Mererani in northern Tanzania is the only place on earth where the precious stone tanzanite is mined. Every day thousands of children risk their lives in poorly constructed mine shafts for barely a meal a day. Despite efforts to curb this deadly practice, the global thirst for tanzanite continues to drive these children underground.

Tanzania said on Friday that a strike by civil servants planned for later this month over delays in salary payments was illegal as there was no dispute in the first place. The Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) has called a three-day strike by government workers from August 25 over what it says are delays paying wages arising from an average 24 percent pay rise that was backdated to January.

The 6th Pan-African Reading for All Conference will be held August 10–14, 2009 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. This conference is held every two years in a different African country and involves educators from all levels and from at least two dozen African nations. International participants are encouraged to take part in this powerful experience both to meet and learn from African educators and to develop partnerships which benefit both Africans and non-Africans, and which can lead to breakthroughs in education. Program proposals are being accepted until December 31, 2008.

here are twice as many "witch" murders in years of extreme rainfall, in certain parts of Tanzania, than in other years. The victims are nearly all elderly women, typically killed by relatives. Witchcraft beliefs are widely held throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, serve a variety of social purposes, and have not shown a tendency to lose salience.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda led the Tanzanian National Assembly in signing onto UNIFEM's Say NO to Violence against Women campaign at a ceremony on 22 July 2008, which was witnessed by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro. The Speaker of the National Assembly Samwel Sitta, Deputy Speaker Anna Makinda, leader of the opposition Hamad Rashid Mohamed and all of the other MPs assembled followed the Prime Minister's lead, making the Tanzanian National Assembly the first parliamentary body in the world to offer its full support to the campaign.

Tanzania is undertaking a US$10 million programme to modernise medical laboratories in regional hospitals to improve HIV/AIDS monitoring, Minister of Health David Mwakyusa has said. The programme was launched on Monday 28 July in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, and is being backed by the Abbott Fund, the philanthropic arm of Abbott Laboratories.

A British water company thrown out of Tanzania over a bungled privatisation deal has failed in its bid to win up to £10m in damages. Biwater, whose local management team was deported from Dar es Salaam in 2005, took Tanzania's government to the World Bank's business tribunal in 2006, arguing that its assets had been expropriated and its contract illegally terminated.

Knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and their ability to increase the risk of infection with HIV is “alarmingly” low in rural Tanzania, according to a study published in the June edition of Sexually Transmitted Infections. The researchers found that lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted infections was associated with sexual risk-taking and being HIV-positive.

Participation has now become an established orthodoxy in development thinking and practice. But what exactly is it and how best should be pursued in development interventions to improve the livelihoods of the poor remains contestable. This document outlines two studies conducted in two World Vision rural development programmes in Central Tanzania to analyse the effectiveness of participatory development processes.

This report is the result of a participatory survey of 512 children aged from 7 to 14 years from ten regions in Mainland Tanzania. Children want and need to be heard – they can provide a valuable perspective which should be taken into account by adults. As the ‘consumers’ of education, children provide useful information for those working for and with children – from policy makers to teachers. This report contains their opinions on a range of issues relating to education, such as school services (including healthcare, water supply and food), textbooks, performance by teachers, discipline, extra charges, and their desired improvements to education.

Citizen participation in local government matters encourages transparency and accountability by local government, and their participation in the local decision-making process is a precondition for good governance. REPOA’s Special Paper 08.26 by Amon Chaligha analyses local autonomy and citizen participation in six councils in Tanzania. This study covers: good governance; accountability and transparency of the local leaders to the community; local government autonomy and citizen participation; bottom-up planning, participation in local elections, and recommendations to improve citizens’ participation.

The government has been challenged to enact a law that would spell out stringent punishment against individuals found polluting marine resources. Students in a special `Roots and Shoots` programme of the Jane Goodall Institute suggested on Saturday that, among other penalties, those involved in the acts should be fined.

President of the United Republic of Tanzania H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete signed UNIFEM’s Say NO to Violence against Women campaign on Saturday 24 May 2008 in Dar es Salaam. At a colourful ceremony at Mnazi Mmoja Grounds, the president led more than 2,000 people from government ministries and institutions, universities, schools, women’s organizations, unions, the UN, and development partners to add their names to the campaign.

The recently established Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) seeks to promote media independence and quality, with a particular focus on expanding investigative journalism. TMF will support media houses, editors and journalists to deepen their work and foster innovative learning. The Fund is funded by a multi-donor group and hosted by Hivos Tanzania. TMF seeks Tanzanians for the post of Office Manager, who will play a key role in forming the leadership nucleus and setting up the TMF. Competitive remuneration and a challenging and creative work environment that promotes learning will be offered to the successful candidates.

The recently established Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) seeks to promote media independence and quality, with a particular focus on expanding investigative journalism. TMF will support media houses, editors and journalists to deepen their work and foster innovative learning. The Fund is funded by a multi-donor group and hosted by Hivos Tanzania. TMF seeks Tanzanians for the post of Programme Manager, who will play a key role in forming the leadership nucleus and setting up the TMF. Competitive remuneration and a challenging and creative work environment that promotes learning will be offered to the successful candidates.

Poverty and tradition help fuel a potent business in human trafficking in East Africa, where a girl can sell for $20. Most kidnapped children are not as lucky as Saffi, who returned after her mother bought TV ads. Many disappear without much notice.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has urged the country's main opposition party to return to talks to break deadlock of more than a year in forming a power-sharing government in semi-autonomous Zanzibar. Talks between the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM, or Party of the Revolution) and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) faltered earlier this year, leaving the Zanzibar islands, where politics have often turned violent, in limbo.

Tanzania lost its fourth minister this year on graft charges when Andrew Chenge resigned amid allegations that he took bribes, a statement said on Sunday. "Chenge has written to the president asking for resignation and the president has accepted," said a statement issued by communications director Salva Rweyermamu.

A Norwegian cement company wants to evict an estimated 3,000 Tanzanian farmers it says are trespassing on its land. The farmers say their families have lived there for generations, and that they were not consulted when the land was sold. After 16 years of conflict Tanzania's highest court is due to reach a verdict soon.

Three years after adopting the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) approach, Tanzania will be taking another step, embarking on the second phase with a nationwide framework putting poverty reduction high on the country’s development agenda. The National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) or Mkukuta as it is known in its Swahili acronym builds on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) of 2000, which was linked to debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC).