Tanzania Interviews

Fatma Alloo was born in Zanzibar and is a social movement activist, and journalist committed to social change. In the early 1980’s, Alloo worked as a journalist with Daily News in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She has vast international experience internationally as a journalist, including as a radio producer during the Uganda war, and in Geneva, Switzerland, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Fatma Alloo is the co-founder of the feminist advocacy group Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) in 1987. She is a co-founder of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) in 1997. She is also she is a member and co-founder of Zanzibar Women on the Net (ZaWoN), of FEMNET, and of the Non-Government Organization Resource Centre (NGORC) based in Zanzibar. She is presently working with Civil Society Foundation based in Dar es Salaam. She a producer and co-producer of several documentaries, which have been shown at the Berlin Film Festival. She is an associate producer of Tanzanian feature film Maangamizi (extermination) and has won several awards for her films. She has many publications. 

Keywords: coming soon!

Media: Transcript Coming Soon, YouTube Video

Mariam Mohammed Hamdani was born in Mkunazini Zanzibar, Tanzania. Hamdani holds postgraduate diplomas and certificates from Institutions in the Netherlands, Tanzania, Russia, the U.S., Sudan, and Germany. She is an accomplished journalist and activist. She is the founder of Tausi Taarab Orchestra band1.  Hamdani has served for three seasons as a judge for the Emerson’s Zanzibar Foundation Film Award (ZIFF 2017- 2019). She has served as co-founder and chair of Zanzibar Youth Education Development Support Association (ZAYEDESA), board member/Trustee of The Stone Town Heritage Society, board member of Women Development for All (WODFA), Vice Chair for Music and Arts Council Zanzibar and Vice Chair of the Zanzibar Broadcasting Commission. She has organized and coordinated several events including the first Music and Cultural Festival in Zanzibar; the UN Women conference for African Countries on Peace held in Bwawani Hotel Zanzibar 1999 and the International Symposium on Music and Traditional Dances as Influenced by Oriental held in Zanzibar 1996. She has held several government positions in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism and has worked with both national and international media, and has many publications.

Keywords: media, art/writing as activism, gender-based violence

Media: Transcript (Swahili, English), YouTube Video (Swahili, English)

Anna Meela Kulaya was born in 1975 in Tanzania, and has spent almost twenty years serving her community through her work in the legal sector especially on issues around gender-based violence in the community and workplace. She holds LLB and Master of Law degrees from the University of Dar es Salaam.  She is an advocate of the High Court of the United Republic of Tanzania. She began working for Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) as a legal officer and subsequently held various positions within the same organization; she is currently the National Coordinator of WiLDAF Tanzania. Kulaya serves on various boards, and coordinates the 16 Days of Activism Campaign against GBV in Tanzania and its national campaign. She was the chairperson of the Legal Aid Committee of the Tanganyika Law Society, and is currently serving in a network for legal aid providers (TANLAP), and in the Tanzania Association of Non- Governmental Organizations (TANGO), an association with more than 100 Civil Society Organizations. She also leads Her Initiatives, a dynamic organization advocating for young women rights, chairperson of My Legacy and currently serves as a chairperson of CSO’S Women Directors Forum, which brings together more than 50 women Directors from the non-governmental organizations advocating for gender equality and women empowerment. She is also a member of the Committee of GBV Multi-Sectoral COORDINATED by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHDEC).  She is also a member of the Tanganyika Law Society.

Keywords: activism during the COVID-19 pandemic, gender-based violence, community activism

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Marjorie Mbilinyi was born in New York in 1943 and became a Tanzanian citizen in 1967. She studied at Cornell University (BSc Child Development); Stanford University (MA Ed) and University of Dar es Salaam (PhD). She is a gender activist, scholar and feminist committed to the promotion of gender equity and social justice through policy analysis, writing, organising and mentoring. She is a co-founder of several feminist organizations and activist networks in Tanzania and Africa, including the Feminist Activist Coalition, and Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa, (GERA) Accra, HakiElimu; Women Dignity; Tanzania Participatory Research Network and African Participatory Research Networks; and she was the co-founder and first convenor and director respectively of Women’s Research and Documentation Project (WRDP) and Tanzania Gender Network Programme (TGNP), where she became the Principal Policy Analyst and provided leadership for transformative feminist movement building, participatory gender budget processes and participatory action research at grassroots and national level. Mbilinyi taught at the University of Dar es Salaam. She introduced gender and feminist studies and participatory pedagogy and research methodology in graduate and undergraduate courses, through supervision of independent research theses at MA and PHD level, and numerous writings and research.  Mbilinyi is author of many publications. 

Keywords: art/writing as activism, education, intersectionality

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Penina O. Mhando Mlama was born in Morogoro in 1948; she is a scholar, gender activist, analyst and practitioner of popular theatre in Tanzania, a playwright. She studied at University of Dar es Salaam (BA (Hons) Education), MA Theatre in Education and PhD. Mlama joined the department of theatre arts at the University of Dar es Salaam upon graduating. She is one of the few female writers published in Swahili language in the period from the 1970s to the early 1990s. She was the first female Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic at the University of Dar es Salaam. She pioneered several initiatives to increase admission and performance for female students at the University of Dar es Salaam, and was the co-founder of the TUSEME1 (speak out) empowerment model for gender equality for both primary and secondary schools. She joined the Forum for African Educationalists (FAWE) as an Executive Director and founded and led a progressive program on supporting access, retention and performance for girls. 

She has published her plays as well as many scholarly works, including works aimed at supporting activists.

Keywords: academia and women's studies, community activism, education

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video

Maanda Ngoitiko was born in 1972 in Tanzania in a traditional pastoralist homestead, and grew up moving with her family and cattle. She refused early marriage efforts on her behalf, and pursued an education instead. She completed her secondary education in Dar Es Salaam; and continued to study for a diploma in Management of Community Development Programs, Arusha Tanzania. She received a further advanced diploma in Development Studies and Planning from Kimmage Development Studies Centre, Dublin, Ireland. Finally, she received a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Kenyatta University in Nairobi Kenya. Ngoitiko is a gender activist and a feminist who has advocating for equity, justice and the rights of Maasai women and girls. Along with 9 other pastoralist women, she founded the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC), and she has been the Executive Director since then. She has been a councillor of the ruling political party (CCM) at the Ngorongoro District, in Arusha region since 1998. She is also an Education Coordinator for Soitsambu Cultural Learning Program under Lewis and Clarke University. She was a chairperson for the Ngorongoro District Council (2009 -2012). She sits on various boards of secondary schools, Hospital and CSOs in her home district of Ngorongoro. 

Keywords: community activism, gender and health, rural women and land reform

Media: Transcript, YouTube Video