Providing opportunity

Across rural Mtwara, and particularly in Nanyamba District, adolescent girls face significant barriers to staying in school through puberty and beyond. Stigma around menstruation, a lack of private washroom facilities, and social norms that limit girls’ confidence and decision-making all combine to put girls at risk of falling behind, or dropping out at exactly the point they need school the most.

EdUKaid’s work on Heshima project started in 2020, when an initial needs assessment across 16 partner schools found rising drop-out linked to early relationships, early marriage and truancy, even as enrolment was growing. That early evidence became the foundation for what is now the Heshima Project: EdUKaid’s flagship programme for girls’ dignity, safety and inclusion in education.

A programme that has grown

Heshima has developed in clear phases, each building on evidence from the last:

2020-2021

Heshima Project Phase I 

A pilot tracking girls’ enrolment, attainment and drop-out across 16 partner schools, which first identified the scale of the challenge.

2020-2022

Inclusion Project

Heshima was combined with EdUKaid’s disability-focused Inclusive Education programme. By the end of 2022 the merged programme had reached 2,239 girls and 112 children with disabilities, trained 20 Inclusion Champions, distributed 970 reusable sanitary pads, and completed changing rooms at 4 schools. By 2023 it had scaled district-wide to 71 schools, with 71 weekly Girls Clubs, a 90% increase in girls’ confidence, and a 16 Days of Activism campaign reaching an estimated 1.6 million people across the Mtwara region.

2022–2023

Washroom construction

20 accessible washrooms were built, formally praised by Mtwara district education officers as a model for the wider region.

Nov 2025 – Oct 2026

Heshima Project, Nanyamba (current phase)

The model moved into 17 wards of Nanyamba Town Council, running Dignity Clubs, menstrual health education and safeguarding training across 17 schools. (See below for results)

Sep 2026 – Aug 2027

Nanyamba Girls MHM Wash (next phase, funded)

A dedicated WASH infrastructure project for 12 of the Nanyamba schools, approved  by the Tanzanian Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Group in August 2026, a direct response to the single biggest gap the current phase has identified.

Addressing the challenge

The current Heshima Project works across 17 wards of Nanyamba Town Council with education officials, community leaders, teachers, boys and girls together. 

Officials and community actors are trained to manage and monitor inclusive education; teachers and school leaders build Dignity School Plans for their own school context.

Dignity/Girls’ Clubs give girls a regular, safe space to build knowledge, confidence and practical skills, including making reusable sanitary pads from low-cost local materials.

Deliberately, boys are part of the model too. Focus group discussions with 170 boys across the 17 schools found that more than half already understood menstruation and wanted to actively support girls, several proposing their own ideas, from reporting stigma to teachers to simply becoming better friends to girls during their period.

Aligned to our mission and vision

Heshima project aligns within EdUKaid’s  mission and vision of Equality in Education, and its goal of improving educational and life opportunities for 7,840 adolescent girls through inclusive school environments and reduced gender disparities speaks directly to that mission.

The Highlights

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1,380 girls and 1,495 boys (Standards 4–7) actively engaged in Dignity Club activities across all 17 partner schools.
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School attendance for Standards 4–7 reached 78%
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874 targeted officials have been trained already
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Boys’ understanding of and support for girls’ education rose across the 17 schools.
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A first Stakeholder Forum, held on International Menstrual Hygiene Day (28 May 2026) in Nanyamba Town Council, led to a campaign that generated 224 pads the Girls’ Clubs have made themselves.

What girls are telling us

“Now I know how to make reusable pads and I am not shy anymore.”

Standard 5 Primary Student

“I can now speak in class without fear, and my ideas are listened to.” 

Standard 6 Primary Student

“Teachers and boys respect us more, and we feel equal in school.” 

Standard 7 Primary Student

What’s next

The biggest barrier girls, teachers and coordinators all flag is a lack of private washrooms, changing rooms, reliable water and safe disposal for sanitary materials  none of the 17 schools currently have them. EdUKaid has already secured funding to respond: from September 2026, the Nanyamba Girls MHM Wash project will bring WASH infrastructure to 12 of these schools, so that the confidence and attendance gains the Heshima Project has achieved can be matched by the facilities to sustain them.

Share our Project

Our Projects

EdUKaid Partner Schools

EdUKaid has focused on developing and supporting the provision of pre-primary schools alongside the Tanzanian government led facilities, undertaken renovation projects and raised funds to pay the salaries of teachers and teaching assistants.

EdUKaid Community Centre

In 2022, with a grant funded by The Herbert & Stefanie Straus Memorial Trust, EdUKaid’s run-down office building in the coastal town of Mikindani was transformed into into a multi-functional, mixed-faith, Community Centre.

Nanyamba Girls MHM Wash Project

The Nanyamba Girls MHM Wash Project will bring WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) infrastructure to 12 of the Nanyamba schools covered by the Heshima project, so girls no longer have to choose between managing their period and staying at school.

The Community Led Pre-Primary Satellite Project

Mtwara is a predominantly rural region with many remote villages located far from formal schools. Young children often have to walk several kilometres, frequently without adult supervision, making access to education unsafe and difficult.

The Play Scheme Project (pilot)

1 in 3 children in Tanzania are of early childhood age but across the country there are huge gaps in the provision of adequate, quality care for younger children, especially those aged 2-4.

Capacity Building and Localisation Project for EdUKaid Tanzania 2025/2027

Recent strategic reviews and a detailed capacity assessment undertaken in both Tanzania and the UK highlight the need for devolved authority, underpinned by stronger local systems, including governance, HR, finance, and programme delivery.

Supporting Literacy

Within our community centres there is a strong focus on encouraging and developing literacy skills, using a variety of techniques and approaches to achieve this.

Heshima Project, Nanyamba

EdUKaid's work on Heshima project started in 2020, when an initial needs assessment across 16 partner schools found rising drop-out linked to early relationships, early marriage and truancy, even as enrolment was growing.