Dr. Betty Mntambo
About me
Dr. Betty David Mntambo is a Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Gender Unit and Gender Desk at the Open University of Tanzania. She also oversees the Master of Arts in Gender Studies program and serves as the Gender Focal Person for the World Bank–funded Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) Project. She holds a PhD in International Development from the University of East Anglia and brings over 15 years of experience in higher education, gender research, and policy advocacy. Her areas of expertise include gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender-based violence, and informal sector dynamics. Dr. Mntambo has made significant contributions through academic publications, policy development, and participation in national and international conferences and workshops.
Dr. Betty David Mntambo is a Tanzanian gender and development scholar, Senior Lecturer, and policy practitioner with over fifteen years of experience in teaching, research, gender mainstreaming, and institutional leadership. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), where she also serves as Coordinator of the Gender Unit and Gender Desk, providing strategic leadership on gender equality, gender-based violence (GBV) prevention, and inclusive learning environments.
Dr. Mntambo holds a PhD in International Development from the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom), awarded under the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. Her academic training spans rural development, poverty analysis, agricultural education, and environmental health, providing her with a strong interdisciplinary foundation in the social and economic sciences. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research focuses on gender relations, urban and peri-urban agriculture, land tenure, food systems, and women’s livelihoods.
She has substantial experience in internationally funded research and policy-oriented projects. Notably, Dr. Mntambo served as Co-Investigator on the British Academy–funded project Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as Green Infrastructure (2019–2023), implemented across the United Kingdom, India, and Tanzania under the Global Challenges Research Fund. In this role, she led coordination and monitoring of the Tanzanian research team, managed project finances, oversaw data collection and analysis, and contributed to academic publications, policy briefs, and stakeholder engagement.
Dr. Mntambo is also the Gender Focal Person for Tanzania’s Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) Project supported by the World Bank, and a UNESCO National Consultant on advancing gender-responsive career services in applied STEM fields in East Africa. She has published widely, supervised over 50 Master’s students and several PhD candidates, and serves as an external examiner and journal reviewer. Through her scholarship and leadership, she remains committed to advancing women in science, strengthening gender-responsive institutions, and bridging research, policy, and practice.
Degrees:
b. Mntambo, B. (2024). Social, economic, and policy impacts of urban and peri-urban agriculture. In Sustainable Urban Agriculture: New Frontiers. CRC Press.
c. Mntambo, B. (2021). Land tenure security and urban agriculture: Focusing on the vegetable cultivation in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania. Huria Journal, 28(1), 1–19.
d. Mntambo, B. (2021). How does gardening activity fit into the lives and gendered responsibilities of women? The case of vegetable cultivation in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania. Journal of Education, Humanities and Sciences, 10(2), 53–68.