Rukia Mwinyi: The management of pension benefits for productive aging among retired primary teachers in Tanzania.

My project is centered to explore on management of pension benefits for productive aging among retired primary teachers in Tanzania. The project is designed to work with retired primary teachers from public service who are among the elderly population that social workers work with closely at different levels in the community towards achieving well-being and promoting their participation to different social, economic and cultural activities which enhances their productive aging.

Pension benefits are provided by the government to retired people with the aim to improve their overall well-being and productive aging after retirement. The responsibility of managing the pension benefits is an individual responsibility of retired people which to some point how they manage the pension benefits has a direct implication affecting the quality of their retirement life either positively or negatively.

Globally the rate of elderly people aged 60 and above has been increasing hence those transition to retirement are also increasing, moreover due various health and technological advancement elderly people including retirees are living longer than before hence understanding how the retired people manage their pension benefits becomes vital. Towards achieving productive aging as an ongoing global agenda to promote activeness and participation of elderly in the different spheres of life, this proposed study is aimed to explore and establish experiences of pension benefit management among retired people which could be beneficial and learning among retired people and those transition to retirement towards attaining productive aging in retirement life.

Retired people among other elderly are considered to be at risk and by being among the marginalized groups who experience exclusion in different forms in the society, by doing this study it will contribute to the goals of the resilient project on promoting social inclusion.In this PhD program I look forward to learning and sharpening my research capabilities in the academic arena which will enhance my participation in research projects towards contributing to positive change in the community. In this exciting and mixed feeling journey I anticipate hiccups at different phases for instance working with elderly retired teachers in the rural area whom are expected to share their personal and sensitive information on managing pension benefits, some may not be ready to open up to a young lady and upcoming researcher of my age.  Also structural challenges as delays in research clearance from the commission may impede with my project timeline.