Help put Tanzania’s civic tech on the map
We’re looking to build a community of digital activists who can help build the country.
Civic tech in Tanzania may not be quite as well developed as in some of its neighbours — largely due to the fact widespread internet access has been slower to achieve, but it’s taking hold and there’s plenty that community-minded developers, open-data advocates and digital-native journalists can achieve.
But civic technologists don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Software solutions to pressing developmental challenges already exist elsewhere in the world, and often simply need be customised or adapted to local requirements. Likewise, applications developed in Tanzania is likely to be appropriate for reuse elsewhere in East Africa, and the rest of the world.
The challenge is discovery: end-user organisations and technologists are seldom aware of existing solutions elsewhere and/or struggle to find credible recommendations that are sensitive to local operational requirements.
That’s why Code for Tanzania is helping to put together a catalogue of recommended best-of-breed civic technology solutions (inclusive of web tools, apps, APIs, etc.) that support the open data ecosystem of data users and data producers. We’re calling it AfricanCOMMONS and we need your help to build a comprehensive library, and make sure that the right people know it exists.
If you are a part of or know of any civic tech initiatives in Tanzania please help us map out the civic tech scene in Tanzania by filling out details of these projects here.
AfricanCOMMONS is a platform to showcase re-useable tools built across Africa and the people & organizations building them.
To find out more about the project, visit commons.africa.
AfricanCOMMONS is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its local Code for Tanzania chapter, and the World Bank, in partnership with a coalition of local civil society organisations, with additional support from the International Center for Journalists(ICFJ).
