Utafiti Elimu Tanzania 2024
Exploring the education landscape in Tanzania
28 - 29 February 2024│Dar es Salaam University College of Education
About the event
We are excited to announce that Utafiti Elimu Tanzania is entering its third consecutive year. This successful event brings together experts from the education sector in Tanzania to examine the education landscape and explore how research on interventions can support growth and opportunities in the sector.
This year’s event will focus on three main themes:
Utafiti Elimu Tanzania is a collaborative initiative involving the Government of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam University College of Education, Aga Khan Foundation, EdTech Hub, the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP), and the British Council.
Noteworthy aspects from last year’s event were captured in this blog.
This invitation-only event will bring together senior individuals from a range of backgrounds to discuss how to address the existing gaps between evidence, policy and practice on education research in areas including teacher workforce planning and management and climate, environment and infrastructure.
We will continue to explore crucial links between evidence and practice to support the Government of Tanzania’s
priorities in education. We will enhance partners’ understanding of innovative thinking and leading actors in
the sector to create more effective interventions and sustainable, high impact initiatives. The event will include
workshops so we can benefit from participant expertise to:
- Inform partners’ programme designs for education to ensure these are collaborative, relevant and high impact.
- Celebrate the successes of past and current initiatives in Tanzania.
- Network with leading institutions to establish a regional community of practice.
- Consider how existing research and interventions can be scaled up to maximise impact.
Kindly note, the event is by invitation only. Please do not attend the event if you have not been invited, or RSVP’d.
Connect with evidence in EdTech on topics presented at Utafiti Elimu Tanzania 2024:
Climate, Environment, and Education
1) Education in Climate Emergencies – A curated list of research and evidence to help decision-makers plan, prepare and implement EdTech to support education in climate emergencies.
2) Supporting Learning Continuity Following the 2022 Pakistan Floods – New research from EdTech Hub explores the education response to climate emergencies following the floods, and highlights the importance of utilising existing, more accessible technologies to ensure learning continuity.
3) EdTech and Emergency Remote Learning: A Systematic Review – This document presents the results of a systematic review of the academic literature in relation to online and remote learning in K–12 education during emergencies. One hundred and twelve studies were identified and included in the analysis.
4) Should we paint all classroom roofs white to improve learning in Tanzania? – This study includes a literature review to understand the classroom policy in Tanzania, establish links between temperature and learning, and assess temperature retrofit options. Following this, the study presents the results of an experiment to trial a white-paint cool roof against a blue-paint roof and an unpainted control roof. Finally, data analysis predicts the intervention effects over an entire year and the subsequent impact on learning outcomes. The learning outcomes analysis includes a cost-effectiveness analysis using the Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS) metric.
Implementing the New Curriculum
We draw insights from the upcoming primary education curriculum. The sessions under this theme will delve into the experiences of implementing a new educational curriculum, the hurdles faced, and the opportunities for enhancing learning in Tanzania. This document, integral to the ongoing transformation in the country’s education system, includes provisions for students to acquire new skills during their third to sixth grades.
Technology to Strengthen the Education System
1) MEWAKA National Teacher Development Reform in Tanzania: Design-Based Implementation Research: Cycle 1 Findings – Findings show that technology enhances teacher professional development as we see increased collaboration through Tanzania’s Learning management system, ensuring educators stay abreast of innovative pedagogies
2) TCPD in Tanzania: Design-Based Implementation Research Cycle 1 Recommendations Policy Brief –This policy brief presents a summary of the key findings and recommendations from the first cycle of the DBIR carried out between September and December 2022 as part of MEWAKA (Mafunzo Endelevu kwa Walimu Kazini, or Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development (TCPD)) a landmark teacher professional development programme being implemented by the Government of Tanzania.
3) The Use of Technology to Promote Equity and Inclusion in Education in North and Northeast Kenya – Research examines the context of Northern Kenya to understand why quality, equity, and inclusion disparities exist, and how technology can play a role in increasing equity and inclusion in education in the region.
4) Your Questions Answered: Using Technology to Support Gender Equity, Social Inclusion and Out-Of-School Learning – This document responds to a list of 10 questions asked on issues regarding gender and social inclusion during the Covid-19 crisis.
5) Girls’ Education and EdTech: A Rapid Evidence Review – This Rapid Evidence Review (RER) provides an overview of the existing literature on the use of technology in supporting girls’ education in low and middle-income countries
Colin oversees the British Council’s portfolio of Education, Governance, Security and Conflict and Entrepreneurship programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa. He has worked extensively throughout Africa and Asia with the private sector, NGOs, and multi-national and bilateral organisations. Before joining the British Council he worked for DFID, leading on education quality in London and latterly as a senior education adviser in India. Prior to this, he spent two years as a lecturer at the World Bank Institute, Washington DC, covering issues of quality, teacher education, decentralisation and non-state provision. His published work covers a range of topics from non-state education provision to education responses to climate change, and education and disaster risk reduction.
Dr Christina Raphael is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundations, Management and Life Long Learning at the Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE); A constituent college of the University of Dar es Salaam. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education (Arts) (2004) and a Master’s in Educational Management and Administration (MEMA) (2008) from the University of Dar es Salaam-Tanzania. Dr Christina completed her PhD studies at the University College Dublin (UCD)-Ireland (2014) on Educational Management with a specific interest in managing distance learning programmes. After her PhD, she worked as a consultant teacher educator on core skills for teachers and school leaders under the British Council Connecting Classroom, The sub-Saharan teacher educators in ICT integration in Education under the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL); and a National trainer on Problem-Based Learning; Dr Christina has published several peer-reviewed journals, particularly on distance education. She was a team member in a country study on Out of School Children (OOSC) in Tanzania (2015-2016) funded by UNICEF. Currently, she is a team member of the ambitious GATE project run between DUCE and TCD- Ireland.
Professor Mtebe is an Associate Professor of Informatics at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the University of Dar es Salaam. He holds a PhD in Interactive Technology/Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Tampere in Finland. His research interests include eLearning, Human-Computer Interaction, and information systems success. For over a decade, he has been involved in several Edutech projects such as games-based learning, interactive physics experiments, and the use of digital diaries for parental engagement. Other projects include the Retooling project (funded by the World Bank) and later Halostudy project, aimed at improving subject content knowledge of teachers, Pan African Virtual and E-University (funded by the African Union). He has also been involved in the evaluation of the performance and value for money (VfM) of several systems such as Government electronic payment gateway (GePG) (Implemented by MoF), iTAX and EFDMIS (implemented by TRA), Local Government Revenue Collection Information System (LGRCIS) and School Information System (implemented by PO-RALG).
David is the Director of Research at EdTech Hub where he helps make sure rigorous evidence that will have a long-term impact on education policy and practice is built. His responsibilities include coordinating the research activities, leading the ‘learners’ theme, and managing the Jigsaw-based team.
David is also the founder of Jigsaw, and he has spent over a decade leading education research studies in more than 20 countries. He is a passionate believer that high-quality, accessible research can make a positive difference in the world. He also enjoys helping social impact organisations to be as effective as possible and he is on the board of Refugee Support Network and Justice Defenders.
Tahir Andrabi is the Stedman-Sumner Professor of Economics at Pomona College. He is Invited Researcher at JPAL MIT, and has been a visiting scholar at MIT, a senior research associate at STICERD LSE, and a consultant for the World Bank. He was a member of the tax and macroeconomic committees of the economic advisory board of the government of Pakistan in 1999-2000. He is a co-founder and Director, Social Policy and Public Goods Program of the Center for Economic Research, Pakistan in Lahore, Pakistan. He was the head of the Pakistan Country Research Team of Research in Systems of Education (RISE). He was the inaugural Dean of the Lahore University of Management Sciences School of Education in 2017-2020.
He has published extensively in major economics and education journals including the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Human Resources, and Comparative Education Review. In 2007, his work on religious education in Pakistan received the George Bereday Award for the best paper published in Comparative Education Review in 2006 from the Comparative and International Education Society.
Martin J. Chegere is a senior lecturer at the School of Economics, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). He is also a senior research fellow at the Environment for Development Initiative (Tanzania) and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Behavioural Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. His areas of research interest include development economics, natural resources management and utilisation, behavioural and experimental economics, impact evaluation, and agricultural economics. His current research focuses on the economics of food and nutrition, impact of policies and household characteristics on children’s nutrition and education, agribusiness and business environment, impact evaluation, and the integration of research with Behavioural Insights. He has won several research grants from SIDA, DFID, NORAD, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has been a consultant in various assignments of the government’s ministries and departments, and other organizations including World Bank, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, Forest Development Trust, and Economic and Social Research Foundation.
Dr Baheta is a Chief of Education in the UNICEF Tanzania country office. He has been working with Unicef for the past ten years. In Sudan, Kenya and now Tanzania. Before joining UNICEF, Dr Baheta worked with the government of Canada as a senior development officer. Dr Baheta received his Ph. D and MA from Kyoto University in Japan.
Dr. Ryan brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and expertise in the fields of public health, disaster risk reduction, and community resilience. This includes leading and supporting activities in these fields across the Americas, Europe, and Indo-Pacific. He has worked at all levels of government in Australia, federally in the United States, as a consultant, and with international agencies. Research funders include the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Science Foundation. He has led multi-national research projects, worked with and within health systems, conducted community-based public health assessments, responded to disasters and disease outbreaks, and activated emergency operations centers. Ben was also involved in health sector preparations for the G20 Finance Ministers meetings in Australia and has been part of United States delegations engaging with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He completed his studies in Australia and moved to the United States in 2017. Hired by the University, Ben will hold a University funded position with an appointment in the College of Medicine. At the university level Ben will work with Dr. Erich Baker on a range of global research initiatives. At the Frist College of Medicine, Ben will collaborate with the Office of Faculty and Academic Affairs to foster our research enterprise and support training in public health. We believe that Dr. Ryan’s addition to our faculty will not only enrich the academic community but also enhance our capacity to address a critical need. His dedication to advancing public health and promoting resilience in communities aligns perfectly with our vision and mission.
Nafisa is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Opendeved. She has a background in international development research. She specialises in the delivery of education programmes and other social services in contexts of fragility, conflict and violence before joining Opendeved.
Ian is a social scientist with a focus on climate change and community-level responses to the challenges that it creates. He has worked at Fab Inc. for just over one year to build the work on the impacts of climate change on education systems, with a focus on the impact of recurring events such as heatwaves and flooding. Fab Inc. aims to harness the power of data and community expertise to build a more resilient education system for a changing climate.
Agile expert and seasoned software engineer with a passion for creating transformative digital solutions that empower African businesses.
Co-founder and Business Development Director at iPF Softwares, an award-winning digital transformation company headquartered in Dar es Salaam. Led the development and launch of digital solutions deployed in over 15 African countries, driving economic growth and technological advancement across the continent.
My extensive background in product management, Agile software engineering, and design enables me to lead cross-functional teams in conceiving, developing, and deploying web and mobile applications across diverse sectors. This has resulted in scalable and impactful solutions that address critical challenges faced by our clients and partners.
Recently, he joined the team at EdTech Hub ( LMS Team ) as a Delivery Manager, where he oversees the implementation of Agile Software Development using the Scrum Framework. In this capacity, he is dedicated to training and guiding the development team towards excellence and innovation.
Samantha Button hails from Southern Africa, however has been resident in Arusha for the previous 11 years. She spent four years working for the world’s largest sustainability consulting firm, Environmental Resources Management, before pivoting to development work. She has led the organisational strengthening of African community-based Conservation organisations, managed a Kenya-Tanzania cross border European Union Conservation and Development project, developed an impact monitoring tool for an SME Impact Fund and supported the strengthening of an education and girls’ empowerment organisation. Samantha has been a proud member of the Rotary Club of Arusha for the previous six years, serving as Club President in 2021/ 22 and Assistant Governor in 2022/23. She is the incoming Rotary Tanzania Country Grants Chair, and Youth Director for her club.
The Utafiti Elimu Tanzania 2024 convened to delve into matters that partners can collaboratively tackle to enhance learning outcomes for Tanzanian children. Presided over by Prof. Hon. Adolf Mkenda, the Minister of Education, he highlighted addressing the issue of out-of-school children as a top priority for the government across different regions of Tanzania.
“When you examine the results for grade 7, recently announced, and compare them with those from 7 years ago, along with the number of learners registered for school, you realise there has been a significant loss of learners in between. Hence, we have assembled a team to address these issues, and I am confident they will diligently work until the end of 2024 to provide insights that will help us understand the factors contributing to out-of-school children. While there may be a sense of understanding regarding these reasons, it is imperative to conduct further investigation for deeper insights.” – Prof. Hon. Adolf Mkenda
Prof. Mkenda highlighted Geita province as a prime example of a higher rate of out-of-school children. Allegedly, this could be attributed to factors such as the presence of minefields where children seek minerals. However, he emphasised the importance of not solely attributing it to mining but also considering other factors such as the school environment, extracurricular activities, food availability, teacher shortages, and various other reasons.
Expanding on the issue of out-of-school children, we discover that higher education institutions conduct research and generate evidence in education and learning outcomes in Tanzania. However, this research often fails to reach decision-makers due to limited circulation.
Event sponsors
