In a groundbreaking community dialogue forum, TGNP and UN Women brought together 133 leaders and community members (84 women and 49 men) to challenge and transform discriminatory social norms. Held from July 29 to August 8, 2025, the event united local government and religious leaders, traditional authorities like “Jando” and “Unyago” leaders, and representatives from CBOs and women’s groups from the Lindi, Mtwara, and Pwani regions.
The primary goal of the forum was to spark a transformative dialogue on gender-discriminatory social norms and the issue of unpaid care work. By fostering these discussions, the initiative aimed to ignite community-led actions that would increase women’s participation in leadership roles and build their economic resilience.
Fostering Dialogue and Action: The Forum’s Core Objectives
The forum was designed to be more than just a meeting; it was meant to be a catalyst for change. The key objectives guided our efforts to create a lasting impact on gender equality within the community.
1. Building a Collaborative Platform: We established a safe and open space for dialogue, bringing together diverse leaders from traditional, religious, and governmental sectors, along with civil society actors. This platform was crucial for fostering mutual collaboration and building a united front for change.
2. Challenging the Status Quo: A primary goal was to raise awareness and promote gender-transformative approaches that directly challenge harmful patriarchal norms. The forum encouraged participants to critically examine practices and adopt new perspectives that empower women and girls.
3. Blending Tradition with Progress: We explored how traditional wisdom can be combined with modern principles of gender justice. By encouraging traditional institutions to revise rituals and ceremonies, we aimed to make them more inclusive and empowering, ensuring that culture evolves to support equality.
4. Empowering Women’s Leadership: The forum specifically worked to identify and address the barriers that limit women’s participation and leadership in public life. The discussions focused on creating pathways for women to take on more prominent roles in their communities.
Voices from the Community
The dialogue provided a safe and constructive space for participants to share deeply personal insights and experiences. The conversations revealed entrenched patriarchal attitudes and their impact on daily life:
“In our coastal customs, a boy is valued more than a girl. Even a boy in Standard One can make decisions over a 45-year-old woman simply because he is male. The tasks assigned to boys and girls also differ. A boy may be told to study or play, but a girl, even after school, finds her chores waiting for her.”
“A girl in Unyago was not allowed to speak loudly; she had to whisper. She could not go outside until harvest time. If the father had not harvested, she could stay inside for even six years. Today, there is no keeping girls indoors; things have changed.”
“Women miss economic opportunities because of these tasks—fetching water, cooking, etc.—which lowers economic status and also limits women’s leadership opportunities.”
Recommendations for Action
Based on the dialogue, the forum generated clear recommendations to ensure lasting change:
- Establish monitoring and follow-up mechanisms: Create community-led monitoring frameworks to track progress on the commitments made during the dialogue.
- Strengthen community facilitators: TGNP and UN Women should provide backstopping support and re-orientation sessions for newly-joined community facilitators to ensure a unified and effective approach, especially when conducting similar community dialogue.
- Scale up the initiative: The Women’s Leadership and Economic Resilience (WLER) project should be expanded to more regions, integrating the care economy and women’s economic empowerment while increasing its target number of girls, youth, women, and people with disabilities.
