Stitching her own future: What investing in girls looks like in Tanzania

As a girl, Sauda collected scraps of fabric that tailors threw away. She carried them home and stitched them together by hand, piece by piece. No one called it a business plan, but that is what it became.

Today, at 21, Sauda runs her own tailoring and fabric business in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Her designs stand on mannequins outside her workspace, drawing customers in from the street. She earns her own income, and she has a clear message for parents across Tanzania: before you consider marrying off your daughter, invest in her.

Child marriage: Why investing in girls matters

International Day of the Girl Child, marked on October 11 each year, was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2011 to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face. This year’s theme is “End child marriage and invest in girls’ rights.” Each year, more than 12 million girls are married before adulthood, with the highest prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey, 29 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 are married before turning 18, and 5 per cent before age 15. Poverty, bride price, adolescent pregnancy, and few chances for girls to stay in school or earn their own income are among the documented drivers.

Sauda’s journey shows what a different path looks like.

From childhood talent to tailoring trade: Skills training through AHADI

After completing Form Four in Morogoro, Sauda moved to Dar es Salaam to live with her parents. In October 2025, she joined the AHADI project and enrolled in a sewing training program. For the first time, the skill she had practiced with scraps as a child became a real career path.

“Sewing is something I have desired for a long time. I have really loved it since I was in primary school,” says Sauda.

The next step, her own workspace, needed capital. Sauda had saved 290,000 shillings (about CAD $156) on her own.

Parents who backed her

When Sauda told her father she wanted her own workspace, he didn’t dismiss the idea. He asked her how much she had saved.

“I told him I had 290,000 shillings. He told me, okay, I will help you pay the rent so that you will cover the other things yourself.”

He expected the rent money back. As he watched his daughter’s business grow, he let her keep it. Her mother backs her too, covering Sauda’s transport costs and supporting her to attend AHADI sessions.

Many families still see marriage as a girl’s surest route to security. Sauda’s parents made a different choice. Her father treated her ambition as worth backing, and her success as hers to keep.

Starting was not easy

Money wasn’t the only hurdle. Some customers placed orders and never came back to collect them. Sauda had already paid for the materials and done the preparation, so each lost order cost her money.

She kept going. She has since bought a second sewing machine herself and now sews clothes and sells fabric, so customers can buy fabric and have it tailored on the spot.

Within four months of opening, her business was changing her life. She still lives with her parents, but she now covers most of her own daily needs. For Sauda, that income means more than money. It means confidence and the freedom to make decisions without depending on anyone else.

“She is not controlled by someone else”

Sauda says people around her have pushed her to marry. She has stayed focused on growing her business and becoming a successful businesswoman and fashion designer. She believes that if she hadn’t resisted, she would already be married.

At 21, Sauda is an adult. But the pressure she describes is the kind that, for younger girls with fewer options, ends in marriage before 18. She sees skills and income as a shield.

“A girl can avoid early marriage when she has this kind of work, because first she becomes confident, and also she is not controlled by someone else,” Sauda explains.

Sauda’s message for parents: Listen to your daughters

She knows how close she came to losing her dream. Without her parents’ support, she says her story could have ended very differently. She urges other parents to invest in their daughters’ education, skills, and independence, and to listen. Many girls carry talents and dreams they never voice because they fear their parents’ reaction.

“Enable children, listen to what girls want, stand side by side with your children and be closer to your children,” she advises.

What investing in girls really looks like

From fabric scraps to a business of her own, Sauda’s journey shows what changes when a girl is seen as the builder of her own future and the people around her stand beside her.

Ending child marriage takes more than saying no to early marriage. It means giving girls something to say yes to education, training, skills, income, and the confidence to make their own choices. AHADI builds adolescent girls’ and boys’ knowledge of gender equality and sexual and reproductive health, along with entrepreneurship skills and engages with parents and communities to change who gets invested in.

When girls have the power to shape their own lives, they don’t have to choose between their dreams and their futures.

The AHADI Project (Accelerated Hope and Development for Urban Adolescents in Tanzania) is a seven-year initiative implemented by World Vision Tanzania in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma. It is funded by Global Affairs Canada through World Vision Canada, in collaboration with local partners including KIWOHEDE, Baba Watoto and TAHEA. AHADI equips young people with knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and gender equality, as well as skills in entrepreneurship and economic opportunities. To learn more about AHADI, click here.