women’s EARTH project

Amplifying the voices and leadership of women through peer-to-peer training in One Health to restore the balance of humans and nature, and enable humans, animals, and ecosystems to thrive.

In the spring of 2017, the EVG Team had the opportunity to meet an inspiring group of women who live in the rural farming town of Aleta Wondo in southern Ethiopia. These women work tirelessly to care for their families, crops, and animals. Daily activities straddle forest and farm, land and water, sick and healthy, and human and animal. Pivoting regularly between these interfaces, these women are on the frontlines of conservation and health challenges that affect humans, animals, and the resources they share. Navigating this dynamic landscape, these women are perfectly poised to serve as community leaders in One Health, the integrative approach required to achieve a healthy balance between humans and nature.

In reflecting upon the inspiring women we have worked with across East Africa and the reciprocal admiration we shared, an idea emerged that led to the launch of the Women's EARTH project. Rooted in cultural exchange and collaborative learning, the women's EARTH project is a U.S. - East African partnership that will focus on providing adaptable training workshops for community women on locally relevant topics in One Health (animal-human-environmental health). The curriculum will be designed largely by the community women, themselves, based on what they collectively identify to be their greatest One Health challenge(s). Workshops will bring in local experts and introduce the concept of One Health, while spanning practical themes in preventive veterinary medicine, biodiversity conservation, and zoonotic disease and prevention. The training will also explore important themes in wildlife and ecosystem health, including natural resource conservation and human-wildlife interdependency.

Although initial plans to roll-out this initiative in southern Ethiopia have been temporarily placed on hold, we have formed a wonderful alliance with FOECOE, a women-led nonprofit in Tanzania. In September of 2021, in partnership with FOECOE, we launched our first flagship EARTH workshop, providing One Health training to women from six communities bordering biodiverse wilderness areas in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Through peer-to-peer training, we plan provide workshops to women in additional communities in this area with the goal of scaling the program to create a network of women’s EARTH centers regionally, and eventually expand the initiative to other countries in East Africa. Please reach out to us if you are interested in learning more about the Women’s EARTH Project or if you would like to donate to this program.