““For the communities to thrive and live in harmony with nature, we need girls and women at the centre. The women leaders who contributed to shaping our nature call for the government, policymakers, donors and relevant stakeholders to recognize, document, acknowledge, report and support the work of women and girls in nature.””
In October 2023, Youth4Nature conducted a series of activities under a newly launched project, She Shapes Nature, in Dar es Salaam and Pwani Region. A storytelling outreach project, She Shapes Nature focuses on collecting and amplifying the stories of local girls and women working in the nature-based economy in Tanzania under the following categories:
The Women in Circular Economy
The Women in Seaweed Cultivation
The Women in Land Farming
The Women in Mangrove Restoration
Her Story for Change
WHAT AND WHY “SHE SHAPES NATURE”?
Y4N Global Ambassador, Zuhura Ahmad.
SHE SHAPES NATURE is our first and most important storytelling outreach project in Tanzania. Through visual storytelling and photo stories, it is designed to spotlight girls’ and women's perspectives, knowledge, and actions on nature and climate.
We often see an underrepresentation of women's voices and a lack of recognition of girls' and women’s contributions to the nature and climate nexus, particularly regarding livelihoods and the economy. Therefore, She Shapes Nature aims to strengthen the evidence base, understanding and analysis of the role of women and girls as agents of change in achieving climate and biodiversity goals and targets. Such evidence includes insights from women in the blue economy, mangrove restoration, land farming and circular economy. Led by our Storytelling Global Ambassador in Tanzania, Zuhura Ahmad, the project's initial phase included collecting narratives in the field and hosting knowledge-sharing and capacity-building dialogues on the ground.
Meet the Women and Girls Shaping Nature
She Shapes Nature Series aims to provide knowledge about the thoughts and solutions that women are already implementing in Africa. Historically, the knowledge from women, especially from the local communities, has been left at the margin. That hasn’t happened by accident: those disruptive forms of knowledge were obscured through colonisation. It is past time to change that and highlight the visionary work and expertise of women from Afrika, especially those who belong to social groups that have been historically excluded and exploited.
Below are some snapshots of our story-collection fieldwork that took place in October last year. Full stories will be published at a later date, so keep an eye on Y4N’s communication platforms.
field trip 1: Women in circular economy - turning “waste into wealth”
field trip 2: Women in seaweed farming (Blue economy)
field trip 3: women in land farming - Mixed farming (kiwanga, Bagamoyo)
field trip 4: Women in mangrove restoration
field trip 5: Her story for change
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE KNOWLEDGE-SHARING SESSION?
Following the field-based outreach, on October 23, we gathered 15 women and girls from our field visits together to share and exchange their thoughts and solutions on unlocking the sustainability of underrepresented women-led roles and actions in shaping nature. The session was a platform for a transformative conversation in green, blue and circular economy and for women to connect with their fellows, environmental experts, and nature-climate advocates. It was a crucial stepping stone towards a more intersectional perspective on sustaining the roles and actions of women and girls in shaping nature and advocating for transformative change.
A holistic appreciation of nature is crucial to ensure people and the planet flourish. With this in mind, the goals of the activity were to:
Learn and share about the contributions and actions of women in our nature
Collaborate and network as women and girls in the nature-based economy
Brainstorm and inspire women and girl-led action for nature and climate
In the end, the She Shapes Nature workshop brought about six key conclusions and ways forward:
Stories are all about change, whether it’s behaviour, attitude, knowledge, or skills, and we can all relate well to this because change is really the only constant we know.
Nature doesn’t need us; we need nature! To ensure that we shape our nature, we must work consistently and promote sustainability to live in harmony with nature.
You’re not too small to make a difference in shaping nature. If you think you’re too small, look at the size of a mosquito and its impact.
Waste is wealth!
Women have the potential, willingness and skills to contribute to various work that shapes our nature. However, they lack support and recognition, and their work is not documented by the government and stakeholders, which hinders the ability to measure their impact on nature.
Education, facilities, resources and knowledge are much needed to strengthen women in working towards shaping nature.
FINAL REFLECTION FROM the “SHEROES” OF SHE SHAPES NATURE
“Learnt a lot of things, cemented with other women doing great things on nature, today’s take away is about ‘blue economy’”. - Feedback from a workshop participant.
All in all, it’s taken us a long time to figure out what is that we do in nature and what our contribution is supposed to be. Moments like this one make us think more intentionally about how we need to unlock the potential of underrepresented women, who are already shaping our beautiful nature for people and the planet.
We extend a special thanks to everyone who made this outreach possible for us! Stay tuned to learn more about the stories we collected and future She Shapes Nature activities.