Tanzania Stakeholders Want Harmonized Data Capturing Management Systems.

By Gerald Kitabu, Dar e Salaam.

Knowledge management and data capture stakeholders in Tanzania have called for a harmonized system of data capturing management.

Data harmonization helps to get all data required from different fields or sectors at a single window. Unfortunately, many countries in the region have no single window, instead, each Ministry, institutions and departments have their own data capturing systems depending on their need.

This came to light at the joint meeting of CCARDESA and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) organized under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme ex-Pillar 4(CAADP-XP4) Programme. This meeting which was organized for knowledge management and data capture National Stakeholders was held at the Landmark Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last week.

The main purpose of the meeting was to learn from Tanzania stakeholders how they collect Malabo Commitment data which they use to report at the national, regional, and continental level. The Malabo Declaration provides direction to transform the agriculture sector in Africa for the period of 2015-2025 within the wider framework of CAADP which was adopted in 2014 by the African Union (AU) member states to accelerate agricultural growth, transform shared prosperity and improve livelihoods.

Ms Vida Mahava, the Tanzania Information Communication and Knowledge Management (ICKM) focal Point person for CCARDESA said that the countries in the region do not have a harmonized system of data capturing management. Every Ministry, Institution, department has its way of data capturing.  Most of the countries tend to focus on information, communication, and knowledge management but not on data capturing systems.

“We have agreed on having a national coordinator who will organize different Ministries and departments so that we have harmonized system on data capturing to support meeting the Malabo commitments,” she added.

Dr Richard Kasuga, who is also Tanzania’s other ICKM focal point person said good data collection is vital. He said the main challenge in most countries is that they have systems that are not speaking to each other. “We need harmonized data capture and the systems that speak to each other. Government departments should break the silos that make people work in isolation.,” he said.

The Consultants facilitating the meetings on behalf of CCARDESA, Dr Stephen Opiyo and Dr Fally Masambuka said that the challenges of not getting the required data are similar in several countries in the region adding that the guidelines provided make it harder for some SADC countries to have harmonized data capture.

The consultants hailed Tanzania for having strong structures despite the existing data collection challenges. They also advised the participants to put more efforts to get the required data at a single window to meet the Malabo commitments. Tanzania Is among the countries that have in the past been on track meeting the Malabo commitments.

In his closing remarks, Dr Richard Kasuga said that Tanzania under the government of Dr John Pombe Magufuli is working hard to ensure that data systems are operationalized which will support data-based decision making which will ultimately lead to strengthened food security.

This meeting which took place on 22nd February 2021 drew representatives from the Ministry of agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Tanzania Meteorological Agency, and National Bureau of statistics among many others and the main theme was to ensure that they contribute to the call for the establishment of a system of data capture and knowledge management in the country.

The author works as a reporter at the Guardian in Tanzania.