Looking ahead – the dialogue between MFA and southern Africa manifests in exciting new initiatives

As the SAFIPA programme comes to an end, the dialogue between southern Africa and Finland, does not end with it.  Newly established initiatives, in particular, the TANZICT and SAIS programmes are set to continue the legacy of dialogue – of which SAFIPA is a part – that began a decade ago.

The MFA has also conducted an external evaluation of the SAFIPA programme and the external reviewers were complimentary in noting that SAFIPA overall had contributed to and fulfilled its mandate of supporting and promoting the information society within SA.  Feedback regarding project implementation and grant management was given to the PMO and certain issues dealing with selection of projects, reporting requirements and monitoring and evaluation will be incorporated into the design of future initiatives. In particular the mechanism of support by the provision of in-country technical assistance and guidance and the capacity development and networking programmes coordinated by the PMO were highlighted as key factors contributing  to the success of the programme. It is important to note that sustainability of SAFIPA funded initiatives was critical and the PMO is pleased to report that of the 25 initiatives supported by the programme, at least 22 will be continued after the SAFIPA partnership has ended.

On reflection of SAFIPA outputs

Former counsellor of STI and Information Society, Embassy of Finland and member of the SAFIPA Supervisory Board and Steering committee from 2008 to November 2010, Ms Helena Tapper also commented that “one of the strongest impacts of SAFIPA is the creation of networks of people who work in the same area in ICT. These networks will remain after the programme. Further, the universities, public and private sector have today joint projects to develop ICT services in South Africa.”

In her address for the SAFIPA Publication, Minister Pandor indicated that

The collaboration  between South Africa and Finland has made tremendous strides in support of government’s developmental mandate of transforming the South African economy from a resource-based one to a knowledge- driven economy. The SAFIPA partnership was one the instruments implemented within the strong bilateral and technical cooperation with the government of Finland and South Africa.”

Minister Pandor reiterated the South African Government’s gratitude towards the Finnish government for continued support to SAFIPA in assisting the country to realise it’s innovation-related goals.  The Honorable Minister also acknowledged “the hard work and determination of SAFIPA project partners who aspired to witness ICT innovation transforming lives of marginalised groups and poor rural communities.”

Kristiina Lähde, who was the Chief Technical Officer for SAFIPA, has moved to Tanzania to drive the recently launched ‘Information Society and ICT Sector Development Project’, also known as TANZICT. This is a bilateral collaboration project between the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology of Tanzania (MCST) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA).  The programme was launched at the beginning of August this year, with the formal opening ceremony taking place just a week after the SAFIPA 2011 Conference on 31 October.  During the launch, excitement and interest were high as people from across the world followed the proceedings via regular Twitter updates and live video streams from Bambuser (a free video hosting and streaming platform.)

But what is this programme about and what does it aim to achieve?  We spoke with Kristiina via email the day after the launch to get the inside track on the programme.

What are the goals of TANZICT?

There are three broad components.  Firstly, to have a renewed and updated national ICT policy with implementation strategy in place, that will include stakeholder participation and commitment.   Secondly, to work towards improved capacity in the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology so that they can be the champions of Information Society in Tanzania, and in turn support other government departments.  And lastly, to create the Tanzania Innovation Programme, which refers to the creation of innovation systems and processes which support Tanzanian entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs in getting their ideas into market.  The programme is a four-year intervention and is hosted at COSTECH which is the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology based in Dar es Salaam.

Could you describe the would-be partners of TANZICT?

Everyone in the Tanzanian innovation system and knowledge society … !  Of course, our formal partners are the MFA and MCST.  These are the early days of the project, and it will be highly interesting to see how it develops and who comes on board during its lifetime.

The innovation space and the DTBi were opened during the TANZICT launch.  Is there any relationship to TANZICT?

Attendees gather at the innovation space for the TANZICT launch

Dar Teknohama Business incubator (DTBi) is a business incubator in the same building with us, and we just had a joint launch for both projects.

The innovation space was opened by TANZICT to serve as a physical platform for different activities and stakeholders.  It will help TANZICT by providing a meeting, learning, connecting space where the TANZICT people can come together.

DTBi is a separate, infoDev funded project although also hosted by COSTECH.

We have all come to know and understand the SAFIPA process of working.  Will TANZICT follow a similar process?

There is no one process for all of TANZICT as there are so many different elements to all the components. There are similar elements to SAFIPA, including a small support fund and an exchange fund, for which there will be a call or calls. TANZICT is mostly about collaboration, creation of networks and so on, for which it is difficult to say what the process will be.

In what way will TANZICT contribute to the Tanzanian ICT policy?  Is there a process for formal contribution to this policy?

TANZICT will support the renewal of the policy. The process is still being planned. United Nations Economic Committee for Africa (UNECA) will help with the processes.

Kristiina, how are you, as Chief Technical Advisor, feeling about TANZICT at this early stage in its development?

We are still very new, and right now we have more questions than answers!  Administratively and logistically we’ve had to spend time setting up our offices, and organising the official launch of the programame.  So the first few months have been very busy.  But we’re very excited now that we have launched and look forward to the opportunities that abound.

SAIS – THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN INNOVATION SUPPORT PROGRAMME

Perhaps someone who is not as well known within the SAFIPA network as Kristiina, but who many of the community were introduced to at the 2011 conference, is Peik Bruhns from Namibia, who represents the newly established Southern African Innovation Support Programme (SAIS).  This programme also looks at innovation and capacity building, so we caught up with Peik who is the Programme Coordinator to find out if there are any similarities to SAFIPA and what is in store for SAIS.

Are there any similarities to SAFIPA?

What is significant is the relationship with MFA.  However, whilst SAFIPA was confined to working in South Africa very specifically on ICT, SAIS will be working outside regionally.  We are piloting in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.  And we are piloting the support of innovation, whilst  SAFIPA looked more specifically at innovativeness related to ICT.  However, we do hope to build on what SAFIPA has experienced and undertaken in South Africa.  Certainly there are a lot of key lessons that have been learned in terms of operations, the selection of projects and the process of selection.

Have you been in close communication with the SAFIPA team during the setting up of the SAIS programme?

In May this year, both the SAIS and SAFIPA project management teams met in Finland. At that time SAFIPA shared their findings to-date; they indicated where various challenges had arisen.   And Kristiina is still here within the African network, both providing guidance and taking the form of sparring partner!  We will also learn from the final SAFIPA evaluation.

When did SAIS officially begin?

We started on the 4th April 2011.  So in a sense we are in operation and have begun with putting country coordinators in place.  The SAIS programme will run for a period of four years.

The SAFIPA programme was called a partnership, and involved a dialogue – or knowledge transfer- between South Africa in the South, and Finland in the Northern hemisphere.  Will this also be the case with the SAIS programme?

As a backdrop to this question, the SAIS programme will ensure that there will be interaction on various levels and in various spheres.  Our desire is to establish links to innovation and this will include relating to the private sector, not only government and academia.  The SAIS network will provide the private sector with the opportunity to exhibit their strengths in taking innovation forward.  In the Southern African region, the private sector is far removed from these other areas so bringing them into the network will be key.

This being said, SAIS will certainly make use of all dialogue opportunities with the Finnish, although this will not necessarily be exclusive:  for example, there are exciting developments in East Africa, which we would like to explore. South Africa will also serve as a knowledge-sharing partner, given that the previous Finland-SA partnerships have given birth to programmes such as COFISA and SAFIPA, which have benefited the country significantly. Capacity development has taken place, institutional frameworks have been developed and interesting practices have come about which could be considered for replication in other countries.  In particular, some of the SAFIPA supported projects such as RLabs would be an ideal and simple tool for replication. So South Africa is critical as a knowledge-sharing partner both on the public side with Department of Science and Technology, where we are in continuous discussion, but equally the other side, at the business level. Our aim is to interact with people in real situations; to see opportunities further afield in other regions such Brazil and India.