In Tanzania, helping the farming community adapt its practices to climate change

In Tanzania, more than half of the agricultural population is exposed to the effects of climate change, affecting about 36 million people. These climate related risks are particularly important for rural women small-scale farmers compared to their male counterparts. Social norms and cultural practices prevent economic gains and marginalize women in decision-making, including access to and use of resources.

To address climate vulnerability among small-scale farmers, in particular women, CARE France, with CARE Tanzania, the Wageningen University (WUR), and the Sokoine University Graduate Entrepreneurs Cooperative (SUGECO) proposes to evaluate a model combining two programs (FFBS and VSLA) already implemented in Burundi between 2016 and 2020, with a gender-based approach in Tanzania.

• Farmer Field and Business Schools (FFBS) is a participatory, women-focused program developed by CARE, which helps smallholder farmers acquire the skills they need to increase production, improve resilience, adapt to climate change.
• Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) Savings Groups are self-managed groups of 20-30 individual members from within a community who meet regularly to save their money in a safe space, access small loans and obtain emergency insurance.
• Social Analysis and Action (SAA) is CARE’s approach to transforming gender norms through which individuals explore and challenge the social norms, beliefs, and practices that shape their lives and health.

The project relies on Gender Transformative Household Champions trained in villages to strengthen the capacity of women farmers in several areas such as self-esteem, the improvement of knowledge and skills, the increase of autonomy and decision-making power, their ability to create businesses and hence shift power relations.

FID funding aims to evaluate this model, which will be tested with 38,400 people in three districts of Tanzania.

The overall intended impact of the project is to provide better climate resilience, household food security and nutrition, gender equality, and improved income to small-scale farmers.

This evaluation aims to measure and gather evidence on the impact of the two integrated programs, Farmer Field and Business Schools (FFBS) and Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), as well as the evidence gap related to the impact of their scaling strategies through Social Analysis and Action (SAA), reflected below:

• The influence of the gender approach, Social Analysis and Action, on empowerment and gender norms
• The social return of this innovation