A Micro-credit Scheme project has been launched in Iringa with a view to helping young girls shun commercial sex.
Chinyoyo village, Dodoma.
Rehema Saidi (20) is ELA Chinyoyo club’s operator and mentor.
The project will focus on supporting parents whose children are at high risk of becoming commercial sex workers in the region where HIV prevalence is still high.
The new project, which will help + thousands of Iringa residents, offers easy access soft loans, which will be charged affordable interest rates.
The administration officer for Iringa Development of Youth Disabled and Children Care, Mr Jumbe Kiteve, told The Citizen on the sidelines of the launch of the “National Head Count Report of Children Living and Working on the Streets” in Dar es Salaam that the ‘affordable’ loans will go to vulnerable families.
“People can access loans at interest rates of 11 to 13 per cent and given a grace period of six months to one year,” he said.
According to him, the project targets household that were living in abject poverty. They can secure loans between Sh200,000 to Sh1 million.
The report, which was launched by the government, showed that the number of boys who wander on various streets was on the rise while that of girls involved in commercial sex at night was also rising rapidly.
“During the day, males accounts for 76 per cent, while females accounts 24 per cent. At night, the proportion of males drops to 70 per cent while that of females increases to 30 per cent,” report said.
The research, conducted in Mbeya,Iringa, Arusha, Dodoma, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam indicated that out of 10,595 youths, a total of 6,393 were children during the day and 1,385 during the night.
However, finding of the report showed that Iringa had 41 per cent of girls working as sex worker while Arusha had 38 per cent.