Help Tanzanian Youth Make Tech to Help Themselves

Twende - Orkolili Satellite Center in Kilimanjaro.
On the 13th of August 2021, Twende successfully launched a satellite center in Orkolili Secondary School. The aim of having the center in Kilimanjaro is to extend our reach to the communities around the region by empowering them through our workshops and providing access to the makerspace and technical support
Our team met community members from Ormelili, a village near the school, who showcased different, useful technologies they have been creating and will further improve them through the Twende – Orkolili Center. We had students from 8 schools who joined the event too and after learning about what we do, they are planning to work with the center on a 'build it program'. One of the activities our team demonstrated was creating a bottle opener. We engaged with the participants with the aim of giving a clear understanding of how we do these activities during trainings at our headquarters. Apart from our demonstrations, there were other exhibitions of different projects introduced by the students and communities that attended the launch. It was a very positive and insightful day as everyone who attended and hosted gained an understanding with regards to local technology and innovation.
Virtual Youth Exposition Day - Innovators Showcase run by Twende
Twende was honored to partner with the Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete Foundation (JMKF) to organize and run the Innovator’s showcase as part of the Virtual Youth Exposition Day-2021. Five of our innovators got the opportunity to showcase their tech and demonstrate how they are transforming the food systems and 2 innovators (Alfred Chengula and Jesse Oljange) won in the Food Processing category.
JMKF’s mission is to work with governments and other stakeholders to bring about progressive change which is in line with Twende’s mission to empower people to design and make their own technologies to solve community challenges.
Creative Capacity Building
We conducted 1 creative capacity building workshop with the Habari Maalum College students and managed to get 23 participants and a few members of staff attended.
Half of the workshop took place at the Habari Maalum campus and the rest at Twende after realizing that it was easier working on projects in the workshop than in classroom. The program was partially paid to subsidize material cost and the projects introduced were Cooking gas gauge, solar heater, and an automatic drip irrigation system.
As students did not have a mechanical engineering background, it was difficult to develop their ideas and so their teacher suggested leaving the prototypes at the first phase and improve them later.
Build-It Workshop
Twende reached out to 38 students at Likamba Integrity School located in Kisongo for the Build it program. The students made 20 rubber squeezers for cleaning their school. We met the priest of the church led school who was impressed by the program and asked if there were programs for elders too. We are looking forward to introducing creative capacity building to the Likamba community.
The 2021 Jamii Tech Program
The Jamii tech program commenced on the 16th of August and is ongoing.
Twende accommodated 9 graduates from 6 universities (Sokoine University of Agriculture, University of Dar es Salaam, Mbeya University of Science and Technology, Arusha Technical College, National Institute of Transportation and Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology). Among the projects that came out this year and the past JTP programs, 4 were selected to be incubated. The projects that will be incubated are Maize sheller and thresher, Plastic chopper, palm oil extractor and potatoes peeler. The projects selected have a high demand in the communities where these participants come from. From this, we have seen the effort and passion the innovators have put into these projects.

Through continuous support, we have been able to go beyond our makerspace walls and beyond our expectation. it is through your contribution that we are getting closer to our vision of more local technological solutions to local challenges.

Thank you so much (Asante Sana)!

Nzira and the Twende team

The past three months have been filled with workshops, exhibitions, and fascinating technologies. We have been fortunate enough to form stronger partnerships, work with more participants, and starting our initiative of bridging the gender gap by introducing the WIL (Women Innovating Locally) program in which we include more than 60% female participants in our workshops.
In the past quarter, we had the opportunity to work with Okoa New Generation, Notre Dame, FUES Foundation, The Girls Foundation of Tanzania, and Senda success.
Creative Capacity Building
In April, we worked with The Girls Foundation of Tanzania (TGFT), a team of 7 amazing and creative ladies who took part in the Creative Capacity Building workshop (CCB) and the program was a success. They made three prototypes that include the chapati maker, a weeder, and a fish scale shredder. These technologies have not just made them more creative but have made housework easier.
We also worked with Notre Dame, an Institution in Arusha, managed by The Society of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Tanzania.
A group of five ladies designed and made the ugali cooker. This has become a profoundly serious challenge to cooks especially women and all those who prepare ugali in high quantity in public institutions like hospitals, schools etc.
They managed to build a simple ugali cooker prototype that is Motor powered, and it works very well. It has been hard for people to prepare ugali because of the effort that it needs. It is a project that most innovators and participants have been avoiding but these resilient and creative girls made it possible.

Build-Its
Senda Success has played an instrumental role in our Build-It workshops since we co-organized a session of 8 days in which 20 students from various schools got together to learn how to make different devices. In the 8 days of learning, the students were able to make mini wardrobes, water pumps, electric sensors, and flashlights.

Tech Incubation: Twende Technologies being awarded first place in MAKISATU.
The ongoing incubation program has proved to be successful since the Sunflower thresher, emerged first place in the National Competition of Science, Technology and Innovation well known as MAKISATU (Mashindano ya Kitaifa ya Sayansi Teknolojia na Ubunifu) in the informal sector category. Pius and Leonard are the innovators behind this technology, and they have big plans for their business. With the business mentorship from KAKUTE, we are confident that they will grow into a successful business.

Summary

Number of people reached: 472
Creative capacity building workshops: 4
Build it workshops: 7
Mentorship and technical advice: 4
Prototypes made: 16

It is because of your support that we have been able to make it this far. We appreciate your contribution to this cause. Please stay connected through our social media for regular updates.

Thank you so much (Asante Sana)!

Nzira and the Twende team