Women-led, One Health Solutions in Tanzania

While sharing a meal last summer with our Tanzanian partners, Eliza and Jesca, Eliza said that rural African women carry the weight of the continent on their shoulders. She was responding to a comment I had made about how resourceful the women of Mboliboli and Itonya are at seemingly balancing everything – animals, crops, children, and elders. Not surprisingly, rural women in Africa are responsible for growing about 70% of the continent's food and simultaneously endure the greatest strain of biodiversity loss, climate change, health inequities, and poverty. Working hard at an early age, often paired with young motherhood, it is not surprising that women in Tanzania receive less schooling than their male counterparts and suffer from high rates of illiteracy. Reversing this trend is one of many reasons why supporting projects like the Women’s EARTH Project is so critical in the global nonprofit space right now.

One of the additional benefits of empowering rural women through capacity-building education is the spillover effect it has on children. When the women of Itonya and Mboliboli participate in One Health training workshops and community outreach activities, children are always present. Not surprisingly, local children in both communities have grown curious about One Health and want to learn about the work their mothers are spearheading to strengthen species-wide health and climate resilience. In response to this growing curiosity, FOECOE and EcoVet Global launched a kid-focused One Health Art and Storytelling Project this summer. We paired fifth and sixth graders in Itonya and Mboliboli with similar age children attending a conservation camp program in San Mateo, California. The kids on both sides of the globe learned about the concept of One Health and explored real-life examples of human-animal-environmental health connections. Global friendships were made through shared videos and art projects representing examples of One Health in their respective backyards. The initiative was hugely successful, and we hope to expand it in the future.

Projects like this would not be achievable without the contributions of supporters like you. As we expand the Women’s EARTH Project in the upcoming year, we will continue to share the wonderful ways in which the program is changing the lives of the women, their families, and the communities of Tanzania's Southern Highlands. Enjoy the children’s art work below, and as always thank you for your generosity and continued support. 

Kind Regards, 

Kate and the FOECOE / EcoVet Global Team