UNCDF Tanzania

UNCDF aims to leverage the power of digital technology and innovation to drive inclusive economic growth.

We have four workstreams that reflect the core elements of the digital economy and constitute the strategy for addressing the key constraints of the Tanzanian context. Five strategic instruments are employed across each of these workstreams to achieve impact. While interventions in each of these workstreams alone are not sufficient—digital innovations are meaningless without a digital infrastructure to run on, for example—together, they result in outcomes that complement and amplify one another to drive impact. 

The enabling policy and regulation workstream is foundational to an inclusive digital economy. A key objective of this workstream is to facilitate the development of a national digital economy framework, along with laws and regulations that incentivize innovation, engender trust in financial and digital systems, give people greater choice in the products and services offered, and empower them to use digital services in their everyday lives.

 The infrastructure workstream seeks to catalyze investments that ensure key components of digital infrastructures—such as the Tanzania Instant Payments System (TIPS) 

critical to realizing the network effects of a digital economy—are in place. 

Supported by enabling policy, regulation, and infrastructure, the inclusive innovation workstream focuses on developing robust use-cases for the digital economy. To do so, UNCDF works with innovation accelerators, incubators, and labs to support fintech start-ups and catalyze innovation beyond fintech.For example, we are running Pesatech accelerator and partner with UNDP in Funguo Innovation Programme.

The empower customers workstream are critical if consumers are to embrace digital services and create a demand-driven inclusive digital economy. UNCDF’s experience building financial capability under FIPA initiatives generated insights that inform the IDE project’s approach to building digital capability.