Frontier Technology Futures: DFID Tanzania
In June this year, DFID’s Frontier Tech Futures programme visited DFID’s office in Tanzania to engage staff and partners on the opportunities and challenges of integrating new technological solutions into development programming. This engagement is an integral component of the Frontier Tech portfolio, which supports DFID Departments with a tailored package of support on emerging tech opportunities and future trends. This first wave of the programme will support up to 8 DFID departments before March 2020. This visit to Tanzania explored connections with the tech innovation ecosystem in Dar Es Salaam, and considered the issues affecting the impact technological innovation is able to have on development in Tanzania, both through HOW we support Tanzania’s development, and WHAT issues Tanzania should consider.
The following questions had a presence throughout many of the sessions of the week:
How might Tanzania ensure necessary skills are developed in the future workforce? We heard that Tanzania currently has an entrepreneurship and innovation skills gap. Whether it is predominantly the place of education institutions or private sector employers to provide the necessary upskilling is a matter of debate, political will and policy choices. Certainly, there are implications for the curricula taught by Universities and other institutions in Tanzania, though exactly how formal education and lifelong learning, including reskilling, will need to evolve is not a trivial question. NESTA recently argued that, counterintuitively, the demand for digital skills will reduce in the future. And in addition to updating formal skill sets, workforces across the globe are requiring further support in building social and emotional skills including creativity and collective problem-solving abilities.
How might Tanzania better leverage the potential of Digital Platforms? With increasing connectivity across Tanzania, online platforms and market places present an opportunity for trade and information exchange. Social networking site Jamii Forums have over 10 million members, with 600k daily visitors. The platform is used by parliamentarians and politicians to directly respond to individuals and civil society. Uber is widely used throughout Dar and other big cities in Tanzania. There is the potential for digital platforms, such as these, to play a significant role in Tanzania’s economic development, as well as to support start-ups. However, they are often themselves run by start-ups struggling to establish and maintain financial sustainability.
How, then, might DFID and partners better support the Tanzanian innovation ecosystem? Achieving and sustaining a step-change in development outcomes, via innovation, requires multiple and interconnected actors (the eco-system) to work together effectively. Tanzania’s Human Development Innovation Fund (HDIF) took a conscious decision to focus on the Tanzanian individual benefitting from innovation, and to remain agnostic regarding the nationality of the entrepreneur / innovator. An alternative approach could be to more directly focus support to the ecosystem. One way to do so could be to support and work through incubators and accelerators, many of which, we heard, struggle for financial assistance. The Pathways for Prosperity Commission, in their background paper on Tanzania, highlight that Tanzania has at best a handful of hubs in an ecosystem than needs one hundred, however actors we met in Tanzania felt that donor-funded hubs bring as many problems as they solve.
How might DFID and partners support Tanzania to identify promising innovations and support their pathway to scale? DFID’s innovation support in Tanzania (primarily through HDIF) has to date largely “let a thousand flowers bloom”. This approach has enabled a number of promising innovations to emerge, including, for example, the Silverleaf academy. DFID-Tanzania are also leading two Frontier Tech Livestreaming pilots — Z-Roads and eWaterPay. By providing broad support at the early stage, there is a risk that promising innovations may not receive the deeper, follow-on support needed to scale. HDIF could play a role in drawing lessons from across their portfolio and more broadly, identifying promising innovations and entrepreneurs, and facilitating the follow-on support and connections needed. This could be via private investment or other development programmes, both in-country and centrally managed (eg the Global Innovation Fund).
How might Tanzania concentrate efforts on delivering a step-change in impact on a small(er) number of priority issues? Whilst innovation is relevant to all programming and development, there may be merit in focusing more intentionally on a small(er) number of issues / sectors within which to effect a step-change in impact. For instance, sessions in the week included deliberate consideration of the challenges facing the delivery of quality education in Tanzania, following the abolition of school fees, and the teacher shortage resulting in an average class size of 150. EdTech may or may not provide some answers to the challenge of delivering quality education in these conditions, but a concerted push by DFID to explore the role technology and innovation may play in providing a new perspective on the challenge may be of value. One way to do so could be the inclusion of a Disbursement Linked Indicator on innovation / technology in new Budget Support for Education. Other focus sectors could include Agriculture and Infrastructure, to name but two.
