Germans; The Unsuspected Digital Natives, OR NOT. (PART 1)
Greetings from the Fancy Kunta Octopus. On my way from Berlin to Bonn and I couldn’t wait till I arrived to write this. Needed to get my thoughts in one place before I started taking in all the new experiences at the Global Media Forum which I am attending as a speaker on one of the panel discussions “Closing the Digital Gender Gap”.
So I have spent the past 5 days in Berlin Germany, on a study and dialogue program for political actors and business representatives organized by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. The participants were from three countries, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. A mix of politicians and entrepreneurs, but all in the area of Digitization and Digitalisation. If you follow my work, you will know that I advocate for the digital revolution, the data revolution, digital citizenship and digital literacy in East Africa through Women at Web Project and The Launch Pad.
The whole delegation was headed by Mr Vincent Bagiire -Ugandan Permanent Secretary, Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, accompanied by Hon. Nyakecho Annet, Chairperson Parliamentary Committee on ICT (UGANDA), Mr Richard Zulu, Founder and Managing Director of Outbox Uganda, Senator Abshiro Halake- Vice President of the Senate’s ICT Committee (KENYA), Hon Godfrey Osotsi- Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Implementation, Member of the Committee on Communication and Innovation (KENYA), Mr Wilberforce Seguton- Founder of Bunifu Technologies (KENYA), Mr Tumaini Makene- Deputy head of the Communications Department of the Chadema party (TANZANIA), Mr Jones Mrusha- Expert in Tech Ecosystem and Co Founder Kinu Hub (TANZANIA), and of course myself. It was very high level and I kept saying to the honourables that clearly it was because of their presence that I was being treated like a very very important person. Lol.
Honestly though, it was quite a diverse group and we had some really constructive discussions on East Africa’s narrative and what we can do. My sisters, Abshiro the very composed intellectual and self driven change maker Annet have given me so much motivation and conviction to continue fighting for women empowerment although we disagreed on what feminism entails..discussion for another day. The technocrat in the group, Mr Bagiire just further proved to me how much we need more of the likes of him in our governmental institutions, if only the job security was there in #Tanzania for such. HA!
Our host was Mr Mathias Kamp, Country Director- KAS Uganda, a very vivacious hospitable German Mzungu, who smiles way more than the other Germans..he will kill me for writing this but he is now officially my friend so bleeeh! lol. Ms Christina Baade- KAS Berlin was in charge of the concept and coordination. She did an amazing job putting the program together and liasing with places to visit that really gave a clear picture on the direction Germany was taking towards Digitization.
Berlin was way more friendlier this time around from the last time I visited in December 2016, the weather was horrendous then, I couldn’t even walk with my head up and I had layers and layers of clothes..failing to paint Berlin with some African print colors or Kuntaism. Our Interpreter Mr Hartmut Voight was such a cool character, always on point with the translations and photographs he even made some of us look good!
I shared our activities on my social media platforms with the hashtag Berlin Chronicles, if you want to see more photos and updates just search my handle and the # on Twitter and Instagram.
Why I ‘m calling this article ‘Germans; The Unsuspected Digital Natives.or NOT’, is because everywhere we visited, they had one opening line, “Germany is a bit behind in comparison to other leading European Countries in Digitization”. This is Contrary to what most of us believed. If someone had just told this to me back in Tanzania, there is no way I would have agreed. But hearing it from the horse’s mouth and seeing just how many intensive efforts were being pushed through the chancellery and the line ministries just made me re-affirm that first digitization is an ongoing process as technology keeps evolving, but also you can excel in one area but lag behind in another. Our delegation was quite impressed with the education dual system, where academic and vocational education went hand in hand as opposed to Tanzania where we still think of Vocational Training as the lesser alternative. They also have commendable apprenticeship programs that see students spend as much time in practicals and in class. Their infrastructure still leaves me in awe, and I had to say a special prayer for the day we shall have the S bahns in Tanzania..still not very hopeful on the completion of our SGR but I’m not one to party poop, so let the games continue. So here is 5 day journey and our takeaways from the program.
Day 1, Monday 4th June- We started the tour with a visit to the German African Business Association in Berlin, an organisation similar to the likes of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation or Tanzania National Business Council. It has over 500 member companies, SMEs included. We were welcomed by Mrs Judith Helfmann-Hundack, Mrs Khadi Camara, and Mr Sannssi Cisse’. It was quite encouraging to hear of ongoing efforts addressing German- African Business Cooperation, more details on www.afrikaverein.de
We did however agree that more should be done to push for exploration of business opportunities in East Africa and connecting the two on areas of interest. For instance on the topic of digitization, how many German companies do we have operating on that area in East Africa? what kind of partnerships can be established?i.e Tanzania and it’s Industrialization Agenda could be one of the strong partners considering Germany’s strength and technology in manufacturing and industries. How do we forge relationships between the two in pursuit of Industry 4.0?
The second visit was with Mrs Carolin Proft, Desk Officer, Digitization and Innovation, BDI- Bundesverbad der Deustchen Industrie (Federation Of German Industries), similar to the likes of CTI in Tanzania. Here we learnt of the recommendations the body was pushing for to get to Industry 4.0. In their presentation, they insisted on what governments must do towards achieving a digital economy; Provide a high performance infrastructure, strengthen the start up ecosystem, creating a European Digital Single Market, Secure Qualification needs, Strengthen IT security, Increase Innovative Capability and implementing competence and collaboration centers.
On e-Health, we met with Mr Nino Mangiapane, Head of Division Basic Policy Issues Telematics/eHealth. He spoke on digitization in the health care sector, with their policy goals being boosting quality, empowering patients, and enhancing efficiency. They also have their challenges as admitted ny Mr Mangiapane, on infrastructure and interoperability, user orientation, innovation VS need for evidence based financing, and data protection which also seemed to be a cross cutting concern in the line ministries and the chancellery.
Major plans are underway on facilitating useful applications, i.e electronic medical reports, electronic discharge reports, and consultative evaluation of X-Ray findings. On financial incentives, our heads nodded with awe after hearing they have a 2 Year start up funding for start ups doing electronic medical reports and discharge letters.
They have also set up a national eHealth stakeholder platform called eHealth initiative.
Day 2- Tuesday June 5th.
This day started with a visit to the Federal Chancellery, where we met with Mr Frank Wetzel, head of division, Innovation and Industrial Policies, Information, Technology and Regional Economic Issues and Mrs Katja Pohlmann from the Global Issues, United Nations and Africa division. We learnt that the chancellery is spearheading the digital political agenda, with 3 ministries in the lead. Industry 4.0 was once again the prominent word in their presentation, also acknowledging the need to transition more into an e-economy, the Internet of Things, and more support for SMEs. It also helps when you have allocated 2% of the development funds to ICT, strengthening E-Health, E-Education and E-Economy.
It was also a surprise to some of us to hear them say they had a shortage of skilled workforce although some areas had reached full employment and were lacking employees and that women were less attracted to informatics, engineering fields. Their future plans include embracing and integrating the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and digital innovation. The wow factor was also when they mentioned aspirations for ensuring INTERNET ACCESS TO ALL, at 50 mbps.
For German- African Cooperation, they are also looking forward to promoting and enhancing E-skills for girls through their development agencies and development work.
My second favourite place to visit was the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure..Yes, they actually have a ministry for digital infrastructure. I KNOW!. One of our highlights for this visit was our host, Mrs Sabine Mehwad, the head of department Citizen Services. She actually made an effort to get everyone’s name right. Impressive, considering the authenticity of some of ours..A presentation was then made by a Mr Tobias Miethaner, Head of Department Digital Society. Digital Accessibility was still a challenge to the ministry, and they have allocated 4 billion Euros to support and enhance the technology infrastructure.
Mr Miethaner also mentioned how they are creating an environment for start ups and what was more encouraging was to hear the ministry actually ran competitions and hackathons to encourage innovation right there at the ministry in this beautiful hall that had an art installation of reflecting mirrors all around. That’s the other beautiful thing about Berlin, they love their art and architecture. He insisted that they are embracing digitization as a multifaceted area but also cross sectional among the ministries and the chancellery.
Speaking of start ups, the germans admit that it is still a very new area, majorly because they are perfectionists and are not much of risk takers which is what start ups are also about. However, we got to attend Pitch Tuesday at APX, an accelerator for start ups.
How refreshing it was to hear the pitches in such a concise, precise and engaging manner. We talk about this everyday at www.thelaunchpad.or.tz when training on entrepreneurial and employability skills,I witnessed again how comprehensive, brief and to the point pitching should look like and have more tips for our trainees in our upcoming art of public speaking and presentation skills class.
Day 3- Wednesday 6th June
Glorious Wednesday and the weather was just right! It was time to visit our hosts at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Akademie and hear why a political foundation was also pioneering a digitization agenda. Dr Pencho Kuzev, Coordinator for Digitization and Data Policy at KAS, explained how they are using a ordoliberal approach, which is a German Variant on social liberalism that emphasizes the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential.
They believe this will improve the business environment, Strengthen open data and government on political agenda and foster best possible use of data to benefit economy and society.
KAS is determined to promote the need for a clear legal basis for different kind of data in Germany and Europe. They also want to propose a data ownership concept and shift from a target culture to a data culture in society. Data Literacy is very much one of their priorities, as well as Open government. Dr Kuzev was shocked to hear Tanzania had pulled out of the OGP, being one of the pioneer countries. I told him we still remain hopeful and are determined to advocate for open data, open contracting and data for sustainable development.
Next stop was to Mr Rudolf Gridl, Head of Division, Internet Governance, International Digital Dialogues at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The ministry has an initiative called Pro-Africa! Digitization and Innovation Partnership with Africa which is based on the German Government’s policy guidelines for Africa which strengthen the foundations for stability and development and aim particularly to foster good governance, the rule of law, the fight against corruption and educational opportunities.
Germany’s economic relations with Africa are already strong. For example, German foreign trade with Africa in 2016 amounted to around €41 billion; approx. €24 billion of this was with Sub-Saharan Africa, and roughly €17 billion was with North Africa. Whilst German imports totalled €16.5 billion, German exports amount to €24.5 billion. German firms generate jobs, and they provide vocational training along the lines of Germany’s “dual” system. Africa offers fresh prospects as a business partner for German firms.
Personally with what we do at the Launch Pad on Skills Development to contribute to Tanzania’s national skills development program, It was indeed encouraging to hear plans on Vocational training. Pro Africa Initiative aims to export If employees in Africa are to use new machinery and technology, high-quality training; this is a key precondition for industrial and economic progress.
Their “Skills Experts” programme will be extended to cover selected bilateral chambers of commerce in Africa. This programme supports German companies so that they can train the local workers they need in line with the German “dual” vocational training system.
The possible core tasks of the “Skills Experts” includes the establishment of local networks with the relevant players, drafting a needs-based training concept, and delivering other services relating to vocational training like training for instructors and management of exams.
In addition to the “Skills Experts”, an awareness raising campaign on “dual” vocational training will be launched, including the establishment of cooperation between schools and companies, so that the value of such training can be highlighted both for careers and in African societies.
Pro Africa also aspires to link up African entrepreneurs with German startups and German technology. A startup fund worth around €100 million is to be established over several years. Funding is to be provided to a number of African cities that have a particularly vibrant startup scene. Now Dar Es Salaam! PLEASE STAND UP! or better yet! ARUSHA! Insert SMILEY face.
To be continued..
