The DEICHMANN Foundation in Tanzania:
a large computer skills training facility set up in the south of the country

Overview

The project

90 computer workstations in a remote region of Tanzania offer space for training 400 people a year to use computers.

Impact

Learning and and living conditions for over 70 teachers, 1,600 students, administrative staff and several thousand residents have improved significantly. Enhancement of learning and advancement prospects means people have fewer reasons to leave the region. The site and its surrounding area offer an increasingly attractive living environment. At the same time, the offeing – which is one-of-a-kind in the country – attracts a qualified workforce.

Why help is needed

Difficult basic conditions in a remote part of the country

In the villages of the Tunduru district in southern Tanzania, most people live in clay huts under the simplest living conditions: There is no municipal water or energy supply. Paved roads, secondary schools or the prospect of a job in trades or industry – none of these things exists or they only exist for the lucky few.

Smallholder farming is the mainstay livelihood for a sizeable portion of the population in the Tunduru district. The main subsistence farming crops are rice, corn, beans and vegetables. Cashew nuts, rice and oil seeds are sold, whenever the harvest is abundant enough.

In this region, the wortundtat charity has set up the KIUMA project. It includes facilities for health, education and municipal infrastructure and enjoys a good reputation throughout the country. The entire region has been denied the chance to learn computer skills or even to use the Internet for searching for information.

As a result, only an extremely small number of pupils, students and relatives of KIUMA employees had any computer skills. Also, residents in the district, only in rare and exceptional cases, were familiar with information technologies and had computer skills.

How the Foundation helps

Setting up IT labs

In the spring of 2023, KIUMA officially opened three labs, each with 30 computer workstations. The project was funded by the DEICHMANN Foundation and part-financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

For Tanzania, this project is one-of-a-kind.

An IT training facility that offers such a high number of places and a concept that benefits not only the students and the teachers but also the community in the area is unparalleled in the south of the country. The Tanzanian State has recognised it as a Flagship project and awarded it the title “Torch of Tanzania”.

The impact of help.

Many people in the region benefit from the IT labs

TRAINING TEACHERS

72 teachers from the various educational institutions at the KIUMA site receive computer skills training. They are then in a more favourable position to take advantage of further education and vocational training opportunities online via the Internet. This enhances the knowledge level of the teaching staff. At the same time, the offering increases the attractiveness of KIUMA schools as a workplace in a very remote region of the country.

DIGITALISING KIUMA ADMINISTRATION

With access to the Internet, the entire administration of KIUMA can gradually be digitalised. The school administration uses cloud services and receives or makes online bank transfers so that payments can be more easily traced and, if necessary, claimed and collected. School fees are increasingly accepted using cashless payment methods.

Tanzanian society has the know-how and technical resources to make this possible. KIUMA can now also contribute by offering the relevant processes.

TEACHING COMPUTER SKILLS TO LEARNERS

The around 1,600 pupils, students and learners at the KIUMA site learn to do searches using the Internet, to use Office Suite programs and to message using e-mail or messenger services. This equips them with skills for a job market outside the region and increases their skill-sets in an increasingly digital professional world.

ENABLING LOCAL RESIDENTS ACCESS TO COMPUTERS

The IT labs are available for use by the relatives of employees and residents, whenever they are not being used for teaching and KIUMA staff training. Such people can take computer skills courses at the facility for a small fee covering expenses.

Learning and search opportunities contribute to improving the general knowledge level of the inhabitants and to increasing the quality of life in the region.

Background information

The isolated south

Tanzania belongs to the poorer countries in the world. According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2022 (published in 08/2022), the country ranks 160th out of 191 (Germany is ranked 9th). The south of the country and, specifically, the Tunduru district – considering how isolated it is – would be significantly worse placed on this index. Until recently, the region was largely cut off from development taking place in the country.

From the coastal area to inland Songea, some 500 kilometres away, the only road was barely transitable for many months during the rainy season. The asphalt road has only been available for crossing the entire region for a few years.

Project partner

Working together since 1977

The partner for this project is the wortundtat charity.
It creates career prospects where inclusion in society has previously been arduous, and it opens up religous and spiritual development horizons. It provides action-driven, individual help for people who have been denied access to adequate services and it endeavours to provide loving care for people in the sign of every person being a beloved creature of God. The DEICHMANN Foundation has been supporting wortundtat for over 45 years.

Contact

DEICHMANN foundation
Deichmannweg 9
Germany 45359 Essen

Phone: +49 201 8676-15222
e-mail: stiftung@deichmann.com

Account for donations

Deutsche Bank Essen
IBAN DE68 3607 0050 0301 1590 01
BIC:   DEUTDEDEXXX

Responsibility

Through our work, we continuously contribute to achieving the sustainability goals of the globally coordinated 2030 Agenda.

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