Tanga equips youth with digital skills for job market

TANGA: WITH the rapid changes in labor markets caused by advancement in digital technology and automation, Tanga City is embracing the trend of creating a digital generation of young people that can compete in the labour market.

It is setting the tone for a digital generation that is equipped to confront digitization and become specialized in employment, through a “Youth Digital Skills for Employment” project, that aims at helping develop youth digital skills essential for workforce growth.

The project is being implemented under the Tanga Yetu initiative, according to Botnar Foundation’s Project Coordinator, Patrick Wazir.

The Tanga Yetu initiative is supported by the Swiss Botnar Foundation in collaboration with the Tanga City Council and the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF).

Speaking on the project, Mr Waziri said the project aims at increasing youth employment by equipping 100 youths with digital skills to enable them to secure digital jobs in all sectors of the digital economy in Tanzania and beyond.

The training was provided to prepare young individuals for online communication and job opportunities on various online job platforms. This included digital literacy skills.

Out of the 50 youth who participated in the online training sessions, Waziri reports that 46 of them secured online gigs, micro-jobs and short-term monthly work opportunities with brands such as Tigo Tanzania, Nelwa’s Gelato and StepWise Foundation.

As a result of the activity, the youth organization OMAT (Okoa Maisha kwa Takwimu or Save Life Through Data) was formed.

They also worked with the city council on projects such as registering traders in the TAUSI system, which helped boost revenue for the municipality.

Tanga became the first city to use the National Statistics Office data usage guidelines.

Mr Waziri disclosed that the European Union showed interest in deploying OMAT to provide data collection services to other cities, including Mwanza.

He pointed out that the overall success rate is 46 percent and those who completed physical and virtual sessions achieved a success percentage of approximately 92 percent.  “By June 2022, the youth had collectively earned more than 10m/-,” he adds.

In April 2023, Alessandra Zini published an article on ‘Digital Askills and Employment’ in the official website of the European Union (EU) stating that remote work had become a new method for economic and social development.

In addition, e-formality  became a new solution for efficiency and sustainable development.

The training supported the council’s adoption of a data-driven approach to decision-making and motivate young people to take up the challenge.

The success of the digital transformation is demonstrated by the implementation of a data-driven approach to managing sustainable development as stated by Regional Commissioner Waziri Kindamba under the Tanga Yetu programme.

“Tanga City Council should be commended for investing in and training a group of young people with advanced digital technology skills and abilities to identify and register traders through the TAUSI System thereby increasing municipal revenue,” the RC was quoted as saying.

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