In August 2007, the heads of UN agencies in Tanzania agreed to UNESCO’s proposal for science components to be included in the One UN programme for Tanzania in support of the government’s request for assistance in its reform of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy. Since 2008, UNESCO has led the STI reform within the One UN Programme that has now been transformed into the UN Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) 2011–2015.

UNESCO began by providing support for the mainstreaming of STI into the new National Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Documents for the mainland and Zanzibar namely, the MKUKUTA II and MKUZA II. UNESCO co-chairs the Innovation and Technology Thematic Area of Development Partners’ Division of Labour with Finland. Membership of this Thematic Group includes Sweden, the World Bank, USAID, GTZ, UNIDO and UNDP.

Within the Economic Growth Working Group of UNDAP, UNESCO co-ordinates the mainstreaming of STI into national development, implementing activities that strengthen national strategies for cultural and creative enterprises. Within this platform, UNESCO’s science programme provides technical support for the application of innovation in tourism clusters. The projected budget envelop for all sectors of UNESCO within UNDAP is $10,537,000. Of this, UNESCO’s programme specialists in the natural sciences are implementing activities totalling a budget of up to US$1,290,000 over the four years to 2015.

UNESCO heads the Innovation and Technology Thematic Area, also involving the World Bank and Finland, whose activities are spread across three joint programmes:

• Under the Joint Programme on Wealth Creation, Employment and Economic Empowerment, UNESCO co-ordinates the section on policies and plans of action for the explicit integration of science, technology and innovation (STI) into the economy.
• Under the Joint Programme on Capacity Strengthening for Development Management, UNESCO co-ordinates the section on improving management and governance of the STI system.
• Under the Joint Programme on Education, UNESCO co-ordinates the section on strengthening STI capacities in higher education by 2010.

In 2011, UNESCO published a series of evaluations and a country planning document for Tanzania to 2015 (see below).

• Capacity-building at the heart of UNESCO's approach
• Issues in STI and higher education in Tanzania
• Mainstreaming women in science in Tanzania

Related documents

• UNESCO Country Planning Document for Tanzania (2011–2015)

UNESCO evaluations published in 2011:

• A needs assessment study of Tanzania science education
• Review and Evaluation of the Performance of Tanzania’s Higher Education Institutions in Science, Technology and Innovation
• Research– policy linkages of science-related ministries and their research organizations
• Biotechnology and bioentrepreneurship in Tanzania
• Assessment of women scientists’ participation in science, engineering and technological industries in Tanzania

Background

• Reform of Tanzanian science system gets under way (2008)

Contact

For details, contact the UNESCO office in Dar es Salaam