A New Stitch in Time: How Skills Training Is Transforming Youth Futures in Tanzania

In a narrow market stall in Kigoma Region, United Republic of Tanzania, 17 year old Antini bends over a sewing machine with calm focus. A thread rests between her lips as she guides the needle with steady hands. Around her hang colourful fabrics and half finished garments.

“I love fashion, it’s my calling now. My dream is to have my own shop with 30 sewing machines, where I can also teach youth,” she says.

It is a future she once thought impossible.

Like many children her age, Antini imagined finishing school. Her mother, Koretha Mahepa, recalls the promise she once shared with her late husband. “We had one dream: that all five of our daughters finish school. He always said education is the one thing no one can ever take away.”

That dream unravelled after Antini’s father suffered a mental breakdown and turned to alcohol. One day, Mahepa found him lying cold on the floor. His death changed everything.

Mahepa turned to subsistence farming to feed her family. At just 12, Antini left school. With her two eldest sisters already married, she became the main caregiver to her younger siblings. By 13, her days began before sunrise, filled with chores and responsibilities that many adults would struggle to carry.

“When Dad passed, I knew I had to step up,” Antini says. “Even though I wanted to learn, it felt impossible.”

Her mother carries quiet regret. “Sometimes I feel guilty because she should be in school, not taking care of us.”

Social protection and skills training

Relief came through Ujana Salama, meaning Safe Youth in Swahili, introduced to Antini by her uncle. The programme is implemented by the Tanzania Social Action Fund with support from UNICEF and the Tanzania Commission for AIDS. It forms part of the Government of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net programme, known as PSSN.

PSSN provides cash transfers to poor households alongside public works and livelihood support. Ujana Salama adds a targeted layer for vulnerable adolescents. It combines a productive grant with skills training, mentoring and health awareness to reduce poverty and expand opportunities.

Antini received an initial grant of 50 US dollars. After developing a business plan, she received an additional 30 US dollars. She bought a sewing machine, a floral printed dress and a pair of sandals.

“My sewing machine changed my life,” she says. “I can make clothes and provide for my family.”

She now works as an apprentice at a local seamstress’s stall and earns a stipend. With it, she buys flour, beans and sometimes fish for her household. Through the Every Adolescent Girl Learns programme, funded by Global Affairs Canada, she will soon receive formal tailoring training.

So far, Ujana Salama has reached 10,757 adolescents aged 14 to 19 in four regions of Tanzania.

“Right now, I can make simple dresses and school uniforms,” Antini says, tracing a neat seam. “But one day, I hope to dress celebrities and have my own fashion show.”

In a world of abundance, poverty still strips children of education and dignity. Yet child poverty is not inevitable. Tanzania’s experience shows that when governments invest in social protection and pair it with practical skills, young lives can shift course.

Across Africa, where populations are young and ambition runs high, such programmes matter deeply. Many of the continent’s nations are still building systems that older states take for granted. Expanding inclusive safety nets is not charity, it is nation building. When a girl in Kigoma trades despair for a sewing machine and a business plan, she is not just stitching fabric. She is stitching stability into her family and hope into her country’s future.

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