Youth-empowering project reaches 9,700

Dar es Salaam. A project that sought to equip people with essential business and digital skills for sustainable livelihoods has reached over 9,700 youth in twelve regions across the country.

Called ‘Daring-to-Shift’, the project was under the Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT-Tanzania) and started in 2019, but implementation began in 2020/2021 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

In partnership with the government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, the project was implemented through four pillars of community leadership, social entrepreneurship, digital business, and digital jobs pro-grammes.

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, DOT Tanzania acting head office, Ms Safarani Seushi, said the project focused on equipping youth with essential skills such as digital literacy, workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and social innovation.

“This holistic approach aimed to catalyse the creation of digital jobs, businesses, and local enterprises that ad-dress community-specific needs and value chains,” she said.

Ms Seushi added: “The main challenge we faced was the lack of digitally equipped training facilities. The young facilitators were empowered to navigate this challenge by utilising whatever resources were available for the partners and participants,” she said.

The gender digital divide prevents young women from accessing opportunities in the digital innovation ecosystem.

However, DOT Tanzania addressed this problem by building an ecosystem of partners, engaging them in a series of workshops, and report dissemination on enabling an ecosystem for young women’s digital inclusion.

“Despite the project’s end, DOT Tanzania will continue its mission to mobilise and inspire all underserved and disadvantaged young people with digital literacy, 21st-century skills, and self-confidence that will enable them to thrive in an inclusive digital economy. Other projects are in the pipeline with larger targets to ensure no one is left behind,” she said.

The project was implemented in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Iringa, Kigoma, Morogoro, Mwanza, Tabora, Tanga, Mjini Magharibi, Pemba Kaskazini, and Pwani.

“What stood out for me was the trust that DOT places in young people. As young leaders, we were engaged and took part in curating the content of the digital business program.” Community Leadership Programme participant in Mwanza Region, Mr Daniel Kasongi, said.