Vodacom Tanzania Foundation Director Rosalynn Mworia (L) exchanging signed contract with African Child Projects Director Catherine Kimambo, at the centre is the Director of ICT Commission.

Vodacom Tanzania, via the company’s Foundation, has partnered with African Child Projects (ACP) to provide e-contents through Vodacom’s E-Fahamu e-learning portal, extend ICT equipment and internet connectivity to schools across the East African country.

According to the partnership, 50 schools in ten regions will each receive 186 computers, 246 tablets and 50GB per month internet connectivity for a year. ACP will facilitate the process.

The Vodacom Tanzania Foundation is focused on initiating education interventions in Tanzania with the objective of providing children in marginalised communities with access to education.

Speaking to the benefits that this project will achieve, Sitholizwe Mdlalose, Vodacom Tanzania Managing Director said, “To be competitive and have any meaningful share of the global economy, we as a country cannot be left behind and, consequently, we cannot afford to deny any of our young people the benefits that connected, digital learning can bring them. At Vodacom, we believe that quality education is fundamental to building a digital society. We also understand that good education is something that needs to be worked on.”

Vodacom said it created the E-Fahamu platform and invested over TZS 1.7Bn over the years since activation, enabling 81,500 pupils and student beneficiaries across Tanzania to learn more and learn faster.

“Additionally, the E-Fahamu program, working with other stakeholders such as Universal Communication Services Access Fund (UCSAF), has provided over 1,400 free computers, routers and free internet connections to primary and secondary schools in areas of the country that would otherwise have remained unconnected,” the company added.

Minister for Education, Science and Technology Professor Adolf Mkenda said, “Being responsible for the policies on Education, Research, Library Services, Science, Technology, Innovation, Skills, Training Development and their implementation, we are continuously looking for ways to better deliver this vital social service to our communities, especially the isolated areas. We support such initiatives that work hand-in-hand with the government’s national agenda to accelerate development for the people.”

This collaboration with African Child Projects started as a pilot project on school connectivity. This pilot was successfully executed by ACP and just last week a new MoU was signed to scale up the project to reach 50 government schools in 10 regions across the country.

Catherine Kimambo, African Child Projects Executive Director said, “We are extremely proud to be entrusted with such an important task. We pledge to make sure that we deliver to the best standards. We do this because we believe that education is the foundation on which we the youth can build on to achieve the life we dream of.”

Vodacom Tanzania believes this project believe will contribute towards SDG 9 which aims to ‘significantly increase access to ICT and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries’ and SDG 4 which is: ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.