Investing in Social Innovation and Technology in Tanzania

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Investing in Social Innovation and Technology in Tanzania • CUSTOMISING APPROACHES TO ENABLE INNOVATIONSWhile Tanzania’s early-stage innovationecosystem is gaining momentum, aninfusion of ideas and technologiesis still necessary to bridge the gapsbetween policy and practice. The strengths andsupport needs of different sectors and sub-sectorswithin the ecosystem vary hugely and requirefunders to engage in the ecosystem and to providea customised mix of advisory services to supportinnovations and innovators.In a mature innovation ecosystem, national andregional policies, institutions, actors, and theirnetworks are stable enough to provide quality,transparent, and reliable support, allowing investorsto inject a larger portion of their funds into thefinancial investment instead of providing advisoryservices. Investors’ financial investments can bemore commercial – for example, debt and equityand service contracts instead of grants. Investorscan also focus on testing and scaling innovationsmore than engaging in building the ecosystems – forexample, in skills development, ideation, prototyping,networking, and policy influence.HDIF has learned that supporting Tanzania during itstransition from an early-stage to mature ecosystemrequires tailored technical assistance to innovatorsand management at every turn. This can changeas an innovation moves through different stagesfrom design and start-up through to scaling and isdependent on specific needs, skills, and resourcegaps at any time. It is important to understand thespecific nuances of innovations and specific subsectorsthat sit within a sector – such as health oreducation – in which they operate. Advisory services,and funding values and mechanisms provided byinnovation funders must support the testing andscaling of the innovations.2.1 RecommendationTailor funding andsupport mechanisms tomeet the needs of industrysub-sectors surroundingspecific innovationsUnsurprisingly, the innovation ecosystem in Tanzaniais a complex and messy place. Take for example,the significant differences that exist between thesectors involved (such as health, education, andWASH), each with their own levels of investment,numbers of stakeholders, openness of policies forSub-sectors aresegments withina specific sectoror industry thatexist within subecosystems.Theyare are characterisedby their own setof stakeholders,funders, regulatoryframeworks andother uniqueattributes thatare defined bythe strengths orweaknesses of thatparticular sub-sector.A healthcare worker recordspatient information usingsmartphone technologythrough Amref’s mVaccinationprogramme.AMREF24
Investing in Social Innovation and Technology in Tanzania • CUSTOMISING APPROACHES TO ENABLE INNOVATIONStesting new ideas, and risk tolerance. Against thisbackground, it is critical that investors understandthe nuances of the sector it is seeking to work withand the conditions needed to test and scale up theinnovation it supports – otherwise known as the‘enabling environment’ – and to tailor funding andsupport mechanisms for sub-sectors accordingly.Recognising these complex sub-ecosystems, HDIFhas tailored its support to its innovations and providesmore guidance and support to grantees and partnerswhere needed. It is accepted that the developmentimpact of these innovations may not be measurablewithin the grant period, and the likelihood ofadoption is significantly lower. Concurrently, HDIFfocuses more on understanding and strengtheningthe sub-ecosystem, connecting partners, engagingpolicymakers to lower the risk. The focus on earlystagetesting of prototypes requires more flexibilityin reporting, has more flexible performanceexpectations, and assumes more risk. That beingsaid, the potential for transformational impact is high;when adopting a sub-ecosystem approach , it ispossible to break down existing barriers, or create ademand where none previously existed.The importance of understandingsub-ecosystemsHDIF has funded innovations across many sectorsand sub-sectors, but the comparison of two examplesillustrates the importance of understanding the subecosystemin designing innovation investments.The health sector in Tanzania is a comparativelyrobust ecosystem for innovation. As a consequenceof significant government and donor funding,programmes, and partnerships across the country,investors supporting health innovation are able toconcentrate on funding the scaling up of initiativesrather than advisory support. As a consequence, subsectorssuch as mobile technologies for the practiceof medicine or public health (mHealth) are thriving.Compared to those in other sectors that HDIFsupports, the programme’s portfolio of tenmHealth innovations are predominantly laterstageinnovations that have been tested and areready to scale. Implemented by more experiencedand technically capable partners, their impact hasbeen easier to measure and adoption rates haveChildren build their ownself-devised solutionsduring a fun hack atInnovation Week 2018.been higher. In response to this, HDIF’s funding hasfocused on scaling up, which requires more rigorousreporting, has greater performance expectations, andassumes less risk.By comparison, HDIF also sought out innovation inthe sanitation sector but found very few partnerswith innovations beyond typical approaches alreadyin use or that had already failed in Tanzania. At thegovernment level, the coordination of innovationand technologies for sanitation is more complexthan in mHealth. For example, work in sanitation is,in part, under the Ministry of Health, CommunityDevelopment, Gender, Elderly and Children(MoHCDEC), but also requires engagement withthe Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Ministryof Education, Science and Technology, andPO-RALG (which is responsible for supporting localgovernment authorities (LGAs) in service delivery ofsanitation). Cooperation between these governmentactors is also implemented through various NationalSanitation and Hygiene Steering and TechnicalCommittees actively engaging with the NationalWater Sector Development Programme (WSDP).Navigating this complex system of governmentpartners, obtaining buy-in for testing and scalingspecific innovations over time, and providing a clearpath for scale and adoption is riskier.Compared to the mHealth sub-ecosystem, there aresignificantly fewer qualified, risk-taking partners withinnovative ideas and funders willing to invest in earlystagesanitation innovations. Collectively, the existingsanitation interventions tend to be conventionaland the few actors who are implementing are oftenA sub-ecosystemapproach emphasisesthe interdependenceand interactionof elements andactors, both withinand external to anorganisation.25HDIF
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