CGIAR in Tanzania support mothers of children living with disabilities on International Women’s Day
To mark the International Women’s Day (IWD), on 9 March 2026, CGIAR women staff in Tanzania, led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), stepped away from their offices and research work to visit the Antonia Verna Rehabilitation Center for children living with disabilities in Kawe Municipal, Dar es Salaam.
This year’s IWD under the UN theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls” was a call to action to dismantle barriers such as discriminatory laws, weak protection and harmful norms to ensure equal rights for all women and girls. The official campaign theme “Give to Gain” emphasized collaboration and reciprocity because when individuals, organizations and communities give through donations, mentoring, time or resources, everyone gains. The visit by the CGIAR to the rehabilitation center targeted the women caring for children with disabilities, whose contributions in Tanzania are often ignored or forgotten.
Over one million children under 18 are estimated to be living with disability across Tanzania, and a significant number of their primary caregivers, mostly women, report experiencing domestic violence linked to disability and social stigma within the family. These mothers, aunts, and other guardians carry out demanding and largely unrecognized work of raising children with disability in a country where that work is almost entirely unsupported.
“As women and mothers, we understand your exhaustion and the sacrifice you make every day to care for these children. We appreciate the support the center offers these women and these children,” said Mwantumu Omary, a researcher at IITA.a researcher at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
These women caregivers experience what advocates and researchers call “double discrimination and compounded inequalities”. Living in a society that still, in many spaces, measures a woman’s worth through productivity, marriage, and motherhood, they are disadvantaged at the intersection of gender bias and disability stigma. The children, meanwhile, are often treated as burdens, sources of shame, or targets of ridicule.
Many women with children living with disabilities also face difficult tradeoffs. They often leave income-generating work to give full-time care to their children, which exposes them to economic risks with no safety net. Some are abandoned by spouses who reject children with disability, while others face judgment from their communities or religious circles. Over time, the combined weight of exhaustion and stigma can make it hard to sustain relationships or maintain a sense of connection, leading to social isolation.
“We are grateful for your visit. It has renewed our strength and given us new hope despite our challenges,” said Eva Moses, one of the mothers at the Antonia Verna Rehabilitation Center.
During the visit, the CGIAR women donated diapers as well as food items such as fortified flour, soybean, rice, and powdered milk to help address malnutrition among the children and a cash contribution towards health insurance.
“CGIAR recognizes that supporting the youth, women, and people with disabilities plays an important role in achieving more equitable and sustainable food systems,” Anthony Whitbread, Tanzania country representative for the International Livestock Research Institute reflected. “Our work is about creating an environment that better supports business opportunities and the creation of decent and fulfilling jobs.”
The occasion gave both groups of women the opportunity to recognize that, despite their different backgrounds, they share common challenges, and that a shared understanding is the foundation from which women can work together. Staff from IITA, the ILRI, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and WorldFish, participated in the visit.
ILRI's gender program recognizes that women in food and livestock systems cannot contribute fully when they remain economically excluded and socially marginalized. Caregiving mothers of children with disabilities are primary household decision-makers whose capacity to contribute is severely constrained by stigma and lack of support. Across CGIAR, reaching the women most excluded by intersecting inequalities is the test to whether the gender agenda is real across households in agrifood systems.