Ecosystem Restoration Tanzania, United Republic of Project #53495

Women-led, One Health Solutions in Tanzania

by EcoVet Global

Project Report | May 5, 2022
Women-Led, One Health Solutions Project News

By Kate Sulzner | Director, EcoVet Global

Workshop participants receiving chickens

The Women’s EARTH Project has had a busy and productive winter and spring! Thanks to your generous support, we were able to provide two complementary One Health workshop training programs to over 60 women in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Through these workshops, we have gained the support of a growing number of local and regional stakeholders. This positive momentum is incredibly important since only 0.2% of foundation dollars go toward women-led environmental initiatives. From the bottom of our collective hearts, thank you!

Our Tanzanian partners, Jesca and Eliza, who run the Foundation for Environmental Conservation and Community Enhancement (FOECOE), had to come up with a creative alternative to in-person trainings during the rainy season in Tanzania. Unable to travel to our partner communities due to impassable roads, they kept the women and project stakeholders engaged through a series of interactive phone call meetings. During these phone calls, Jesca and Eliza reviewed One Health topics spanning biodiversity protection, climate change mitigation, and regenerative enterprise endeavors that strengthen human-wildlife coexistence. The women were encouraged to prioritize critical environmental and animal health challenges they face, and through this exercise, identify key themes to incorporate into the spring and summer workshop curricula. The women from both communities expressed a unanimous desire to learn more about poultry health and husbandry within the context of One Health and environmental change.

Now well into spring, we are happy to report that women from both Kilolo and Pawaga districts completed a poultry One Health training workshop in April of 2022. Integrating this newly acquired knowledge into indigenous eco-farming practices, the women are fast becoming intersectional health and environmental leaders. As we head into summer, the EcoVet Global team will be traveling to Tanzania to assist the FOECOE team and regional partners in running a One Health Specialization workshop for the women. The workshop will form the building blocks to transform training into real-world outputs. In this training module, the women will acquire more in-depth knowledge and skills in one of four key areas: biodiversity protection and human-wildlife conflict mitigation; water conservation and health; soil health and eco-agriculture; and biosecurity and zoonotic risk prevention. This workshop will lay the foundation for creating a network of women’s One Health hubs, dubbed “Wonder Hubs.” We are excited for what the upcoming year will bring for these women. We will continue to provide you with updates on news, fundraisers, and project milestones.

As always, thank you for your support!

Warmly,

Kate & The Ecovet Global Team

Bringing chickens home to newly built chicken hut

Poultry One Health Workshop graduates

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Jan 7, 2022
Women-Led, One Health Solutions Project Update

By Kate Sulzner | Co-Director, Women's EARTH Project

Proud EARTH Workshop Graduates

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

The launch of the Women’s EARTH Project in the fall of 2021 was a huge success. Thanks to your generous donations, 55 women from the remote farming communities of Mboliboli and Itonya in the southern highlands of Tanzania completed an innovative two-week training workshop on One Health*. The workshop examined vital connections between health, conservation, and livelihoods and equipped the women with practical tools to improve their well-being through nature-forward solutions. The training represents a path out of poverty for these women, while also setting the groundwork to restore local ecosystem health as well as the health of animals that share local resources with the communities of this region.

Prior to the workshops, the women had expressed a tremendous need for education and training in climate-friendly farming techniques as well as skills and strategies to preserve local biodiversity. They also emphasized a desire for education on biosecurity, preventive veterinary care, and public health safety measures that can be adopted to keep their farm animals healthy and productive, while reducing zoonotic disease spread. Not only did the workshop achieve these goals on all fronts, but it brought together a fantastic team of local facilitators that included the Iringa-based NGO team at the Foundation for Environmental Conservation and Community Enhancement (FOCOE) as well as district government officials and community leaders. The women and collaborators left the workshop inspired and prepared for the next stage of the project which will bring advanced training to the women in a chosen area of One Health focus.

Highlights of the fall EARTH workshops included spirited breakout sessions with the women, deliciously prepared local meals, and joyful singing by the women to express their appreciation of the workshop and excitement for future program initiatives that will strengthen community resilience and cultivate women’s leadership opportunities. The enthusiasm from the fall workshops continues. The FOECOE Team and workshop facilitators have been meeting regularly with the women to review One Health concepts as they prepare for a specialty workshop that will take place in February 2022. Based on the women’s interest, the upcoming workshop will focus on sustainable poultry farming and apply One Health concepts to cover themes in husbandry, basic veterinary care, biosecurity, and market systems. With the current pandemic serving as a vivid reminder of the need to restore the balance between humans and nature, themes of biodiversity conservation, climate-wise practices, and human-wildlife interdependency will figure prominently in the workshop curriculum and discussions.

On behalf of EcoVet Global, FOECOE, the EARTH women participants, and our collaborators, we express our immense gratitude to all of you who generously contributed to our fall fundraiser. We have provided some snapshots from the fall workshops below and hope to sustain your support for future initiatives.

* One Health is a collaborative approach that recognizes the interdependency of human, animal, and ecosystem health, and is critical to addressing the intersectional challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, zoonotic pandemics, and social / racial inequities.

One of our Fabulous Workshop Facilitators

Local Wildlife Listening to the Workshop

Some lively Discussion on One Health

Workshop in Session

Mealtime Preparation

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