Effectiveness Of Local Government Authorities In Preventing Child Abuse And Neglect In Tanzania: A Case Study Of Dodoma Municipal Council

ABSTRACT

This study assesses theeffectiveness of the local government authorities in preventing child abuse and neglect in Tanzania. To achieve this, the general and specific objectives, were formulated. The specific objectives sought to investigate the extent of child abuse and neglect in Tanzania, to examine the resources available to the local government institutions for child protection and to evaluate challenges which the local government faces in preventing child abuse and neglect. The research methodology for this study is cross-sectional design that has used both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings have revealed that the extent of child abuse and neglect in Tanzania is very high. Through the use of SPSS software, frequencies of variables were generated; tabulation and percentages also were computed to illustrate the findings. It has been established that every 10 children surveyed, 6 were maltreated in one way or another. Despite the staff establishment, their numbers remained low compared to the work load. This led to a low coverage of child protection services in the community, which implied the failure of institutions to conduct operations such as awareness creation and prosecution (Police Gender Desk) cases that were related to child abuse. Majority of the respondents agreed that, traditional aspects such as being obedient to parents hinder both a child and the community to report children cases to the authorities. This is because it is perceived that, it is a divine right that parents or any adult person has the responsibility of punishing an offending child.