dismantle patriarchy in Tanzania and across the world, and shape our communities in line with with feminist principles and practices of accountability and equity. We aim to uplift, inform, and inspire.
"Feminism is a liberation struggle. As such, we are guided always by a collective vision of freedom - freedom from gendered violence, from systemic oppression, from patriarchy."
By Catherine Nzuki, Leticia Maganga & Junayna Al Sheibani