TOPIC: WOMEN AND INFORMAL CROSS BORDER TRADE IN TANZANIA

As Regional integration continues to grow in Africa, trade is one of the factors that contribute to regional integration. In trade, mainly informal trade contributes to a large extent to regional integration in the cross-border areas. This study focused on the contributions of Tanzanian women in the form of informal trade to regional integration in the East Africa region. In spite of widely conceived variables promoting trade across Africa, women’s contributions have been rather neglected or undermined. Therefore, this study aimed to elicit various contributions of women to informal trade in Tanzania. It also analyzed different bottlenecks impending trade facilitations across trans-borders of Tanzania: security issues, financial challenges and payment of customs duties. Primary and Secondary data was be collected and analyzed from secondary sources through descriptive statistics (simple percentage).