Support Women's WONDER Hubs in Tanzania

Greetings, 

The women of Itonya have reached a remarkable milestone in the Women's EARTH Project. It's a milestone that reflects both the depth of their training and expertise, and the power of community-led, participatory approaches to One Health work. Before launching the project in 2021, our Tanzanian team met with community farming women in the Southern Highlands region to conduct a participatory needs assessment. By ensuring that the community women had a voice at the table, the group was able to identify the most pressing and interconnected challenges facing their communities: animal health, human-wildlife coexistence, water conservation, and adaptive farming in the face of climate change. Moreover, they were able to develop a solid implementation strategy and foundation for the project by drawing on indigenous knowledge and community wisdom as well as a team of in-country local and regional experts in  health, economics, and conservation. This type of approach ensures that solutions are not imposed from the outside but grown from within, making them more effective, more trusted, and more lasting. The community women are not just the beneficiaries of this work, they are also its architects and its engine.

That ownership is now generating tangible, generational impact. For the first time, the women of Itonya are collectively earning income through their community outreach work across all four focus areas. Rather than keeping earnings individually, they pool resources and reinvest them into the project, expanding their reach and deepening their impact, while also building financial security for their families. This year, that pooled income achieved something extraordinary: every woman in Itonya was able to pay full annual school fees for her children. This is not simply a financial achievement. It is a declaration that the knowledge these women hold, the land they steward, and the communities they serve are worth investing in. It is a concrete measure of what happens when communities lead their own solutions, and firm proof that this approach works. 

As always, thank you for your continued investment in the Women's EARTH Project. We are looking forward to a fruitful summer and fall ahead. 

With gratitude, 

The EcoVet Global and FOECOE Teams