UNICEF: Children to deliver Vision 2050

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s ability to achieve the ambitions of its Development Visiaon 2050 will depend largely on how effectively it invests in the children and young people who will be responsible for delivering it, UNICEF Representative to Tanzania Elke Wisch has said.

Ms Wisch said a child born in Tanzania this year would be 24 years old in 2050, making the country’s current generation of children and young people central to the implementation of the long-term development blueprint. “A child born this year will be 24 by 2050. The girl who started school this year will be an engineer, a health worker, an entrepreneur, an innovator, or a minister when Tanzania reaches the horizon of this Vision,” she said.

Ms Wisch was speaking on Monday, August 31, 2026, at the opening of Innovation Week Tanzania 2026 in Dar es Salaam. She said the annual innovation platform provides an opportunity to examine how technology, research and new ideas can help translate the ambitions of Vision 2050 into tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Innovation Week Tanzania, which began in 2015 as a small platform for showcasing innovation projects, has since grown into a national platform bringing together innovators, government, investors, researchers and the private sector.

This year’s edition is focused on moving from aspirations to transformation, with discussions centred on how innovation can contribute to economic growth, public service delivery, entrepreneurship and opportunities for young people.

For Ms Wisch, however, the starting point for that transformation is not technology itself but human capability.

“The most powerful innovation engine any country possesses is not a technology, a platform or an app, but the developing human brain,” she said, noting that children account for nearly half of Tanzania’s population.

She said investments in nutrition, immunisation, clean water, early childhood development and responsive caregiving were therefore not only social investments but also investments in the country’s future workforce, productivity and competitiveness.

Ms Wisch warned that challenges such as stunting, preventable diseases, adolescent pregnancy, poverty-related school exclusion and child labour could reduce the potential of the generation expected to drive Tanzania’s future economy.

“Dira 2050 cannot be delivered at full strength if the generation expected to deliver it enters adulthood with part of its potential diminished,” she said.

She also stressed the importance of shifting the focus in education from enrolment to actual learning, saying children need to develop literacy, numeracy, critical thinking, digital skills and problem-solving abilities to participate effectively in a knowledge-based economy.

Technology, she said, could play an important role in that transformation if it was deployed with inclusion in mind.

Ms Wisch cited ongoing work in Tanzania to use artificial intelligence to help convert the national curriculum into accessible digital textbooks.

The initiative, she said, goes beyond simply digitising printed books by seeking to make learning materials accessible to children with and without disabilities, including through adaptations such as Tanzanian Sign Language.

She cautioned, however, that digital solutions would have limited impact if children lacked connectivity, devices, relevant content or teachers capable of using the technology effectively.

“The real innovation challenge is therefore to connect these pieces into one national ecosystem: curriculum-aligned content, trained and supported teachers, connectivity, devices, accessible technology and sustainable government systems,” she said.

The measure of success, she added, should be whether a child in a remote part of Tanzania can access the same quality of curriculum, learning and skills opportunities as a child in Dar es Salaam.

Ms Wisch also called for innovation to be designed in a way that expands opportunity rather than deepening existing inequalities.

She said children with disabilities, those living in remote communities and those affected by poverty should be considered from the beginning when new digital systems and public services are designed.

This becomes increasingly important as technologies such as artificial intelligence are incorporated into education, health, social protection and other public services, she said.

“The question should not only be what AI can do, but whose problem it is solving, who can access the solution, and who may unintentionally be left behind,” she said.

Ms Wisch further urged stakeholders to give young people a greater role in shaping Tanzania’s development agenda.

She said UNICEF, together with the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups and the President’s Office, Planning Commission, consulted more than 14,000 children across Tanzania in 2024 on the future they wanted under Vision 2050.

According to her, the children called for quality education that provides practical, digital and life skills, alongside better access to health and nutrition services, water and sanitation, protection from violence and meaningful participation in decisions affecting their lives.

“Children should not simply feature in our vision of 2050. They should have a voice in shaping the road towards it,” she said.

The UNICEF representative said Tanzania had already made progress in areas including access to basic education, birth registration and digital public services, but the next challenge was taking successful innovations to scale.

She said Vision 2050 would not be delivered through thousands of isolated pilot projects, but when successful innovations became part of strong national systems, were sustainably financed and reached people across the country.

The remarks come as Innovation Week Tanzania 2026 brings together stakeholders from government, business, academia, development organisations and the innovation ecosystem to explore ways of turning ideas and technology into solutions for national development.

Funguo Programme Manager Joseph Manirakiza said the platform had evolved significantly since its establishment in 2015, attracting growing participation from innovators and other stakeholders.

He said the 2026 edition received 2,000 registration applications within the first 24 hours of opening registration, reflecting growing interest in Tanzania’s innovation ecosystem.

Mr Manirakiza said Innovation Week was designed to give young innovators an opportunity to showcase their work, learn from others and connect with stakeholders who could help advance their ideas.

UNDP Tanzania Resident Representative Shigeki Komatsubara said innovation should move from the margins of development to the centre of how government plans, budgets and delivers services.

He said Tanzania’s 2050 ambitions could not be achieved by continuing to do things in the same way, calling for a shift from aspiration to transformation.

For Ms Wisch, that transformation ultimately depends on decisions being made about children and young people today.

“The generation that will deliver Dira 2050 is growing up now. Their brains are being built right now, meal by meal, lesson by lesson, opportunity by opportunity,” she said.

She called for continued collaboration between the Government, young people, private sector, academia, civil society and development partners to ensure innovation is inclusive, trusted and capable of delivering tangible results.

“Together, we can help make the promise of Dira 2050 real by investing today in the generation that will deliver it tomorrow,” she said.