Current Projects

WODSTA was among several Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) chosen to implement a Civic and Voter Education program in Tanzania during the 2005 election. Our target group included young urban women between the ages of 18 and 25, illiterate women in rural areas, and women living in rural areas who had a limited understanding of their civic and voter rights. The objectives of the program were to encourage voter participation in the 2005 election, to develop voter awareness of the democratic process, and to improve women’s understanding and involvement in the election process. We trained various ward-level facilitators to share information with other residents through using posters, educational literature, presentation sessions, participatory discussion, and songs/drama where applicable. The program closed with the culmination of the election while WODSTA was able to reach out to over 100% of our targeted population. We realize this work is important in every community and we look forward to being involved in civic and voter education work in the future.

Women Development for Science and Technology puts much of its energy and resources into providing affordable and appropriate technology solutions to it’s members and to the communities with whom we work. We train women on how to build wonder baskets (insulated cooking baskets), energy efficient stoves, double burning stoves, and biogas tanks. We also provide information on comparative fuel use and help communities to have access to alternative fuels such as used kerosene and bio fuels. WODSTA currently works with KIDT to produce compact sawdust briquettes for cooking and heating in the home; a solution to the growing consumption and rising prices of firewood in Tanzania. The next step of our Urban Energy Initiative will be the construction and opening of three Energy Resource Centers where WODSTA and community members can visit to learn about energy consumption, appropriate technology, and attend workshops on how to build their own energy saving appliances such as wonder baskets and mud stoves while collaborating with others on solutions to local energy problems.

In October of 2010, WODSTA hosted its first social Accountability training in order to strengthen the capacity of local CSOs and partner organizations to track public expenditures. By the end of each four day training, participants should be able to use PIMA Cards and the PETS method to keep track of discrepancies between the money promised by the government and the money received by the organization. Community leaders participating in the training are expected to use these tools to inform their constituencies about the missing money in public institutions including schools and hospitals, and to hold the central government accountable for its disappearance. WODTA completed its second training in August of 2011 and looks forward to hosting more trainings in the future.

The girl child program was an initiative of WODSTA to help educate and improve the self-esteem of girl children in the Arusha region. WODSTA designed a curriculum to work with local teachers and schools through which we initiated discussions of values, goals, and self respect of women in Tanzanian society. The girl students were introduced to successful and inspiring role models and received a chance to participate in afterschool and community oriented activities that celebrated women and girls alike. The curriculum falls within the school terms and we look forward to future work with girl children throughout Arusha

As WODSTA has been at the forefront in the promotion of income generating projects for women, we also strive to use our knowledge in organic fruits and vegetable processing to generate income. We supply educational resources and demonstrate the benefits of organic and bio-intensive (the use of traditional farming practices such as seed transplanting, double dug and multiple crop garden beds and organic composting to produce vegetables without chemical pesticides or fertilizers) farming techniques to our members and throughout local communities. Using these methods we then work with women’s groups in the Arumeru district to harvest, process and dry their food products using communally built solar food dryers. Our program goes on to give community trainings on packaging, labeling, and marketing techniques, as well as training the group members in accounting and record keeping.