TIMELINE OF SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES OF eTHINK TANK AND VARIOUS eTHINKERS 

5th Feb 2000 - First meeting of the eThinkTank, as a small group of persons interested in ICT for development in Tanzania

June 2000 - Publication of "eThinkTank Information Document", which articulated our intentions and perspectives, notably with respect to the need for e-Leadership as the most  fundamental issue

29-30th Nov 2000 - eThinkers Emmanuel Ole Kambainei and David Sawe invited by the G8 to represent Tanzania on the Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force), at its first plenary held in Tokyo, Japan

21st Feb 2001 - Public launch of the Interim Steering Committee, the e-Secretariat and the present website, after deep discussions and negotiations among members, then between members and UNDP as well as the Tanzania Government, concerning the best way forward.  On this occasion, the present website was also officially inaugurated, and its creator Ms Hilda Kinyuyu received much applause.

1-2nd March 2001 - eThinkers August Kowero, Simbo Ntiro and David Sawe invited by the G8 to represent Tanzania on the Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force), at its second plenary held in Cape Town, South Africa.  eThinker Emmanuel Ole' Kambainei also attended as an observer representing African Connection

23-24th March 2001 - eThinkers Simbo Ntiro and David Sawe convened a consultative meeting of the eight DOT Force Developing Countries, which was hosted by South Africa's Department of Communications at their offices in Pretoria, South Africa.

23-24th April 2001 - eThinkers Simbo Ntiro and David Sawe invited by the G8 to represent Tanzania on the Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force), at its third plenary held in Siena, Italy

11-15th June 2001 - eThinkers Simbo Ntiro and David Sawe invited to an international workshop on ICT partnerships convened by the International Institute for Communications and Development (IICD) at The Hague, Netherlands

20th June 2001 - Several eThinkers were invited to SIDA's ICT Information Sharing Workshop, Dar es Salaam. This workshop was part of the fact finding that went into creating the SIDA Report on ICT in Tanzania, published in November 2001

29th June 2001 - eThinkTank with IICD jointly hosted a one-day Workshop on eGovernment, eCommerce, and eEducation in Dar es Salaam

17th July 2001 - eThinkTank supported the launch of e-Readiness Survey of Tanzania by COSTECH, sponsored by WorldBank's infoDEV programme

20-22nd July 2001 - eThinker Simbo Ntiro invited to the Genoa G8 Heads of State Summit, along with a limited sample of DOT Force participants, to officially present the DOT Force Report to the Heads of State. Unfortunately, the official presentation ceremony was cancelled because of the violence that engulfed the whole Summit (resulting in the death of protestor), whereby the DOT Force Report was barely reported in the mass media

6-7th Aug 2001 - eThinker David Sawe invited to Working Group on e-Government in Developing Countries, hosted by the Pacific Council on International Policy, sponsored by Microsoft and Oracle in Silicon Valley. Document titled "Roadmap on e-Government for Developing Countries" completed and published in April 2002.

5th Sept 2001 eThinkTank with IICD jointly hosted a one-day Follow-up Workshop to that held on the 29th June, in Dar es Salaam

28th Sept 2001 - eThinkTank partnered with African IT Exhibitions and Conferences (AITEC) in AITEC-Tanzania 2001 exhibition by hosting a one-day conference series at the exhibition venue

8-10th Oct 2001 - eThinkers Simbo Ntiro and David Sawe invited to represent Tanzania at the DOT Force working meeting on the Genoa Plan of Action, held in Montreal, Canada

19th Oct 2001 - Presentation of the Interim Steering Committee's Proposals for an ICT Policy Framework to eThink Tank members at the UNDP conference hall

13th Dec 2001 - Presentation of the Interim Steering Committee's Proposals to the Task Force on  National ICT Policy at the Ministry of Communications and Transport.

17th Jan 2002 - eThinkTank members participated in preparing and submitting a proposal for an infoDev Planning Grant towards a Tanzania Development Gateway

29-30th Jan 2002 - eThinker Simbo Ntiro invited to attend the International Policy Dialogue on eReadiness held at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, Germany

6-8th Feb 2002 - eThinker David Sawe invited by Commonwealth IT Network (COMNET-IT) as resource person on Institutional Requirements for eGovernance, at a Workshop sponsored by Commonwealth Secretariat and GTZ on "Effective Government through Information Management" convened by SADC's Centre for Specialisation for Public Administration and Management, and hosted by the Government of Mauritius, at the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in Port Louis, Mauritius

12-15th Feb 2002 - Several eThinkers, who are also members of the Task Force on National ICT Policy, attended a retreat in Morogoro, Tanzania, to work on the Draft National ICT Policy

8-9th Mar 2002 - eThinkers David and Simbo, jointly invited by the Government of Italy and the United Nations Organisation, attended the High Level Discussion Group on the Action Plan on e-Government for Development, in preparation of the "International Conference on e-Government for Development",  held in Palermo on 10-11th April, 2002

6-8th May 2002 - Final meeting of DOT Force at Calgary, Canada, in preparation of report back to G8 Summit of 26-27th June 2002 at Kananaskis, Canada.  The meeting also reached agreements with the UN ICT Task Force on integrating the activities whose implementation DOT Force had initiated.

25th May 2002 - Launch of the National ICT Policy Draft Document at a National Stakeholders' Conference held at the Royal Palm Hotel in Dar es Salaam. A copy of the Policy Draft as well as details of the event (including speeches and presentations) are available by following this link.

26-27th July 2002 - eThinker Simbo Ntiro invited to the Kananaskis G8 Heads of State Summit in Canada, along with a limited sample of DOT Force participants, to officially present the DOT Force Report Card "Leadership for Change" to the G8 Heads of State at a media event held on 25th July.