Theatre for Development (TfD) is characterized by the active participation of the community in which it takes place. Community members are invited to identify their problems, reflect on how and why these problems affect them, and through engagement with theatre performances, explore possible solutions. The goal of Theatre for Development (TfD) is to stimulate community consciousness and reflection towards social transformation.
Njoo Tusemezane (Come Let’s Talk) was a project in the Pangani district in the Tanga region, held in ten villages in two phases between 2020 and 2024. Phase one covered Msaraza, Mkwaja, and Mwera, while phase two covered the villages of Bweni, Kimanga, Langoni, Madanga, Mkalamo, Stahabu, and Ushongo.
At the end of the project in 2024, there were noted achievements in these interventions, which can be clustered into three categories: increased citizen agency and participation, service delivery improvement, and enhanced government responsiveness and accountability.
From a historical perspective, the evolution of TfD also suggests that technological developments have made it possible to combine Theatre for Development with Film to optimize the results in a new way that the audience had not envisioned before. Theatre for Development plus Film (TfD+Film) methodology in the three villages in Pangani (Msaraza, Mkwaja, and Mwera) was used to experiment with the effectiveness of using the arts and creativity to catalyze citizen agency and authorities’ responsiveness before it was rolled out to other seven villages.
Tourism Innovation Hub (TIHUB) Moshi - Tanzania