The Toa Nafasi Project

Toa nafasi means “provide a chance” in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania where The Toa Nafasi Project operates.

The Project aims to provide a chance to two distinct but interrelated populations:

1. Students in their early education years who are experiencing difficulty learning and who, within the current public primary school system, are unable to achieve their full potential.
2. Previously unemployed local women who are hired and trained as tutors for these children, providing them jobs and perpetuating a sense of empowerment and professionalism where none existed before.

Toa Nafasi is a program – not a separate center or school – and we work within the existing government school system in Tanzania, where the majority of students are enrolled.  We work exclusively with Grade One and Two students as an Early Childhood Education platform for children who are experiencing learning difficulties.

Toa Nafasi tutors are local women who have struggled to find gainful employment, but who have committed to working with The Project.  Through in-service training, they are taught a few simple yet effective teaching methodologies for students with learning difficulties, and then gain further experience in the classroom.

The Project was incorporated in 2012 and began operations in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania in 2013 as a pilot project in one public primary school.   As of 2020, The Toa Nafasi Project works in 11 public primary schools across 10 wards of Moshi Municipality, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania reaching over 1,000 children.  We employ 30 local women as tutors and are run entirely by local leadership in Tanzania.

Toa Nafasi focuses primarily on the most vulnerable learners in the classroom but we have found that our presence in the public school system has had an elevating effect on the entire population.  Our rate of success in helping formerly flagging students pass from one grade to the next is roughly 90%.  For children who are unable to remain within the inclusive classroom, we partner with a locally-run rehabilitation clinic for special needs education and boarding.  Some suggested donation amounts are below.

$32.50 – school supplies for one student for one year

$85 - medical care for one student

$210 – professional development for one tutor for one year

$500 – full support for one student for one year

$1070 – special needs boarding for one student for one year