Tanzanian diaspora to be feted at prestigious awards ceremony

 Dar Es Salaaam. The United States of America is home to the largest Tanzanian diaspora community, and in September of 2024, the awards ceremony will help to celebrate their contribution in the various sectors, both in the US and in Tanzania.

With 59 nominations, this year’s awards are sure to surpass all previous ceremonies with their mission to enhance Tanzanians’ economic, health, and social well-being in America and at home.

Dicota, the Diaspora Council of Tanzanians in America, hopes this year’s awards will further highlight the diaspora community’s immense contribution.

Mr Ndaga Mwakatuba, a former Dicota leader and a nominee in the upcoming awards, reminisces about the inception of the Minnesota-registered organisation and why it was born out of necessity to safeguard the interests of Tanzanians in the US as well as forging a healthy relationship between the diaspora and the Tanzanian government.

“In 2009, after forming Dicota, we held our inaugural convocation in Houston, Texas,” he continued.

“We came up with our strategies, but also that’s when we started lobbying for dual citizenship since high-ranking members of the Tanzanian government were in attendance.

“Fifteen years later, with a burgeoning Tanzanian population in the US, it’s crucial to have a platform to recognise their ever-increasing contribution to Tanzania’s development.

“We have many Tanzanians who made notable contributions to our community here in the US, and we would like to recognise and appreciate them.

That’s why we felt the need to have these awards,” Mr Ndaga elaborated.

The awards began in 2010 and initially recognised exemplary high school students who were about to go to college, and they would reward them;

In 2012, the committee added other categories, including those who excelled in business and philanthropy.

“But this year’s awards are special and extensive; we have more categories than ever before, more judges, and we have opened up for everybody,”

He said. “Every Tanzanian will be able to vote; there will be a link where everyone can log in and vote among the 59 nominees,” he explained; in addition, a panel of 11 judges will be selecting the winners, and these judges are in Tanzania and the US.

“We have judges from NMB Bank and Vodacom, who are our sponsors,” Dicota president Tina Lasway said.

They have extended an invitation to the Tanzanian government, hoping they will confirm their attendance; they are also excited to have Nida (National Identification Authority), who will be on the ground to provide registration services to Tanzanian citizens in the US.

Notable government ministries will be present and invited, including the Ministry of Land, Housing, and Human Settlement, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who have a ‘diaspora desk.’

So far, Mr Sharif Ali Sharif, Zanzibar’s Minister of State in the President’s office (labour, economy, and investment), Mr. Gilead Teri from the Tanzania Investment Centre, Ambassador Elsie Kanza, and Permanent Representative in the United Nations Hussein A. Katanga have confirmed their attendance, and they are waiting for others to confirm.

The diaspora community hopes that the government will be present and that they will be able to know the fate of ‘the special status’ that they have been lobbying for.

They note that it will not only benefit them but Tanzania in general, especially economically.

They also note the case in Kenya, where their diaspora community’s investment in Kenya quadrupled once they were recognised in their amended constitution.

Tina expresses the need to celebrate our own people in the diaspora who have dedicated their skills, expertise, and time to do work at home in the community, social initiatives, and even business as they have invested in Tanzania and created employment.

“Even here in the US, we have a broad and striving skill-based community, but we didn’t have a platform to recognise them,” she said.

But this will be an opportunity to motivate others who will see people working in the same line of business as them getting awarded.

It will inspire them, create a network, and connect people. She added its recognition, motivation, inspiration, connection, and visibility.

The diaspora community has invested in the health sector, setting up health facilities and dialysis centres that have provided much-needed services to Tanzanians and those who work closely with the universities at home to share their knowledge with our future leaders.

These 2024 awards have 13 categories covering all areas the diaspora has impacted. Tina is convinced that the awards will show the diaspora’s contribution, show them as an advantage to the motherland, and highlight the contribution of the former diaspora who went back home and have made distinguished contributions and done tremendous things in our country.

“These former diasporans who have returned home and became of value in Tanzania and assumed influential positions, we want to recognise them too,” she said.

The young diaspora will be awarded, too; this is the second generation of the Tanzanian diaspora community.

A lot of work done within Dicota is voluntarily by Jumuiya leaders who have played an enormous role in social cohesion, and most of them are not recognized.

Still, Dicota would only strive with their tremendous work.

With more than 70,000 Tanzanians in the US, choosing the nominees was a complex task. Still, Dicota made sure the awards were publicised as much as possible on all platforms, and all diaspora communities across different states were encouraged to nominate those they deemed worthy of recognition.

Tina explained that it was the task of the people to identify who they wanted to nominate from their communities. The nominee’s category, once opened, was promoted for a month so that enough time was given to get the best people.

They had a chance to nominate or self-nominate in the available categories.

Ms Grace Mlingi, a senior construction engineer based in Arizona, is part of the Tanzania diaspora community.

She is also a youth representative in Dicota; she joined the awards committee and was tasked with initiating the platform that would be used for voting and uploading the database of all the nominees, including what they have achieved, their pictures, and identity for the public to be able to know who to vote for.

Grace moved to the US when she was just 15 years old and is now married with kids. She has since helped mentor many young Tanzanians who relocated to the US for studies and helped them navigate their lives in this new country they are unfamiliar with.

Her invaluable knowledge and experience have helped reach out to the huge diaspora population the awards aimed to reach. “The awards will be held from September 26 to 29th; it will be a three-day event,” Grace said.

The three days will consist of workshops, conferences with keynote speakers, a panel session with discussions, a Tanzania cultural ball where attendees will wear African attire and showcase their culture, and soccer matches, all that in getting to know each other and networking.

With their tagline for 2024 awards, “inspiring excellence,” Tina hopes that is what they will achieve, and for those Tanzanians who would like to join the diaspora community in the US, “Dicota has a WhatsApp channel called ‘fursa’ that has information of present fellowship and scholarship programmes in America,” Tina said.

The trophies that will be given to the winners were made in Tanzania, and the unique design that pays homage to our culture and craft will be revealed and presented to the winners.

The categories are: Distinguished Service to Diaspora Award, The Diaspora Advantage Award, Under 30 Trailblazer Award, WISE (Woman on the Rise) Award, “Jumuiya” Leadership Award, BOLD (Brave, Outstanding, Leader, and Doer) Leadership Award, Inspiring Returning Diaspora Award, Cultural Ambassador Award, Tourism Ambassador Award, Citizen Diplomat Award, Education Excellence Award, GiveBack Award and the Changemaker Award.