Empowering women in business through improved chicken in Tanzanian

In the coastal villages of Tanzania’s Lindi region, where the sun warms the earth year-round, Debora Elimeleki Munisi once raised local chickens, which, though resilient and traditionally valued, had a slow growth that did not inspire moving beyond subsistence farming. “I started with local chicken, but they always gave me losses. So I decided to search for more modern breeds that could grow faster,” she says. Eggs came in trickles, sales meant long trips, and help from vets was rare. Across the country in Kilimanjaro’s highland villages, women like Elitruda Kweka faced the same challenges. Like Debora and Elitruda, many women balanced family duties with farming, held back by old ideas that women should handle household chores and business belongs to men. These problems ran deep: no steady chicks supply, no close advice, no fair markets. They kept families in poverty and blocked bigger change.

The Women in Business (WiB) project (2019 – 2022), led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), set out to change that. The WiB created an “enabling environment” by working with local experts to foster open discussions and strategic support that championed the embrace of women in commercial farming and business ventures. Working across four districts in Lindi and Kilimanjaro regions, the project started by gathering info on the gender norms, strategically onboarded partners with a clear purpose, then organized a business incubation process. As a result it trained 20 young women with veterinary skills as “vendors”—trusted local advisors who supplied strong Kuroiler chickens, gave vaccines and care tips, and connected farmers to city buyers. This setup turned small farms into steady income sources.

Anande Munisi, a new graduate without a job, joined as a vendor. The Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (TALIRI) identified and delivered the improved chicken (Kuroiler) and AKM Glitters did bulk hatching and supply of day old chicks to vendors like Anande. She cared for chicks for 28 days and administered all essential vaccines before delivery to farmers. She also visited farmers homes to inspect their chicken houses and teach basics. “Something that I have embraced that makes me unique from other vendors… is that first of all I always inspect the chicken housing status before I sell the chicks to a farmer,” Anande says in a WiB video. Her client Ndeninsia Mushi calls her key: “Anande has been a blessing to us, for since she came here, she’s been helping us with the purchase and delivery of chicks, their vaccination, health inspection and treatment, and overall fast disease control.”

WiB made sure money flowed easy too. Regular checks on progress showed local leaders and implementing partners the gains: women earning more, young people starting farms. This built trust. Some partners in Ruangwa district offered to facilitate low-interest loans from women’s funds—13.01 million Tanzanian shillings by 2022—to two farmer groups with 20 women. This helped buy feed and build chicken houses. Councils in Siha and Mtama  also added vendor support to their 2023 plans. “At the Siha Council, we have decided we did not want to lose these young women after the project (pilot) ended,” says the district fisheries and livestock officer, Conjesta Pastory. No big pushes needed; the results inspired continuity among vendors and support from partners.

Norms were the toughest part. WiB met them with #BintiShujaaz, a campaign with Shujaaz Inc. on social media, talk shows on radio stations and in-person dialogues. Started in October 2021, it shared stories of women farmers, reaching 4.4 million young people and 507,000 shares by March 2023. Vendor Happyness Kihundwa felt the lift: “This project helped me to know and better do brooding from the first step to the end. We were taught the theory of brooding in college, but there was no practice.”

The environment WiB created paid off big. By 2021–2022, 17 of the 20 vendors delivered over 21,666 Kuroiler chicks to more than 4,216 farms (2,895 run by women). Incomes grew as birds sold for 10,000 to 25,000 shillings ($4–$9) in cities. Elitruda Kweka started in May 2021: “I started chicken farming in May last year… After one year I sold all the old chickens, which allowed me to pay for my son schooling fees, and I was able to add the activity of dairy cow rearing.” Debora built on it: “Since I met Brenda, my monthly income has increased compared to the past.” Provisional assessments through a follow-up survey show that empowerment rose 15% more in WiB project areas than in others.

ILRI’s work here shows how enabling setups — strategy, teams, and gender transformative information campaigns — make scaling real. WiB now shifts to dairy in Dodoma and Zambia with plans for goats in South Sudan, sheep in Lesotho, and more in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda via the Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods (SAAF) program. See the WiB project phase-out blog, 2025 CGIAR Flagship Report, or effectiveness study (PDF), and/or listen to the ILRI podcast.

Reyna Mrema, a vendor who consequently moved from an iron sheet hut to a brick home, says it clear: “This project helped me a lot… Now I can afford 3 million shillings (US$ 1290) for fees, something I couldn’t before.” WiB proves CGIAR builds paths where none existed. Could this mix of partnership leveraged on local trust, smart funds, and bold stories unlock scaling in other places too?

Read the full Enabling Environment Success Story: 

Compiled by the CGIAR Scaling for Impact (S4I) program, the “Enabling Environment Success and Failure Stories” is a collection of accounts that chronicles both the successful and unsuccessful efforts in creating a supportive environment for scaling agrifood system innovations. Through compelling narratives that highlight specific challenges, key players, and outcomes, this series is designed to demonstrate how CGIAR actively influences and strengthens these environments to achieve a wider, more impactful reach.