In pursuit of the overall objective of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), a Workshop on the Elaboration of an Information and Communmications Policy and Plan for the United Republic of Tanzania was held in Dar-es-Salaam from 12 to 15 May, 1997. The workshop was facilitated by the Tanzanian Planning Commission and it brought together information technology experts, senior government officials and private sector leaders. The objectives of the workshop were:

• to secure the commitment of the Government of Tanzania to the process of formulating a national information and communications policy and plan;

• to set up national mechanisms to assist in the development, coordination and implementation of the plan; and

• to develop strategies to resource mobilization.

The participants of the workshop urged the government of Tanzania to set-up a steering committee with a secretariat at the Planning Commission responsible for drafting a programme of action towards the elaboration of an information and communication policy. In this pursuit, UNECA has been requested to assist the Government in the mobilisation of additional financial resources.

Aside from the activities of the workshop, the development process to elaborate a national information and communication policy and plan for Tanzania did not materialise at the time.

In order to assist developing countries in articulating their demand for ICT applications, the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) facilitated National ICT Roundtables. The Roundtables focus on the identification, development and implementation of an ICT policy and pilot projects. A National ICT Roundtable was held in Dar-es-Salaam on June 4-10, 1998. The Industry and Agricultre Department within the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce (TCCIA) organised the workshop with support from the Ministry of Transport and Communication. The participants of the Roundtable devised the following recommendations:

• ICT policy recomendations should be consistent with and embedded in the current legal framework to ensure continuity.

• ICT policy should address the fear of loss of cultural heritage, threats to traditional values and the potential exclusion of certain factions in the society.

• ICT policy should support the necssary curricula to develop the availability of an adequate ICT skill base; and

• ICT policy should consider identifying relevant criteria to ensure the sustainability of ICT initiatives, which includes the maintenance of concepts and contingency planning.

The workshop effectuated five project proposals:

1. Community Telecentres: the telecentres offer a range of tailor-made information services, on the subjects of local government, environmental issues, education, health care and agriculture. So far a good start has been made to create a national network connecting regional community centres.

2. ICT Awareness Project: the project aims at enhancing awareness in the Tanzanian society about current and future implementation of ICT in all sectors of society. The primary focus will be education.

3. Indexing Geographical Based Information: the project aims to develop an index of presently available geographic information systems in Tanzania.

4. Improvement of Communication Between Districts: the project will strive to improve the information flow within the government system for the purpose of enabling an authority in each district to access information from other districts.

5. Computerisation of District Profiles: the project will establish an information point for a number of districts in Tanzania with the main objective of provinding an up-to-date statistical information on all relevant economic and social aspects of each district for decision makers, investors, farmers, and others.

The National ICT Roundtable of Tanzania aims at deepening common understanding of the potential role of ICT in national development processes, share by national stakeholders in the ICT market in Tanzania. The National ICT Roundtable consists of three phases: (i) two short workshops for formulation ICT policy priorities and for the identification of ICT demonstration and action-research projects; (ii) ICT project formulation; and (iii) Fundraising and Partnering. The National ICT Roundtable is led by the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. Support from International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) focuses on capacity building and on capturing 'lessons learned' and 'best practices'.

Tanzania has made a considerable progress in information and communication policy formulation recently. In addition to assistance provided by the International Institute for Communications Development (IICD) and the Economic Commission for Africa in organizing workshops on ICT policy, Tanzania has taken a step to engender public-private partnership through a group known as e-Think Tank.

The e-think Tank is an informal association of people interested in ICT for Tanzania’s development. The mission of the e-Think Tank 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. The International Institute for Communication Development organized an ICT policy workshop on 5th September 2001 at which an interim draft ICT policy framework document was discussed. The consultative process is expected to continue for few months resulting in a draft policy document that was considered by stakeholders in May 2002.

The first Tanzanian National ICT Policy was approved by Cabinet in March 2003. The Policy document is available at the Ministry of Communications and Transport website.

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