COMMUNITY TRAINING SESSIONS
FEBRUARY 2026: Supported by Global Affairs Canada and implemented with CARE International, WWF, and four local partners, the Her Resilience, Our Planet Project recently trained 34 community leaders (13F, 21M) across seven wards in Mbeya, Njombe, and Iringa. These new gender champions are now leading their communities toward more sustainable and inclusive livelihoods as the climate continues to change.
EMPOWERING WOMEN, DRIVING CHANGE
From 29–31 January 2026, TGNP, in partnership with Care Tanzania, delivered Gender Awareness Training of Trainers sessions designed to spark lasting change. By strengthening local leaders’ leadership skills, technical knowledge, and community-facilitation skills the training creates a ripple effect and ensures that climate-resilient strategies reach women and youth—-those who are most vulnerable to climate shocks.
The training provided:
- Climate-smart technical skills to strengthen agriculture and natural resource management.
- Modern facilitation and adult learning skills to support effective community engagement.
- Practical step-by-step tools to cascade these lessons to the village level.
- Inclusive leadership skills that elevate the voices of women and youth in community decision-making.
COMMUNITY VOICES ON CHANGING CLIMATE
MBEYA: A Call for Restoration
In Mbeya, the reality of climate change is etched into the cracked earth of rice farms.
Ibrahim Mkwama, a farmer from Mbuyuni, shared a heartbreaking story of his drying crops.“We need to embrace tree planting in our district and protect them against all odds,” Ibrahim urged, as he described the drying riverbanks caused by human encroachment.
Sista Mwakyemba from Isitu village, recalled a time when 15 bags of rice per acre was the norm, growing to 30 with irrigation. Today, that progress is threatened by water shortages.
Meanwhile, Ruben Pascal shared a lightbulb moment for him during the training, “Including women in family decisions is not just fair—it is essential for survival.”
IRINGA: Shifting the Cultural Compass
The sessions in Iringa sparked deep reflections on traditional roles.
One female participant noted that climate change is forcing a rethink of the “man as herder, woman as homemaker” divide.
A male participant from Iringa shared, “I used to think gender was just about fighting men. Now I see… if my wife is exhausted, our calves don’t get fed and the whole family loses money. This is about our economy.”
NJOMBE: Empowerment to Lead
In Njombe, the focus was on the “why” and “how”.
Participants from Igwachanya reported a newfound confidence. “The training gave us skills on how to teach others. I now feel prepared to conduct discussions in my village.”
THE HARD TRUTHS
During the training, four systemic challenges emerged that continue to limit community resilience in the face of climate change:
- Economic exclusion: Women often provide much of the labor from milking to farming, but are excluded from financial decisions when products are sold.
- Land ownership barriers: Patriarchal norms treat women as temporary family members, denying them the right to own land or plant permanent trees.
- Unequal labor burden: Using the 24-hour activity clock, participants mapped out how women carry the burden of care work and domestic chores, while men control the income at harvest time.
- Environmental degradation: Widespread deforestation for charcoal is damaging riverbanks and exacerbating drought.
A ROADMAP FOR RESILIENCE
The training sessions concluded with collective commitments to action.
- Afforestation: Participants pledged to plant 490 trees immediately to increase green cover, restore biodiversity, and prevent soil erosion.
- Clean energy: A call for government and investors to provide subsidies for gas and smart charcoal stoves, involving current charcoal sellers as key stakeholders in the transition.
- Knowledge Centers: TGNP aims to establish permanent Knowledge Centers to sustain gender mainstreaming.
- Institutional change: Climate change will now be a permanent agenda item in all VICOBA (Village Community Banking) and community meetings.
- Local action: The participants developed nine specific action plans for Wards and Villages that will address water scarcity and livestock breeding.
Through the Her Resilience Our Planet project, the narrative is shifting.
It is no longer just about surviving a drought; it is about thriving through
equality, shared decision-making, and a restored environment.
HER RESILIENCE, OUR PLANET PROJECT
This six-year initiative (2024-2030) is funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by CARE international (in Tanzania and Canada)in partnership with Worldwide Fund (WWF) for Nature Tanzania and four local partners including SAGCOT Centre Ltd (SCL), Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), Shahidi Wa Maji (SwM), and Conservation Farming Unit Tanzania (CFU).
The project responds to the escalating impacts of climate change on food security, economic stability and gender inequality in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). This integrated and holistic climate resilience initiative deploys proven gender-responsive and climate-smart agriculture, nature-positive climate change adaptation and inclusive economic empowerment strategies to enhance the climate resilience of the most vulnerable food-insecure communities, particularly women and youth.
The project is implemented in 300 villages from five District Councils of Kilolo, Iringa, Mufindi, Wanging’ombe and Mbarali, in three regions of Iringa, Mbeya and Njombe.
The project is expected to directly reach 175,282 beneficiaries, out of which 70 per cent will be women and 30 per cent will be youth aged between 20-35 years.
