ESTDEV and partners launch Digital4Tanzania

This month, the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV), the Finnish Institute of Public Management (HAUS), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the German Ministry for Digital and Transport began the first Twinning project in Tanzania.

Known as Digital4Tanzania (D4T), the project aims to support Tanzania’s digital transformation by cooperating on e-government reform and connectivity. With financing from the European Union, Twinning allows the public sectors of EU member states to share experiences with colleagues from countries outside of the EU. Digital4Tanzania is the first Twinning project to support digital development in Africa.

D4T consortium partners travelled to Tanzania during the first week of October. There they met with their partners in the Tanzanian Ministry of Information, Communications and Information Technology to prepare an action plan for the next six months, focusing on D4T’s primary goals:

• Support capacity building and skills development in government and private sector cybersecurity and develop privacy and data protection frameworks.
• Enhance interoperability frameworks and strengthen data management and governance skills, enabling an inclusive, transparent and efficient data-driven public sector.
• Improve skills and capacity in the private sector, particularly within the cybersecurity and privacy and data protection research communities, while addressing the digital gender divide.

In a Twinning project, the task of the EU partner is to support and advise the reform process of a partner country outside the EU. “It is not a service in which donors come and organise unilaterally. Project activities take into account the situation and needs of the partner country. This cannot be done without a close partnership,” explains Nelli Maria Timm, ESTDEV’s advisor for the African region.

“Both parties have organisational and financial obligations in a Twinning project. Typically, funding recipients are responsible for the results of their projects. This is not the case with Twinning, as both sides are responsible,” she adds.

“Interest in Estonia’s digitization experience is also great in those African countries that are not Estonia’s priority countries. Of course, we are ready to share our experience of building a digital state and e-governance with all countries. Estonia has a large network of experts, and both we and Tanzania have a lot to learn from this twinning,” said Andres Ääremaa, ESTDEV’s Programme Manager for Digital Transformation.

A resident Twinning adviser (RTA) remains in the partner country for the entire project to communicate with local partners on a daily basis and advise and curate project activities. The Digital4Tanzania project RTA is Juhani Korhonen from the Finnish Ministry of Finance.

The project costs 2 million euros, which will be shared between the consortium partners. The project contract was signed this past summer by the Finnish Institute of Public Administration (HAUS) and the Delegation of the European Commission in Tanzania. The project is scheduled to run until spring 2026.