DOT Tanzania

The Dare 2 Change Tanzania Program is an exclusive six-week program for young social innovators in Tanzania to gain 21st-century skills, develop their ideas, prototype and test them. Throughout the program, the youth have access to training, resources, and networks that empower them to transform their social innovation ideas into products and services. 

The program -facilitated by DOT Tanzania and the University of Dar es salaam Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (UDIE)– works collaboratively to recruit 40 young graduates with social innovation ideas and build their capacity through training for six weeks. 

In the end, 10 youth with best ideas participate in a pitch competition, where they share their social innovation ideas with members of their community. From there, three innovators are chosen as winners and receive cash awards for seed capital. This year’s top prize was $3,000 USD. Additionally, the top winner is invited to participate in DOT’s annual youth Unconference. This year, the winner travelled to Nairobi to connect with 100 other DOT youth innovators from more than 13 countries around the world.

This year’s social innovation ideas included eco-friendly sanitary pads, technology for smallholder farmers, mobile-based savings solution, digital education, the inclusion of people with disability and many other exciting ideas.  All ideas were built to create development impact as well as integrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our youth were tasked with thinking global and acting local, one household at a time. Here are the top 10 Social Innovation Ideas from the Dare to Change Tanzania 2018:

CENTER FOR ZERO VIOLENCE

There is an alarming number of gender-based violence and violence against children in Tanzania. Siti witnessed some of it through the eyes of the victims while working at Amana hospital as a field social worker in 2016/2017. What she saw was broken victims who receive little attention and in most cases no justice. Her social enterprise Center for Zero Violence has one major goal and that is to fight all kinds of domestic violence and abuse by helping victims seek justice, medical treatment and psychological help. Her center services will include legal assistance at a minimum price so victims can get justice and compensation. It will provide education to communities to prevent future cases of violence/ abuse face to face and videos. And Make sure victims’ receive psychological help so they can resume their lives happily. Her Innovation supports SDGs #5 Gender Equality, #10 Reduce Inequality and #16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

KlLIMO TAARIFA 

Growing up in Mbeya, Adam comes from a family of farmers but he has noticed that the farmers get limited to zero information on some of the important things that affect them. Farmers do not receive research results, updated farming techniques, marketing reports etc. The situation keeps small-scale farmers from growing and sometimes brings them losses. The solution is Kilimo Taarifa application. Adam and his team will search for all relevant agricultural information and put them in one place for the farmers to access with a click of a button. They will gather poorly disseminated researches, market demand information and farming techniques so the Tanzanian farmer stays ahead of the industry.  The information will be available through USSD & SMS, Website and mobile App. His innovation supports SDGs #1 No Poverty, #2 Zero Hunger and #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.

 

SMART LEARNING ENTERPRISE  

Tumsifu is passionate about teaching and after observing the Tanzania education system for years he has discovered that our teacher-centred learning is keeping our students form excelling hence creating a dependent workforce. He understands that the challenge is the teacher-student ratio and an insufficiently funded education system. Smart Learning Enterprise aims to change this by creating motivating learning materials that will boost the learning experience of our 21st-century students. These materials include well-presented videos that capture mathematics and science lessons using visual aids to demonstrate ideas, keeping students interested. There are also future plans of having a mobile laboratory. Smart Learning Enterprise is one way of reaching Sustainable Development Goal SDG #4 Quality Education

TANZANIA WORKABILITY FOR EDUCATED PERSONS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS (TWEPSN)  

Liberius is a computer scientist and the chairperson of TWEPSN. After graduating his BSc. in Computer Science he quickly found out that many employers are not ready to give people with special needs a job even when they are qualified. TWEPSN is meant to change that by creating a database of people with special needs documenting their residence, skills and conditions. It will also advocate for the implementation of the 2010 Disability Act and providing entrepreneurial/ career skills to this marginalized group. Already TWEPSN has a following of over 3,000 individuals on social media, half of which are people with special needs. This Innovation supports the efforts to reach SDG #1 No Poverty, #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth and #10 Reduced Inequality.

 

BORESHA ELIMU 

Many of the physical berries stopping girls from getting education are being removed from school fees to early child marriages more and more girls now get equal chances to education in Tanzania. But they still do not excel, some end up pregnant and some just quit school.  It seems that the girls mindset has not yet shifted to match the opportunities they have, Nathalia wants to change that. Boresha Elimu is a program meant to keep girls in schools by giving girls life skills, career guidance and sexual, reproductive health education. The aim is to keep girls in school by giving them the tools to be the best they can be at an individual level. Boresha Elimu will deliver this program face-to-face, using an App and Website. This innovation supports SDGs number #4 Quality Education and #5 Gender Equality.

 

SUKU ENTERPRISE 

Tanzania’s are great fans of black tea, but according to the World Health Organization (WHO) black tea has high caffeine content may cause health problems to users. Introducing SUKU TEA, this is a healthy tea blend made of Lemongrass and Ginger and farmed by widows, single mothers and girls from Kisaki, Morogoro. This innovation is meant to combat the health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure with its nutritious blend. The production of Suku Tea will economically empower the marginalized women and support the national goal of an Industrialized Tanzania come 2025. SUKU SOCIAL ENTERPRISE is supporting SDGs #3 Good Health and Well Being and #5 Gender Equality.

LILY PADS SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Plastic takes about 450 years to decompose and with over half of the world’s population being female we need new innovations as alternatives to plastic disposable menstrual pads. Lily Pads are Biodegradable disposable sanitary pads made out of Water Hyacinth and papyrus plant. These law cost pads are not only eco-friendly and affordable to low-income girls/women their production will put to good use the invasive Water Hyacinth that is currently plaguing Lake Victoria and killing marine life. Betty Comes from the Lake Zone and understands the problems this plant causes to the environment and the communities. This social enterprise is set to take the world closer to SDGs # 3 Good Health and Well Being, #4 Quality Education, #5 Gender Equality, #9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, #13 Climate Action and #14 Life Below Water

MABO RECYCLERS SOCIAL ENTERPRISE 

Paper waste makes 29% of all waste in Tanzania and without proper management, it leads to deforestation (for more paper) and carbon emission as burning is the main disposal system of this type of waste. Faraji and Juma want to recycle paper waste in Tanzania and create low price exercise books and carbon-free paper charcoal. FACT: Recycling of one ton of paper saves 17 trees. Marbles Recyclers Social Enterprise is a great effort towards reaching SDGs #7 Affordable and Clean Energy, #9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure #12 Responsible Consumption and Production, #13 Climate Change and #No. 15 Life on Land.

HALD’S PHYSIOTHERAPY HEALTH CENTER 

There is a serious gap in affordable physiotherapy centers in Tanzania, and with a high demand for old people and diabetes patient,s we need such centers to meet the demand at an affordable price. Angela has come up with an innovative idea to create a center where people who are recovering from accidents, C sessions or are just old can go and receive the physical and mental care they need with minimum costs. Her center Hald’s Physiotherapy Medical Center will provide  the physical and psychological attention that many patients need by don’t get from the normal rehabilitation centers often found in the hospitals. This thoughtful social innovation is will take Tanzania closer to reaching SDG #3 Good Health and well being

 

MOBILE KIBUBU 

Saving for one’s goals is a challenge for many, but it is even harder for low income people because the little money they have can not be taken to the bank on a daily basis and if they wait they end up using it on unimportant things. The banking system is for managing savings yes! But what if you want to save for 5 different goals? Opening 5 different Bank accounts seems a bit too much. Mobile Kibubu is an application that will allow the users to set goals and save for them separately for a period of time and that money will be locked until its due date allowing the users to abstain from the temptation of using it elsewhere. The goals could be anything from school fees to business capital the user can add in money every day, week or month to get closer to the goal.  This innovation will help people achieve their goals and improve their lives supporting the Sustainable development goal SDGs #1 No Poverty and #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.

The DOT Unconference is an annual entrepreneurial youth summit where young social innovators from around the world have the opportunity to meet, network, and showcase their social innovation ideas.

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