In Tarime District, on the edge of northern Tanzania’s Serengeti ecosystem, daily life is shaped by resilience. The Kuria community is rich in culture, yet many women and girls face intersecting challenges: poverty, limited economic opportunities, and harmful practices such as gender-based violence, child marriage, and female genital mutilation (FGM). For many families, these realities quietly limit their potential across generations.
Naomi Lucas, a mother from Tarime, knows this struggle firsthand. She was named as less important among her peers in the community. For years, she relied on irregular casual labour just to survive. While her income was unpredictable, her family’s future was uncertain. Like trying to fill a leaking bucket, no matter how hard she worked, stability remained out of reach.
Through Children’s Dignity Forum (CDF), Naomi was reached with an integrated approach that combined economic empowerment with social transformation. She received vocational training in tailoring and was provided with a sewing machine, a simple tool that became the foundation of lasting change. Today, Naomi earns a steady income, pays her child’s school fees, rents farmland, and invests in agricultural inputs. She has also diversified her earnings by starting a small porridge-selling business, strengthening her household resilience.
“I now get money to pay for my child’s school fees. With other funds, I rent farms and buy fertilizers and seeds,” says Naomi.
But Naomi’s transformation did not stop with income. She has organized other women to join her advocacy initiatives, creating safe spaces for dialogue and shared learning. Together, they speak openly in churches, markets, health facilities, and homes about the harmful effects of FGM, gender-based violence, and child marriage, and about the importance of protecting girls’ dignity and rights.
”Our group of young women has educated mothers and fathers on the negative effects of FGM,” says Naomi.
Now, Naomi is more than economically independent; she is a voice of change. In churches, markets, health facilities, and homes, she speaks openly about the harms of FGM and the importance of protecting girls’ dignity. Much like lighting one lamp that then illuminates many others, empowering Naomi has sparked change beyond her household.
Naomi’s journey shows that change is most sustainable when economic security and social awareness move hand in hand. When women have the means to support their families and the confidence to claim their rights, they become trusted voices for girls’ protection and community wellbeing. CDF’s continued initiatives in approaches that nurture both livelihood resilience and social leadership are essential to ensure that more women can follow this path, transforming individual progress into lasting, generational impact.
