Science and technology in Tanzania
In common with much of Africa, growing indebtedness and falling commodity prices forced the country to adopt a series of structural adjustment programmes proposed by the International Monetary Fund between 1986 and the early 2000s.
GDP per capita remains low by the standards of other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) but nevertheless progressed between 2009 and 2013.
The plan uses the phrase ‘business unusual’ to encapsulate its ambition of graduating to a middle-income, semi-industrial economy by 2025, a goal first set out in the Tanzania Development Vision to 2025 (1999).
In April 2017, construction got underway of the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway system, which will extend into Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The establishment of the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Arusha in 2011 should augment Tanzania’s academic capacity considerably.
[5] A 2011 review of higher education in Tanzania found a certain indifference to research and resistance to change in the institutional culture of universities.
These showed an administrative bias, despite policy instruments being in place to develop and finance the traditional tasks of higher education, training, research and extension.
The study also pinpointed 'the lack of institutional and national mechanisms for assessing research performance' and the 'limited efforts in attracting the private sector, individuals, business people, trade unions and community organizations into contributing significantly to the national science, technology and innovation effort by way of funding or shared sponsorship of research programmes'.
[7][8][9][10][11] By 2013, the most recent year with data as of 2021 according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the United Republic of Tanzania devoted 0.51% of GDP to research and development.
[1] A 2011 assessment of women scientists’ participation in science, engineering and technological industries found that patriarchy and male dominance continued to influence gender inequalities in Tanzanian society and that this, in turn, had a negative impact on the levels of participation of women scientists even within industries based on science and engineering.
COSTECH co-ordinates a number of research institutes engaged with industry, health care, agriculture, natural resources, energy and the environment.
The reform was implemented under the umbrella of the One UN programme, which had been launched the previous year, inspired by a report by a high-level task force proposing that the United Nations focus on Delivering as One.
Peter Msolla, Tanzanian Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, told fellow ministers attending the High-level Segment of the meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission on 1 July 2008 that, ‘without a dose of innovation [in Tanzania], the macro-economic gains achieved over the years through the implementation of sound economic policies would be wiped out.’ Under the umbrella of the One UN Initiative, UNESCO and government departments and agencies formulated a series of proposals for a total reform budget of US$10 million, to be financed from the One UN fund and other sources.
[3] As of early 2021, there are plans to establish an accreditation body for ICT professionals and a separate mechanism connecting training institutions to employers.
In addition to offering public and private entities services such as data storage and back-up and domain registration, the Centre has ventured into fintech; in July 2020, it launched the N-Card enabling digital payments.
Tanzanian scientists and graduate students from universities and national agricultural research organizations are entitled to apply to this fund for fellowships and to attend training workshops at BecA.
The Ebola epidemic in 2014 highlighted the challenge of mobilizing funds, equipment and human resources to manage a rapidly evolving health crisis.
In 2015, the United States of America decided to invest US$1 billion over the next five years in preventing, detecting and responding to future infectious disease outbreaks in 17 countries, within its Global Health Security Agenda.
The others are: (in Africa) Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda; (in Asia): Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Viet Nam.
Ten of the 15 SADC countries must ratify the protocol for it to enter into force but, by 2015, only Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique and South Africa had done so.
The four sectorial areas are: trade and economic liberalization, infrastructure, sustainable food security and human and social development.
In 2013, ministers responsible for the environment and natural resources approved the development of the SADC Regional Climate Change programme.
