UWEZO TANZANIA
Established 2010
BACKGROUND
Uwezo Tanzania is a not-for-profit organisation in Tanzania that focuses on access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all children. From 2009 to 2011, the organisation was hosted by the Tanzanian Education Network (TENMET). From 2012-2019, Uwezo Tanzania merged with Twaweza East Africa, an initiative focused on facilitating large-scale change in East Africa through increased accountability and information sharing. In January 2020, the organisation registered as an autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation under Tanzania’s NGO Act 24 of 2002.
UWEZO AND TWAWEZA
Uwezo became a flagship programme of Twaweza, which gained immense popularity and recognition by implementing a unique large-scale citizen-led learning assessment that generated independent data on children’s learning levels in basic literacy and numeracy. Uwezo data has been instrumental in triggering a government response, leading to a policy and curriculum change to focus on teaching reading, writing and arithmetic skills, especially among grade 1-2 children. It seeks to build strong foundation skills in literacy and numeracy that are vital in facilitating learning in other subjects at higher grades.
THE UWEZO SURVEY
The Uwezo survey has been conducted every year in every census district of East Africa since 2010. It is the only current source of national annual information on children’s ability to read and do basic arithmetic across East Africa. Uwezo is currently the only citizen-led assessment that operates both nationally and regionally, producing a comparative East Africa report annually and with a Regional Office secretariat. The Uwezo survey assesses all children between the ages of 6 and 16 in literacy and numeracy at grade 2 level.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SURVEY
Uwezo has three country offices in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Kampala (Uganda) and Nairobi (Kenya) that operate independently and oversee survey design and implementation, conduct data analysis, develop reports, and coordinate national and international dissemination. Across the three East African countries, Uwezo has approximately 360 partner organizations, with an appointed District Coordinator who is responsible for the training and assessment implementation in each census district.