A controlled pilot intervention on community violence prevention, financial and social capital generation in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Background Community violence has been found to be highly prevalent in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Increasing socioeconomic inequality has been outlined as one of the main causes of community violence. This controlled pilot trial aimed at evaluating the impact of beekeeping and entrepreneurship training on community violence exposure, financial and social capital generation, and employment structure. Methods Poisson regression was used to compare pre- and post-intervention risk ratios for community violence exposure. Linear regression was used to depict change in weekly income and utu scores. Employment rate structures were determined pre- and post-intervention. Results This study reports that compared to the Control arm beekeeping and entrepreneurship training appears to have protected young men in Dar es Salaam from exposure to community violence (All = 0.62 (0.40–0.96), Beekeeping = 0.57 (0.30–1.08), Entrepreneurship = 0.62 (0.33–1.17)), while increasing financial (All = 23,145 (− 27,155 – 73,444), Beekeeping = 29,310 (− 26,079 – 84,698), Entrepreneurship = 82,334 (12,274 – 152,293)) and partially also social capital (All = − 0.24 (− 1.35–0.87), Beekeeping = 0.85 (− 0.26–1.96), Entrepreneurship = 0.30 (− 1.16–1.77)). Financial dependency across all arms was reduced from 29.1 to 2.2%. Conclusions Our study reports that beekeeping training and entrepreneurship seminars appear to have a protective effect against exposure to community violence among young men in Dar es Salaam, while partially also increasing financial and social capital, as well as reducing financial dependency. We recommend that these results should lay the foundation for an adequately powered randomized trial to confirm the study’s efficacy. Trial registration retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04602416; October 26, 2020).

Psychometric validation of the collective asset Utu: associations with coping strategies and resilience during adolescence

“…A growing body of research recognizes that the concept of Utu is important to designing culturally relevant and efficacious interventions in Tanzania and in other sub-Saharan countries with similar concepts [ 15 , 89 – 91 ]. As a collective asset, Utu can be targeted as a modifiable protective factor during adolescence to promote resilience.…”

“…According to social work researchers Jacob Mugumbate and Andrew Nyanguru (2013), the related concept of Ubuntu represents the worldviews of populations of Sub-Saharan Africa, transmitted from generation to generation through observation, experience, language and art [ 9 ]. Utu is grounded in religious and philosophical traditions that have created a humanist framework that values kindness and reciprocity [ 15 ]. Scholars have argued that Utu and related concepts have been diminished in response to colonialist histories and capitalism that emphasize the individual over the collective [ 16 ]; in Tanzania elders echo the concern that younger generations are losing Utu.…”

“…One study that validated a community collective efficacy scale in an African context emphasizes the "shared capacities of the group in which people participate regarding joint activities and the successful achievement of these activities as a group" [ 19 ]. However, unlike collective efficacy, achievement or the production of 'given levels of attainment' does not fully capture the concept of Utu, because Utu also captures a value system and associated behaviors that include a philosophical value system guiding interpersonal relationships to demonstrate the dignity and respect that all humans deserve [ 15 ]. Also, while studies have shown that collective efficacy is a mediator in the pathway between stress and resilience, it is unknown whether Utu plays a similar or different mediating role in between stressful life experiences and resilience [ 20 – 22 ].…”