THE
Tanzania Youth Alliance (TAYOA) has come up with a communication system, to be
used by youths all over the country, aimed at stamping out gender violence.
The
system enables youths to send reports of violence against them through texting
messages on their mobile phones. This was revealed, over the weekend, by the
TAYOA Resident Director, Mr Peter Masika, at a meeting involving youths from 12
universities in Dar es Salaam and Coastal zone.
Among
topics discussed, in the meeting that was also attended by heads of students'
government bodies from the universities, include the magnitude of gender
violence and strategies to eliminate the vice. Mr Masika said the communication
system known as "VIJANATZ SMS" is on trial at the moment and will be
in full use in the next three months.
He
said the communication system will enable youths and the public in general to
send reports when they become victims of gender violence, adding that they can
also make free calls to TAYOA where they will be counselled. "Gender-
based violence contributes a lot to the spread of HIV/Aids infection and at
TAYOA; we cannot let this continue without putting in place strategies to stamp
it out.
We
are training university and college students to send reports of gender
violence," he explained. He added that TAYOA decided to use Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) to evaluate the extent of gender violence in
the country, to make it easier for victims to communicate their plight to the
organization and make it easier to apprehend culprits.
News
Sources