Couples training report - Southern highlands of Tanzania. Building Gender Equitable Resilience for Adaptation to Climate Across Bean Crop and Insect Corridors (BRAINS)

The BRAINS project convened twenty couples from five villages in Rungwe district, Mbeya Region, for a two-day (March 10 and 11 2025) participatory couples training on joint decision-making, equitable division of labour, and shared control over income within common bean, beneficial insects, and avocado production systems. Activities including Daily Activity Clocks, the Decision Wheel, and Vision Journeys exposed a heavy and largely invisible workload carried by women and decision-making patterns still tilted toward men despite ballots favouring joint choices. Couples left with concrete seasonal and two-year plans and gendered commitments to change. Sustained follow-up visits will be critical to translate this momentum into lasting household-level change.