In 2000, Small World Theatre (SWT) collaborated with Tanzanian performers to find out what prevents people, particularly women in economically poor communities, from participating in elections by voting and standing as candidates. The project used drama - participatory theatre - as a research tool. The main focus was on uncovering attitudes and constraints to women's participation in the democratic process in the light of the upcoming (October 2000) multi-party election (the first multiparty election was in 1995).