UDSM Sida

For over two decades, the Swedish government through Sida has been supporting the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in human resource development, research and innovation capacity-building. Since 1998, there have been five phases of Sida-UDSM collaboration (1998-2001, 2001- 2004, 2004-2010, 2010-2015, 2015-2023) in various areas. The numerous outputs achieved over the years have had a significant impact on the University and has led to the formulation of informed policies and guidelines geared towards poverty reduction and a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable and inclusive development in Tanzania and in the region. For instance, for the year 2015-2023 the main emphasis of this phase of Sida support was on multidisciplinary research and strengthening of academia-industry linkages for addressing societal needs. This support has significantly contributed to the UDSM’s transformation towards becoming a comprehensive research-oriented University with expanded postgraduate research training. 

The current phase of Sida funding (2024-2030) supports 8 sub- programmes. The objectives of this phase align well with the UDSM’s grand Vision 2061 and the UDSM’s five years rolling strategic plan (2020/2021 – 2024/2025) on (i) Enhancing the Quality and Competitiveness of Research and Development, and Innovation, (ii) Improving the Quality and Competitiveness of Knowledge Exchange, (iii) Inspiring and Motivating Staff and students and (iv) Increasing Sustainable Resources. From 2025, the programme is set to train 66 candidates; 43 (50% female) at PhD level, 6 (50% female) at the masters level, and 17 (50% female) at postdoctoral level. Similarly, the programme significantly contributes to the improvement of research infrastructure of UDSM by maintaining the existing state of the art equipment procured in previous phases. In specific terms, this phase focuses on strengthening the UDSM’s human resources development, upscaling and commercialization of research and innovation results, enhancing academia- industry linkages and community engagement through the utilization of ICT tools. Equally important, the programme aims to improve research and innovation management for monitoring and evaluating outputs, outcomes and impacts on society. The programme is expected to realise several outcomes over a six-year period (2024-2030) across the eight subprogrammes as follows; enhanced research and teaching capacity across the University by training faculty at various levels: 43 (50% female) at PhD level, 5 (40% female) at the Master’s level, and 17 (50% female) at postdoctoral level. Additionally, more than 5867 staff are to be equipped with specialised technical, research and management soft- skills. Similarly, dissemination of results will be provided to 3259 stakeholders (52% female) as part of community engagement. Furthermore, four (4) research centres will be supported; three (3) new postgraduate curricula (1 PhD; 2 Master) are planned for development. Moreover, one PhD curriculum is also scheduled for review. In terms of enhancing quality and use of research and innovation outputs, 2 books will be published, 10 book chapters, 140 journal papers will be published and 53 research/policy briefs will be produced. In addition, 26 patents, 5 prototypes/products will be secured while 30 developed knowledge/technologies will be transferred to society for adoption. In strengthening collaborations and community engagement, UDSM will establish over 64 new networks/industrial linkages at the national, regional and international levels. Gender will be a principal factor in all capacity- building interventions to ensure that at least 50% of the beneficiaries are females including other disadvantaged groups.

The research and innovation capacity development initiatives involve 10 partner institutions (8 Swedish and 2 regional). These are Stockholm University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, University of Uppsala, University of Skövde, University of Gothenburg, Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University, Linköping University, University of Burundi and the University of Rwanda. In addition, some local partner institutions will be involved. These are University of Dodoma, Institute of Traditional Medicine, Ifakara Health Institute, and National Institute for Medical Research, Nelson Mandela African Institution for Science and Technology and Sokoine University of Agriculture, TANESCO and COSTECH.

The programme has total budget of SEK 78,150,448 million (19 billion TZS) for successfully implementation of the programme activities. On the other hand, UDSM is committed to co-fund SEK 28.5 million to cater for staff salaries, utilities and infrastructure. The programme is to be implemented within six (6) years to consolidate the capacity that has been built over the years of support from the Swedish Government and gradually phase out with sustainability measures by aligning to UDSM own long term strategy for Research capacity strengthening.