CHILD ABUSE IN ZANZIBAR WEST DISTRIC, TANZANIA: …



CHILD ABUSE IN ZANZIBAR WEST DISTRICT TANZANIA: ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE (KAP)

BAKARI ALI MOHAMMED

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK OF THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF

TANZANIA

2015

CERTIFICATION

The undersigned certifies that they have read and hereby recommend for acceptance by The Open University of Tanzania, a dissertation titled Child Abuse in Zanzibar West district, Tanzania: Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP), in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work.

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Dr. Simon Waane

(Supervisor)

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Date

COPYRIGHT

No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, mechanical or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the author or Open University of Tanzania in that behalf.

DECLARATION

I, Bakari Ali Mohamed, do hereby declare that this dissertation is my own original work and that it has not been and will not be presented to any other University for similar or any other degree award.

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Signature

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Date

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my wife Salma Suleiman Omar, my daughters Bahiya, Suhayla,, Zainab and Aisha, and my sons Mohammed, and Muslih.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank God for giving me health which has enabled me to do this work, many thanks goes to my supervisor Dr. Simon Waane who has guided me from the beginning of my research and who took a lot of time to correct my work till I completed it. I also acknowledge the Second Vice President Office research unit for their participation and help which made me to go and collect data at Fumba village, Bwefum secondary school and Mwera Police station for their support during the time of data collection in the Zanzibar West district. Finally I would like to acknowledge all people who in one way or another were involved and gave me support to do this work.

ABSTRACTS

The main goal of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice on child abuse in Zanzibar. The study involved 100 respondents at Fumba village who were parents, caregivers and other people within the community. The respondents had the age from 20 years old and above and who expected to have a parenting role at the time of study. Face to face interview was administered to these respondents through survey held house to house. 100 % of the respondents had knowledge on child abuse, 51% of the respondents said that child abuse occurs at home, 63% of the respondents said beating a child who misbehaves is a common child abuse in the West District. 65% of the school children who fill questionnaires responded that they were beaten using stick by their parents and care givers as a punishment when they misbehaved, 16% of the school children witnessed their fellow children married at the age of 15. The study concluded that parents, care givers and other people in the West District have adequate knowledge on child abuse. Parents, caregivers and other people in the West District practice all forms of child abuse to their children. People’s attitudes and practices on child abuse are greatly influenced by Zanzibar culture. The study recommended the following as a measure to control child abuse in the West District; Zanzibar government to take a leading role in protecting abused children in Zanzibar including the West District, education on child abuse to be given to children and community, the mass media be enabled and equipped to spearhead the spread of education on child abuse and its impact on children, the household and community in general. Further researches are need on various aspects of child abuse in Tanzania (including Zanzibar).

TABL OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION ii

COPYRIGHT iii

DECLARATION iv

DEDICATION v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi

ABSTRACTS vii

TABL OF CONTENTS viii

LIST OF TABLES xiii

ABBREVIATIONS xv

CHAPTER ONE 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Back Round to the Study 2

1.3 Statement of the Problem 4

1.4 Research Objectives 5

1.4.1 General Objective 5

1.4.2 Specific Objectives 5

1.5 Research Questions 6

1.6 Scope of the Study 6

1.7 Significant of the Study 6

1.8 Conceptual Framework 7

1.8.1 Definition of Terms Used in Conceptual Framework 7

1.9 General Definition of Terms 9

CHAPTER TWO 12

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 12

2.1 Theoretical Review 12

2.1.2 Radical Feminist Theory 12

2.1.3 Family System Theory 12

2.1.4 Attachment Theory 13

2.1.5 Review 14

2.2.1 Knowledge of the Parents and Caregivers on Child Abuse 15

2.2.1.1 England 15

2.2.1.1 The United States of America 16

2.2.2 The Child’s Upbringing Practice Within the Families at Home 16

2.2.2.1 Zimbabwe 17

2.2.2.2 Tanzania Mainland 18

2.2.2.3 Zanzibar 18

2.2.3 The Parent’s and Care Giver’s Attitudes Toward Upbringing their Children 19

2.3 Policy Review 20

2.3.1 Review of Policies Related to the Child Abuse and Protection 20

2.3.2 The Law of Child Act Approved by the Tanzanian Parliament in November 2009 and the Child Act, Passed by Zanzibar’s House of Representative in March 2011 25

2.3.3 Zanzibar Children Act 27

2.4 The Gap 28

CHAPTER THREE 29

3.0 METHODOLOGY 29

3.1 Research Design 29

3.2 Study Population 29

3.3 Study Area 30

3.4 Research Instruments and Methodology 30

3.4.1 Focus Group Discussion 30

3.4.2 Questionnaires 31

3.4.2 Interviews 32

3.5 Sampling Procedure 32

3.6 Sample Size 33

3.7 Ethical Consideration 34

3.8 Sources of Data 34

3.9 Data Analysis 35

3.10 Data Presentation 35

CHAPTER FOUR 36

4.0 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 36

4.1 Introduction 36

4.2 Interviews Data Analysis 36

4.2.1 Knowledge That Parents, Care Givers and Community Posses on Child Abuse 39

4.2.2 Attitudes of the Respondents 42

4.2.3 Practices of the Respondents on Child Abuse 43

4.3 Questioners Analysis for School Children 45

4.3.1 Knowledge of School Children on Child Abuse 47

4.3.2 Child Abuse Practice in the West District 48

4.4 Qualitative Data Analysis 53

4.4.1 Introduction 53

4.4.2 Respondent’s Knowledge on Child Abuse 54

4.4.3 Types of Child Abuse the Respondents Knew 54

4.4.4 The Areas that the Child Abuse Occurs in the Community 54

4.4.5 The Most Perpetrators of Child Abuse in the Community 55

4.4.6 The causes of Child Abuse in West District 55

4.4.7 The Action Been Taken to Stop the Child Abuse in West District 56

4.4.8 The Responsible Persons in Stopping Child Abuse in West District, Zanzibar 56

4.4.9 The Effects of Child Abuse to the Children who are Abused 56

4.4.10 The Effects of Child Abuse to the Children Themselves, the Family, Community and Nation 57

4.4.11 The Option to Stop Child Abuse in West District 57

CHAPTER FIVE 58

5.0 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 58

5.1 Discussion 58

5.1.1 Introduction 58

5.1.2 Theories Discussions 62

5.2 Conclusions 64

5.3 Recommendations 66

5.3.1 General Recommendations 66

5.3.2 Specific Recommendation 67

REFERENCES 68

APPENDICES 74

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Gender of the Respondents by Frequency and Percentage 36

Table 4.2: Age Distribution of the Respondents 37

Table 4.3: Educational Level of the Respondents………………….……………….38

Table 4.4: Respondent’s Knowledge on Child Abuse 40

Table 4.5: Types of Child Abuse Respondents Knew 41

Table 4.6: The Places that Child Abuse Frequently Occurs by Parents, Care Givers 43

Table 4.7: Common Child Abuse in the Zanzibar West district 44

Table 4.8: Parents and Caregivers’ Decision on their Misbehaving Children 44

Table 4.9: Age of the School Children Questioned 46

Table 4.10: Source of Information on Child Abuse of the School Children 46

Table 4.11: Knowledge of Child Abuse by School Children 47

Table 4.12: Common Places That Child Abuse Occurs By School Children 49

Table 4.13: Common Child Abuse in the West District by School Children 50

Table 4.14: Age of the Early Marriage Witnessed by School Children 52

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: The Factors that Contribute to Child Abuse 7

Figure 4.1: Marital Status of the Respondents 37

Figure 4.2: Education Level of the Respondents 38

Figure 4.3: Heard Information on Child Abuse 39

Figure 4.4: Respondent's Source of Information on Child Abuse 40

Figure 4.5: Parents and Care Givers Feeling when their Children Misbehave 42

Figure 4.6: Marital Status of the School Children Questioned 45

Figure 4.7: Child Abuse Witnessed by School Children in Zanzibar West District 48

Figure 4.8: Kind of Punishment Inflicted to the Children in West District 51

Figure 4.9: Responses on the Sex that is More Affected by Child Abuse 52

ABBREVIATIONS

AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

ASCA Adults Survivors Children Abuse

CRC Convention on the Right of Child

CPMIS Child Protection Management Information System

DRC Declaration of the Rights of the Child

EOCC England’s Office of the Children Commissioner

FGD Focus Group Discussion

HIV Human Immune Virus

KAP Knowledge attitude and Practice

KMS Kilometers

OSC One Stop Center

PACCA Provision Advisory Committee on Child Abuse

SOS Save Our Souls Children Village

SOSPA Sexual Offences Special Provision Act

TMC Tanzania Movement for Children

UNICEF United Nation Children Fund

UNESCO The United Nations Organization, Sciences and Culture

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

According to the Zanzibar constitution, Zanzibar as an integral part of the United Republic of Tanzania. The area of Zanzibar consists of the whole area of the islands of Unguja and Pemba and all small islands surrounding them and includes the territorial waters that before the Union formed the then People's Republic of Zanzibar (Zanzibar constitution, 1984: 1).

Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean, some 30 km east of the African Mainland. It consists of the islands of Unguja and Pemba and several islets. The land area is 2,642 square km of which 1658km2 for Unguja and 984 square km for Pemba. The union between the independent states of Zanzibar and Tanganyika formed the United Republic of Tanzania, which came into being on 26th April 1964. Tanganyika merged its government into the Union government, while Zanzibar retained its own, with autonomy in non-Union matters, the decision was passed by the Tanzania or Tanganyika Parliament also by Zanzibar House of Representative especially those concerned with the union matter (European Commission, 2011).

The Zanzibari culture is based on Islamic faith whereby, the people behave in the way that they have been directed by their faith. Some of the parents abuse their children through the influence of the culture. Due to Islamic faith men are eligible to marry more than one wife, which lead to the child abuse including beating, force early marriage which hinder their rights to education and healthcare; therefore child protection is violated.

Cultural theory is equally critical and contributes to the understanding of the incidence of child abuse. Because of varied cultures and the influences thereof, children sometimes experience the clash between parental expectation derived from the original cultural background and the cultural environment in which these children now live. Peer pressure and what children are exposed to and learn on their own, contribute to cultural conflicts resulting in their abuse and neglect. Many other cultural practices in poor households such as patriarchy contribute to domestic violence and abuse, neglect and exploitation of children. Women and children are sometimes considered as owned by the man who disposes of them as he pleases and decides on their fate ( Mbecke, 2010).

1.2 Back Round to the Study

“An abused or neglected child is a child who is harmed, threatened physically or mentally, by the acts or lack of action of a person responsible for the child’s care”, is a “form of abuse that occurs when a person responsible for the care of a child is able, but fails to provide necessary food, clothing, shelter, and other types of care. There are several forms of child abuse; physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse. “Child abuse can be due to negligence and sometimes due the inadequate knowledge of parenthood by the parents providing care to the children. At times this apparent neglect may be due to poverty which the family experiences, consequently making the parents aggressive to their children and thereby abuse them by either beating them, or burning parts of their bodies.

About 40 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa, under the age of 15 years, are victims of violence and abuse. Violence against children cuts across economic, social, cultural and religious boundaries and takes many forms. Children in Sub-Saharan Africa face many forms of abuse including physical, sexual and psychological abuse. They are caught up in many situations that expose them to different forms of abuse. For example, between 1999 and 2006 seventy percent of 5 to 14 year olds who were child laborers came from Sub-Saharan Africa. Child labor damages children’s health, threatens their education and leads to further exploitation and abuse. Some of the children are caught up in worst forms of child labor including commercial sexual exploitation, pornography and some are even victims of trafficking (Save the Children Fund, 2012).

Furthermore a considerable higher percentage of parents in African countries than in transitional countries (countries with transitional economies for example China) believe that physical punishment should be used as a method of child-rearing; the median percentage of positive attitudes towards corporal punishment was ∼40% (33.4–43.2%) in the African region and 7.7% (6.8–14.6%) in transitional countries. More than 90% of respondents in Syria believed that children should be punished physically. The lowest proportion of parents ( ................
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