The Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania Elisabeth Jacobsen travelled to Arusha to celebrate Norway’s energy and education cooperation with Arusha Technical College in Kikuletwa
Norway and Tanzania has cooperated in the energy sector since 1970. This year marks 50 years of energy cooperation. Based on a relationship of trust and mutual respect our two countries continue working together in the energy sector and on education.
Arusha Technical College (ATC), founded in 1978, offers education, training and skills development through different programmes, ranging from vocational training and shorter courses to bachelor degrees. Among ATC’s many fields of study are hydropower, plumbing, transportation, computer science and welding. Girls are still in a minority at the college, however, 25 per cent of their 2000 students are girls and ATC continue their efforts to increase their representation.
There is a great need in Tanzania for the practical vocational training and skills that technical colleges offer. By providing a qualified workforce, promoting gender equality and developing good managers, technical and vocational training institutions can boost business development.
“In that regard, I would like to commend the good work the college is doing on gender equality at the college over the years. However, more efforts are needed to attract more female students, said the Norwegian Ambassador in her remarks at the ATC Graduation Ceremony, January 18th. The Ambassador also used the opportunity to wish the ATC graduates good luck bringing their practical engineering skills with them into working life.”
Together Norway, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) and ATC have achieved many of the goals of the cooperation. Among the successes are the improved education facilities for the centre, including classrooms, student dormitories, expate housing and access roads.
The training have been developed in partnership with the Norwegian International Centre for Hydropower (ICH) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). During the implementation stage, job opportunities for up to 400 people in the community surrounding Kikuletwa were created. The construction of a hydropower plant for training purposes has not been realised at this stage, due to challenging framework conditions for business investments in Tanzania.
The agreement between Norway and ATC expired in 2019 and ATC will continue the further development of Kikuletwa Hydropower Training Centre in collaboration with the World Bank. Being a part of the World Bank’s programme “The Eastern African Skills for Transformation and Regional Project,” the Kikuletwa Hydropower Training Centre will work towards becoming a Centre of Excellence.
