IT-brains of Tanzania band together in eThink Tank
By Andreas Lindqvist
For: The Business Times (1st - 7th September 2000)

An eThink Tank has since the beginning of this year been working to help Tanzania harness the development of information and communications technologies (ICT). The people behind this non-governmental and independent institution, all coming from businesses, and organizations involved one way or the other in information technology, have come together to present the public and Government with ideas and suggestions to help the transition of the country into the information age.

The eThink Tank's mission is to offer ICT leadership by catalyzing policy changes and by supporting related developments aimed at enabling Tanzanians to participate effectively in the modern Internet-based global economy, benefiting the Nation and its partners. 

Among the objectives, is to educate the Tanzanian public in the use of information and communication technology and to make them aware of the benefits available by accessing, sharing, and processing knowledge via modern technologies. Another priority is helping the process of harmonizing Tanzania's ICT policy and regulatory environment with that of neighboring states and partner countries.

At present over 60 people are involved in the Think Tank. They come from various and a very different institution in Tanzania, for example Tanzania People's Defense Force, Raha.com, Yellow Pages, CRDB Bank, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited, and many others. The participants do not directly represent the opinions of the institutions, but rather come because they have the concern about the future development of ICT in Tanzania in common. They meet about once a week to talk about a topic that one of the participants have chosen.

"We have non-Tanzanians in the Think Tank as well", says David J. A. Sawe, director of management information systems at the Civil Service Department, himself a founding member, and active participant in the eThink Tank. 
"The important thing is that it is the people that feel for this country that participate. There are others who are not even living here that are trying to help us towards our aims. People who realize that what we are doing here can be a model for other countries as well", he continues.

The immediate goal of the eThink Tank is to initiate and help in the creation of an ICT Leadership Forum. The Forum is to act as a central specialized council with a mandate from the Government of Tanzania to decide on guidelines and give advice in matters concerning ICT. It will be in the public domain, but is to function as a forum for diverse stakeholders in ICT development, as well as government representatives.

For the development of this council, the Think Tank has sought the assistance of the UNDP, amongst other donors. But Sawe emphasizes that the relation to the UN organization is not purely a matter of seeking funds.

"UNDP is a partner", he says. "What we need from them is global resources. UN is present in over 180 countries around the world, and they have a working group on informatics, which is monitoring the ICT developments of all these countries. They have experience that can benefit us, and facilitate the changes we wish, so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel", he states.

The initial information document that the eThink Tank has compiled about itself and its goals, has already been discussed at a meeting between the Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Department, UN representatives, and participants of the Think Tank. And according to Sawe, the reception was positive. An agreement between the UNDP and the civil service department will be formalized in the near future with the help of the eThink Tank. How many people in the administration have actually seen the document by now, Sawe dare not say. But, as the document is available on the Internet, everybody can access it.

The eThink Tank sees its own role in the long run as being an educator, a supporter, and an advisor of the ICT Leadership Forum. It will remain independent, however. 

"The eThink Tank will be supporting a broad umbrella-like framework within which we can then help plot our government's policies", says Sawe. "For instance, if the eThink Tank members will succeed in creating a council, that council will then be recognized by the government, and will be a focal point for ICT development in Tanzania. It will include official government representatives, as well as official representatives from various organizations. It will develop a consensus on which to build the ICT development we would like to see in Tanzania", he explains.

All participants are busy people involved in a lot of different areas, and the time they spend on the tank is actually time that they take away from their employers, as Sawe puts it. The work process of the tank is basically freewheeling, and the structure is deliberately loose, in order to benefit from the diversity of its members. Many contributors only participate occasionally, others by e-mail. For all of these reasons the tank prefers to remain informalized for now.

The idea of an eThink Tank was developed over some time between a few friends who all happened to be involved in one way or the other in information technology. At different occasions they would naturally discuss their common working fields. At some point one of them raised the issue of a think tank, and the work started.

"Our meetings are usually one to two hours long", says Sawe. "They are held in conference rooms that are lent to us by one of our employers. One of the members of the Think Tank will do a presentation on a field he or she finds interesting, after which we discuss it", he elaborates.

The information document on the Think tank is available for download at http://ethinktank.intafrica.com/, together with a few presentations, including one by David J. A. Sawe. The think tank is continuously interested in contact with relevant stakeholders involved in ICT in Tanzania.