Community Outreach

The idea of the STEP Africa Community Outreach Program is to reach and support various groups (especially women and children). We focus on groups that are disadvantaged due to their family situation (e.g. single parents), economic situation or housing situation (especially in rural areas of northern Tanzania) and do not have regular access to information services, medical services, counseling and further education as well as sports and team-building activities.

The aim of the outreach program is to care, educate, support, strengthen and to initiate an intercultural exchange.

Our outreach program actively involves international volunteers and is led by a team of qualified educators and social workers, Juma A. Ebwa being our STEP Outreach Coordinator.

Topics

The program covers various topics and areas and is based on a practical approach. It mainly includes topics that are highly relevant for our target groups. We are open to new suggestions if volunteers have knowledge and experiences in any other fields of interest.

• Presentations for Women and Children including the following topics
  • Women Health / Female Body
  • Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • FGM
  • HIV/ Aids
  • Family Planning Methods
  • Puberty
  • Human Rights – relevant laws
  • Environment, impact of climate change and global warming
  • Personal Development
• Workshops / Action Days
  • Business Training and Financing
  • Nutrition, Healthy Food, Cooking
  • Soap Making
  • Sewing Menstrual Pads
  • Baking Goods for sale
  • Planting Trees
  • Introducing new Sports and Games
  • Self Defense Course
  • First Aid Courses
• Individual Counseling and advice
• Implementation of Sponsorship Programs for remote schools

Projects

The goal is to focus on different groups and institutions that can benefit from the variety of topics offered by our community outreach programs. Among others we have been supporting the “Amazing Grace Widows and Orphans Project” in Monduli, the “Ndoto School” and “Kipepeo Wajanja School” in Moita Village, the “Sunshine Nursery School” in Nduruma Village, the “Gily’s Children Foundation” and several women’s groups, health centers and public primary and secondary schools in Arusha and Manyara Regions.

As we develop our programs and topics we plan to reach even more groups within the community.

Approach

We aim at a practical approach that involves the target groups and provides plenty of illustrative materials. We want our groups to be actively involved and learn to participate in a comfortable and free atmosphere.

Our goal is NOT to act as “missionaries” providing “the one right answer” to the challenges of our target groups. We choose a non-religious, non-tribal approach and do not favor any group over another. Our goal is to inform, what our groups do with this information in the end is not on us to judge. Whatever we do, we pledge to do it with the utmost respect towards the cultures and traditions of the people we work with. By involving international volunteers we can provide our groups with an outside view and encourage intercultural dialogue along the way.

The Outreach Program always takes place on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
It can be chosen either as a part-time project or you can also join from time to time in addition to your main project.

The Outreach Program can also be supported as a full-time project. In this case, there are 2 preparation days for working on planned and past Outreaches and 3 days of field work.
If you would like to support the Outreach project full-time, you should be aware that you will also be doing a lot of theoretical and background work (please bring your laptop).

Please note that there are only 3 places for full-time volunteers in the Outreach Program.
If you only want to support the outreach from time to time, you are welcome to do this spontaneously here on site and do not have to register in advance.

Fundraising Needs

Due to the practical approach of our outreach program, we need a lot of educational material, sports equipment and other donations in kind, some of which can be brought by the volunteers from their home countries. These include but are not limited to the following:

• Scientific models of the human body (e.g. embryonic development, etc.).
• Information material, stories and pictures about HIV/AIDS
• Samples of different contraceptive methods (condoms, IUD etc.)
• Sports equipment
• Games
• Educational material
• Sewing material
• Sanitary pads / menstrual cups
• And many more!

Our long-term goal is also to purchase an outreach vehicle with which we can reach even more groups in remote villages in Tanzania. The bus will be equipped with various educational material and possibly also other equipment such as a laptop, projector, etc. and will help to transport our team including the volunteers to the site. If you are planning a larger fundraising campaign, please keep the outreach vehicle in mind.

Again and again, the Outreach Team initiates various building projects, e.g. for income-generating projects of the women’s groups. Donations are always gratefully accepted for these projects as well.

With all donations, we attach great importance to transparency, meaningfulness and sustainability.

WHO WE ARE

We are STEP Africa – Exchange for Change, a Tanzanian social enterprise that was founded in German-Tanzanian cooperation in 2014. We organize and supervise meaningful and ethical volunteer placements and internships in Arusha, Northern Tanzania. Till date we have hosted over 1000 interns and volunteers from all over the world.

With our programs we aim to contribute towards international understanding and give our participants intercultural and global ability to act. With the support of our participants we are committed to worthy projects and initiatives in Tanzania. We believe that working together in intercultural teams by exchanging ideas and viewpoints will let everyone involved, Organizations such as volunteers and interns, benefit in the long run.

Our team combines relevant qualifications and many years of experience in project coordination, volunteer mediation and social work in Tanzania and abroad. Our supervisors are available as contact persons on site at any time for our volunteers and projects. We offer our volunteers the opportunity to use their knowledge in Tanzania to get involved in meaningful projects and to gain valuable professional experience in different fields such as Social Work, Women’s Rights, Primary Schools, Daycare Center, Health Care, Animal Welfare and Environmental Protection.

We firmly believe in the power of change through intercultural exchange. With our programs we promote and demand equal rights and cultural tolerance. We place our volunteers exclusively in projects in which they can gain valuable experience for their future. Our volunteers do not replace local employees. Volunteers are assistants who offer support to local staff and, for example, perform tasks for which there is otherwise too little time. It is important to us that we only place our volunteers in projects that share our values towards international volunteering.

Our Volunteers are encouraged to start fundraisers for their respective institutions in Tanzania before, during or after their stay in Arusha. We have experienced great success with this in the past and present and saw our volunteers making great impacts in this area as well. We are connected to several European NGOs founded by our former volunteers that are continuing to support and promote their former work institutions here in Tanzania.