ED-Improving the Data Analysis Capacity of Experts and Information Systems in Tanzanian Ministries for Better Resources Management and

GO2023ITP254A103 01/09/2023 - 31/08/2026 Informed decisions are crucial in sustainable planning and effective resources management. These require quality, timely, and informative reports to assist the decision makers. Also, quality informative reports are a product of quality data that have been exhaustively analysed. In the United Republic of Tanzania (URT) there are many information systems that operate in the government’s ministries, which host vast amounts of crucial data. However, due to limited knowledge and skills of the experts in data analysis, the data remain underutilised. On the other hand, Mzumbe University (MzU) has academics with expertise and years of experience in training and research related to data science and information systems development. However, due to limited resources, the staff have insufficient access to high quality professional development courses in those areas. Also, there is no link between MzU academics and the government experts (statisticians and software developers) of information systems from the ministries. This link and collaboration would have enabled knowledge transfer between the MzU academic and the experts from the government, which could have led to comprehensive data analysis and upgrade of information systems to generate visual informative reports from the contained data. Therefore, this project aims to strengthen the capacity of MzU academics in data analysis through collaborations with Flemish experts. Moreover, the MzU experts shall transfer the gained knowledge and skills to the statisticians and software developers of the government information systems for them to upgrade their information systems and maximise data utilisation. This will lead to production of informative reports for informed decision making, which will lead to effective planning and resources management for better livelihoods and economic growth of the nation.