All moved in

The team has moved into our new home for the duration of our stay in Tanzania.  When we first arrived, we stayed in Dar es Salaam, where we met the our stakeholders at the national level.  We have now moved to Morogoro, a region about three hours to the west of Dar es Salaam to continue our analysis.

Below are a few pictures from our first days in Morogoro:

A few team members checking in to the Arc Hotel.

A typical room at the Arc Hotel. (mosquito net not fully deployed)

A view from the hotel room.

Aenne has found some local carrots for the team!

The Tanzania Flag, as viewed from the Morogoro Regional Commissioner's Office

Fiona busy negotiating the purchase of water with Phil.

The "Mwenge wa Uhuru", meaning Torch of Freedom, in Morogoro

Sub Team 1 has already wallpapered the conference room with flip charts.

I hope you enjoy these photos!

- Andrew Ellis

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Thanks to our gracious hosts

I'd like to take a moment to thank each of our gracious hosts here while we are in Tanzania.  I know I speak for the team when I say that we are all very grateful for the time, energy and support that our hosts have offered to us.  This includes Philip and team from our local NGO, DOT, and David and team from the IBM Tanzania office in Dar es Salaam. 

Speaking for Team 1, who is working with the Tanzania Posta Coporation (TPC), we have been escorted by Mr. Nehemiah M. Kyabalasi, the Assistant Manager for Strategic Planning, who has gone to great lengths to grant our every request.  For example, while in Dar we asked if it was possible to meet with the Tanzania Postal Bank, a close partner of TPC.  The very next day we had a meeting with the CEO!  Even those that have not heard of IBM (which is quite common) welcome us to this country and their organization, and answer our many questions with patience and a smile. 

To all of our hosts, asante sana!!

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We met smart and wonderful people in Tanzania

My team is working on the Tanzania Posts Corporation (TPC) engagement.Our host, the TPC is absolutely wonderful. I met very smart professionals, for example, the staff from the marketing and e-business departments, demonstrated an edge. TPC as many Tanzanian I met are very friendly, natural and cooperative.

I discussed with them their strategy, including the SWOT Analysis, the PESTEL Analysis, and so forth.I proposed to them the Strategic Capability Network technique as a way to take the Strategy Plan to the next level of bringing it to reality.

I think that techniques and ability of bringing plans to reality is an area that requires attention in Tanzania. I think that professionals are focusing on the theory part, which is good, but needs to be balanced with the practical side.

Hassan Elsetohy
IBM Australia
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Meeting Veronica

Sub-Team 3 yesterday met Veronica Mpazi yesterday and her colleagues at the Eastern Zone's head office in Morogoro for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Veronica is the Principal Officer and Zonal Training Coordinator of one of Tanzania's e-Learning initiatives. Everyone with whom we met was extremely helpful and full of enthusiasm to collaborate with us so we can devise some viable guidelines to implement an e-Learning strategy. We will meet later today with the Regional Medical Officer of the Eastern Zone and we are very much looking forward to his thoughts and insights. Over the weekend, we hope to travel to Mikumi National Park and expect that some of Veronica's team will join us.

Debra

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Tanzania's new driving license management system

1.Very modernized system with web access interface, biological characters like finger print and photo be captured and stored, alert if duplicate encountered.

2.The driving license card is pretty good, made by smart card, possibly do anything you want, very advanced, better than the license of China.

3.Lack of mobile equipment for traffic police to use to check driving license information real time on road, no integration and data sharing with the offence management system and other related systems. nevertheless it's a pretty good beginning.

Here is the official overview for Tanzania's new driving license issuing system: "http://www.tra.go.tz/documents/driving%20license.htm"

Xu Tao - CSC Tanzania Team 7
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Interesting story from Director of Ministry of Works

"In western area of Tanzania, people play chess made by diamond.", means sometimes the clients don't know what they have already had, IBM can help to identify and tell the client what they have.


Xu Tao - CSC Tanzania Team 7
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I really like stairs....

yesterday we experienced our first day working with our clients, the Tanzania Police Force. The morning was filled with all sorts of meetings, introductions and discussions on different locations. On the way to our very first meeting with the Inspector General of Police Saidi Ally Mwema we were a bit late. So we used the elevator. We were about 12 people squeezed into a tiny space like sardines in a box, but we all fitted in and it went up. Suddenly all lights went out and the elevator stopped. It was very scary. But thanks to our database specialist Raghu, who studied the manual of our cellphones, we had a flashlight and found the emergency button. We pushed the button, but it didn't work :-( Obviously the power was gone. But people in Tanzania are strong and use their common sense. They pushed the doors open with their united strength and we all could go out. Thats why we really like stairs.

Our project with the Police analyzes the local travel system. Here are some pictures of Tanzanian vehicles:

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