Developmental Delays Crisis
In Tanzania’s low-income families, many young children face significant barriers to healthy development, leaving them at risk of being left behind before they’ve even begun.
In Rukwa region, only 16% of children aged 2–5 are developmentally on track, compared to a national average of 47%. This means too many children start school already behind in literacy, numeracy, physical growth, and social-emotional skills. Without early support, these delays compound over time, reducing their chances of succeeding in school, securing livelihoods, and breaking cycles of poverty.
Our Local Holistic Model
Our model collaborates with families and communities to identifies the most pressing children needs and responds with practical, sustainable solutions. Our model activities focus on:
- Establish community-based ECD centers within public or community structures.
- Create early stimulation corners in community health centers/posts to support pregnant mothers and newborns during their first 1,000 days.
- Deliver weekly parenting sessions covering early stimulation, nutrition, mental health, livelihood support, and responsive caregiving.
- Equip adolescent and single parents with income-generating skills (e.g., nutrition-focused agribusiness, tailoring).
- Train youth and community health workers to deliver ECD services
- Community-based maize fortification mill to address hidden hunger
Our Excellence of
Learning Hub
TECEC operates Tanzania’s first ECD Learning Hub in the Mwanza region. The Hub serves as a practical training space for parents, caregivers, community health workers, and ECD & pre-school teachers, focusing on play-based early learning, nutrition education, responsive parenting, and income-generating skills. It also provides a space to pilot and test new best practices with young children.
Currently, the Hub includes:
• Parenting training space
• Crèches and daycare facilities
• Maize flour fortification milling machine
• Community children’s play hub
Our Model Activities
TECEC’s model is shaped by the real needs of the families we serve, grounded in the understanding that children thrive when their foundational needs in the early years are fully met.
Play based early learning and stimulation
We supported the establishment of community ECD centers and transform preschools into vibrant, play-based learning spaces where children build foundational skills, and establish Early Stimulation Corners in health centers where parents and caregivers learn to support children’s cognitive, physical, and emotional development during routine clinic visits
Nutrition education, vegetable gardening and fortified maize flour
Its enabling families to provide their children with regular, nutrient-rich meals. this support ensures that young children grow strong, stay healthy, and have the energy to explore, play, and learn, laying a solid foundation for their early development.
Parenting education, resources and home visit support
Parents and caregivers are equipped with skills in mental well-being, responsive caregiving, and positive discipline. Since stressed parents can pass on stress to children, TECEC supports their well-being to foster nurturing homes, strengthen families and communities, and reduce child violence.
Livelihoods for parents of young children
This program equips young and single mothers, along with parents of young children, with entrepreneurship skills, financial literacy, and income opportunities. By strengthening family resilience, we reduce stress, improve wellbeing, and create stable, supportive environments where children can thrive.
