Centre for Widows and Children Assistance (CWCA)

Über uns

The Centre for Widows and Children Assistance (CWCA) was founded in July 2003 by a group of human rights activists namely Hon. Justice Issa Maige, Martha Kisyombe, Utti Mwang’amba and the late Susan Makatte who realized that most children, widows and women are denied their legal rights due to prejudices and stereotypes rooted in culture, social norms, and ignorance of the laws. Their situation is exacerbated by the predominantly patriarchal system in Tanzania where they have no one to come to their defence when their human rights are violated.
The organization started it’s activities, legally after registration with the Register of Companies on the 17th day of February 2005 under the Companies Ordinance Cap. 212 of the laws of Tanzania as a Company without shares limited by guarantee. Certificate of registration No. 51556 was issued to CWCA on the 13th day of June 2008. CWCA complied with the requirements of the NGO Act and was awarded certificate No. 0757 that gave it the mandate to operate in Tanzania Mainland. Currently the organization is operating in Mara, Simiyu, Coast and Dar es Salaam regions.

Vision
The vision of the CWCA is to have a society that respects and upholds human rights.

Mission Statement
The mission of the CWCA is to enhance, promote, and defend the rights of widows and children through raising awareness of their rights, to advocate for progressive policies and laws and to provide legal aid and information sharing in Tanzania.

Our strategy:
• Raising awareness on legal and human rights to various groups in our community through trainings, publications.
• Provision of legal aid to the indigent widows, women and children who cannot hire lawyers/advocates in the market and those whose cases have public interest and can advance law reform.
• Conduct research on policies, legal and human rights issues, customs and traditions particularly those which affect the livelihood of women, widows and children.
• And to ultimately advocate for positive changes based upon the needs of this vulnerable demographic.

Programs:
• Legal aid and paralegal work: The legal aid program is the core activity conducted at the Centre of CWCA. This program offers legal advice, court representation, legal education drafting of legal documents, reconciliation of parties with the legal disputes, empowerment of clients with necessary court and legal knowledge; undertake the public interest cases so as to enable the indigents to access justice and counselling. Legal aid services are provided through Paralegals, Clinics and Mobile clinics.
• Legal Education awareness: The aim of this programme is to raise awareness to the community and the general public on legal, gender, human rights issues, good governance and democracy which is done through trainings, conferences, workshops, seminars and radio programme
• Care and Support: The aim of this programme is to support desparate widows and women by giving them seed money to start small business and train them on how to initiate income generating activities. Orphans and Vulnerable Children are supported by the Centre through payment of school fees and the scholastic materials to enable them to access their right to education. Children are also empowered on their rights such as Sexual reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS and GBV.

Utti Mwangamba is the Executive Director of the Centre for Widows and Children Assistance (CWCA).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.