Women-led, One Health Solutions in Tanzania

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.