University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)

On Friday September 16^th David, Alice and I traveled to the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to visit the Faculty of Commerce and Management. We had the privilege to meet with Dr. Marcellina Chijoriga, Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Finance. Dr. Chijoriga is a dynamic individual brimming with good ideas, common sense and a lot of energy. At the moment she is the acting Principal in the absence of Dr. Erasmus Kaijage, who will be attending the September 20^th meeting in Nairobi. We were clearly in very good hands.

In our discussion with Dr. Chijoriga a number of areas emerged where research in Tanzania would be useful to enhance the business climate. There has been quite a bit of privatization of utilities and other businesses in the country and a review of the process would be practical. Public private partnerships (PPPs) are another area that warrants close examination, such as in the water sector or railroads. Countries’ experiences in PPPs across the region could be examined in a multi-country comparison. There has been Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Tanzania, particularly around the mining and tourism sectors, and the link to the investment climate’s ability to attract or detract FDI is crucial and should be examined. However, it should be noted that the BEST program mentioned in a previous blog is focusing on this issue, with a lot of donor support.

As I mentioned in my entry on the visit to CIDA at the High Commission, Microfinance is massive in Tanzania, and Dr. Chijoriga, an expert in this field sees a number of areas that should be researched. According to her, the actual demand for such services is only anecdotal at this time, although she suspects demand is certainly greater than the supply. She thinks that there is a need to connect the smaller microfinance providers that aren’t full-fledged Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). The Savings and Credit Co-Operatives (SACCOs) and MFIs are not the only institutions that should be supported. I ask the question again, how do we link SME development, the human capital skill-set to the availability of credit and other supply services?

 

We asked Dr. Chijoriga to comment on the culture of research at her faculty. We were probing into the motivation of researchers at UDSM, for example what incentives or pressures does the staff have to publish and how is the state of their methodological skills. She described an environment which pits the motivations against one another. Staff live with a typical university publish or perish culture, but at the same time teaching can interfere with their ability to do the research. Methodologically speaking, the faculty has had workshops on a regular basis, providing the space for faculty and graduate students to convene to workshop their proposals, thus building methodological capacity and improving proposals. However, a problem arises in that very good proposals are frequently not funded, thereby leading to frustration and consequently decreasing motivation. In turn this sense of frustration leads many to not involve themselves in such workshops, which then contributes to diminished methodological skills.  Clearly a downward spiral of capacity!

Next we probed Dr. Chijoriga on what institution could fairly administer IDRC funds in a good manner. She suggests that if we carefully create the “rules of the game” in advance, hire a good manager and financial officer, create solid financial systems, then it really shouldn’t matter which institution houses the funds, and it would then act impartially and responsibly.

In our last 15 minutes together we brainstormed a peer review process and how it might look. Intelligibly, it is understood that this fund needs a robust African peer review process with some teeth. Dr. Chijoriga suggested it would be useful to create an overarching level of research directors, who in turn would appoint thematic panels and would invite individuals to serve as the panelists, bearing in mind any conflicts of interest. It is thought that for the most part, such panels could operate in a virtual environment. Although I suspect that there would be important points in time that physical meetings must take place.

It was a pleasure to meet with Dr. Chijoriga who so graciously gave us over two hours of her time, and a productive two hours no less!

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