African Design Magazine October 2015 | Page 25

African project KWIECO Shelter House PLACE REFUGE Kilimanjaro Women Information Exchange and Consultancy Organization (KWIECO) was founded in 1987 to provide advice on legal, health, social and economic issues to women. Just as in the rest of Africa, women in Kilimanjaro are highly vulnerable to violations of their rights to life, liberty and security. KWIECO outlined a project to develop the concept of, and eventually found, a Shelter House. I n Tanzania, violence against women is permitted by social and cultural attitudes; the law has failed to provide adequate safeguards against violence, nor has it been able to promote attitudes conducive to women’s enjoyment of their fundamental rights. Together with Ukumbi NGO, KWIECO introduced the project to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and was awarded funds for setting up the necessary operations and infrastructure for the first phase. The completion time for the construction of the first phase was May 2015. Ukumbi and KWIECO are currently trying to raise funds for the second and final phase. africandesignmagazine.com 25