Women’s Economic Empowerment in Tanzania: A Comparative Analysis of Government and Non-Government Programmes

Abstract

Women’s economic empowerment is a central focus of development initiatives in Tanzania, yet its measurement across economic empowerment programmes remains limited. This study examines the levels and determinants of women’s economic empowerment from 385 small-scale livestock fattening, assessed using the Project-Level Women Empowerment in Agricultural Index and fractional logit regression. Results show that women in non-government programmes demonstrate higher level of economic empowerment (85.5%) than those in government programme (59.2%). The study identifies married women, education, training, alternative loan and sociocultural norms as factors influencing economic empowerment levels. While economic empowerment programmes mitigate women’s constraints, their effectiveness diminishes when training misaligns with women practical needs and in communities with low supportive sociocultural norms. To enhance empowerment, programmes should tailor training content to women needs, adopt community-based awareness campaigns to enhance spousal engagement and strengthen service delivery systems. These measures can foster inclusivity and improvement in women’s economic empowerment.