15 teachers – 5 of them women - from the island Pemba founded the NGO JEMUUZA in 1999. The three keywords of JEMUUZA are “research, training, education”. The organisation is committed to grassroots projects which have the aim of improving the social and economical situation of people in need.

One example is the project work with women who work on seaweed plantations. The women are self-employed, cultivating seaweed in the shallow sea. They sell the dried sea grass to a company which further processes the weed and which dictates the price per kilo. Before JEMUUZA attended them, the women had vague ideas about what the seaweed which they cultivate is used for and which value is created during the further processing. The “research” about this project consisted in finding exactly this out. The seaweed they cultivate is used internationally for medicines and cosmetics. In Asia it is also eaten as a delicacy, for instance as part of Sushi. JEMUUZA informed the women about the exact processes and gave them recommendations how they can improve their bargaining powers when dealing with the seaweed-buying company in order to achieve a fair price for their work. The women further had been taught in business basics. They had been assisted in opening bank accounts in the capital and their self-confidence has been boosted by making them perceive their work as a valuable and important entrepreneurial activity.

A similar organization that is active on the small islet of Uzi South of Zanzibar (Unguja Island) is the UZI Seaweed Farmer's Association that is also operating an education centre. As the work will be primarily with local women, volunteers of female gender are preferred.

Another project carried out by JEMUUZA is about the problem that in Pemba around 40% of all children and adolescents of school age actually don’t go to school. The reasons are often of financial nature: Although there are no school fees, the families simply don’t have the money to for instance buy stationary, books or the children's transportation to school. The children and adolescents are also needed to support the livelihood of their families by working on farms. JEMUUZA developed and implemented micro-economical concepts for such families, facilitating children to visit school without jeopardising the existence of their families.

The NGO is looking for volunteers who can carry out result-orientated investigation, who can analyse the interests and possibility of underprivileged parts of the population and who can stand up for the rights of these people. The work plan of JEMUUZA for the years 2007 and 2008 can be downloaded here. It also includes the areas of environmental campaigning, HIV/AIDS campaigning and ecological farming. Target group are for instance students and graduates of politics, international development, social economics, economics or law.