Norway will support the professional development of female engineers with nearly USD2m over the next 5 years.
The Grant Agreement was signed on July 5th 2016 by Hanne-Marie Kaarstad, Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania, and Ninatubu Lema, Chairman of the Tanzanian Engineers Registration Board (ERB).
The Chairman explained that a qualified workforce is essential for Tanzania to transform into an industrialized economy, and noted the critical time of the Norwegian support to female engineers in Tanzania.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy has provided financial support to ERB to strengthen the capacity of female engineers and support their full registration as professional engineers since 2010.
The first Grant Agreement, signed on May 5th 2010, of USD1.6m will be completed this year.
The Norwegian support has been important to limit the dropouts during the trainee program, and has contributed to more than tripling the number of female engineers.
In July 2016, there are 329 registered female engineers in Tanzania. As a comparison, a total of 96 female engineers were registered between 1976 and 2009.
