Building Tanzania’s energy future starts with people

DAR ES SALAAM: Behind every new power plant, laboratory and transmission line stand the people who design, build and operate them. As Tanzania expands its energy system, its long-term success will depend not only on new generating capacity, but on whether it can build a sufficiently skilled, inclusive and internationally connected workforce to build, operate and maintain the systems on which that expansion depends.

Across much of sub-Saharan Africa, women remain underrepresented in science and technology. UNESCO estimates that in many African countries fewer than one in three STEM graduates are women. Closing that gap is becoming increasingly important as African economies demand more highly specialised expertise in fields ranging from artificial intelligence to radiology, nuclear medicine and advanced energy technologies.