A new digital transformation roadmap for Tanzania

In December 2022, the African Union – European Union (AU-EU) Digital for Development (D4D) Hub kicked off a new technical assistance mission to develop a new digital transformation roadmap for Tanzania. The purpose is to assist the country in achieving regional leadership in the digital economy field and to develop fundamental ICT services, structural registers, and applications that will enhance the delivery of digital services.

For nine months, the e-Governance Academy (eGA) and the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications (ITL) will work with Tanzania’s Information and Communication Technologies Commission (ICTC) and the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology to identify digital transformation bottlenecks and accelerators, outline a capacity building plan, and provide recommendations concerning the development of a legal environment that supports digital transformation. The roadmap will focus on a three-year implementation period and will include a pilot project on the digital economy.

“The technical assistance that we are providing in Tanzania through the AU-EU D4D Hub project will help the Tanzanian Government identify the country’s needs and priorities to be taken to advance the digital transformation of the public administration, the private sector, and the society as a whole,” said Marit Lani, Programme Director of Smart Governance at eGA.

The mission will start with conducting a digital readiness review, which will focus on assessing Tanzania’s progress in ten key focus areas of digital development. The mission will also comprise a study visit of Tanzanian civil servants to Estonia. The latter is part of a training component aimed at increasing local capacity to drive and implement the roadmap.

This technical assistance mission builds on previous collaborations between Tanzania and Team Europe through the AU-EU D4D Hub project. In May 2022, a Tanzanian delegation participated in the e-Governance Conference in Tallinn, Estonia. This activity was followed by a knowledge sharing workshop on effective e-government ecosystems organised by ITL at the Tanzania Annual ICT Conference which took place in October 2022. Moreover, also in May 2022, Enabel and the European Union Delegation to Tanzania facilitated a workshop on data protection and cybersecurity at Innovation Week Tanzania.