Tanzania and Italy sign loan to finance education programmes

Dar es Salaam.  Tanzania and Italy on Wednesday, June 17, signed a Sh49.07 billion concessional loan and Sh496.47 million grant agreements to finance education programmes.
 The program to be financed by the government of Italy is dubbed: “Enhancing Higher Learning Technical Institutions in Tanzania to Contribute in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals project”.
The pacts were inked by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Finance and Planning, Mr Emmanuel Tutuba, on behalf of the government of Tanzania, and the Ambassador of Italy to Tanzania, Mr Marco Lombardi, on behalf of his government.  
The project aims at establishing Centres for entrepreneurship, innovation and technology transfer in four technical higher learning institutions.
The institutions include Arusha Technical College, Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), Karume Institute of Science and Technology in Zanzibar and Mbeya University of Science and Technology.
“This will promote entrepreneurial spirit to enhance innovation and technology transfer in Tanzania,” said PS Tutuba.
 
This in turn, he explained, will reduce youth unemployment by empowering graduates of the respective institutions with business skills, create self-employment and job opportunities for others.  
The agreements were signed in the presence of the representative of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Tanzania, Paolo Razzini and a delegation from the Italian Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) composed by Dr Antonella Baldino and Dr Lisbi Carina Valdez, who flew to the country to sign the financial agreement.
The accords will see the Embassy of Italy in Tanzania, CDP, the Ministry of Finance and Planning of Tanzania and AICS put their efforts together to strengthen different technological institutes through creation of new training courses that can enhance employment opportunities for young people, while strengthening technological innovation.
The Italian Cooperation in Tanzania has intervened in the past with a grant program concluded in 2014 aiming at improving the quality of teaching and learning in scientific and technological education, with a special attention to promoting women's access to this type of education, according to Ambassador Lombardi.  
This new initiative, he said, stems from the success of the previous one and meant to address the phenomenon of youth unemployment.
He said the four centres for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Transfer to be established, will include start-ups, incubators and laboratories for innovation.
It will also include the creation of new training programs at the DIT in the fields of energy, civil engineering, tourism and agriculture.
It will also include the creation of a centre of excellence in leather processing technologies; the creation of new curricula in technologies for renewable energies and for environmental protection and conservation.