Aspiring female politicians get political training

Aspiring politician Asha Salum is busy trying to convince people in her area of Dar es Salaam to support her candidacy for a council position at elections later this year, one of a growing number of women seeking political office in Tanzania.

The soft-spoken politician, who at 31 is the youngest candidate for this post in Tegeta in Kawe constituency in 20 years, is one of a new generation of women being groomed to muscle into the male-dominated political world.

The East African nation of about 50 million people has had few women in top leadership positions since adopting a multiparty system in 1992, but female campaigners are hoping to change this at the nation's fifth general election on Oct 25.