Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals Participates in Tetra Tech Public-Private Partnership Training
Tetra Tech’s Institute for Public-Private partnerships (IP3) concluded six weeks of training with 20 officials from Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals in Washington, DC, in February 2014. This was the first time IP3 held a customized training for participants solely from one organization; IP3 plans to offer this training option annually in January and February. The participants represented several Ministry agencies and were tasked with becoming certified public-private partnership (PPP) specialists—in nearly half the time normally required.
The Ministry and the World Bank, which helped fund the training, approached IP3’s David Baxter to help the Ministry improve its capacity-building capabilities in the energy sector. Tanzania has vast oil and gas reserves and is increasing its presence in the energy market. The Ministry needs to increase its expertise in contracts, procurement, financial modeling, stakeholder engagement, and partnership formation with the private sector. Tetra Tech also instructed participants on ways to improve working relationships with their supervisors and collaborations with other agencies.
After IP3 informed the Tanzanian embassy about the training, the participants received an unexpected visit with Tanzanian Ambassador Mulamula, who welcomed the group to the embassy to discuss their work. She reiterated her need for people she can rely on from the Ministry to answer her questions and provide solid information on energy issues. This call for accountability from the Ambassador had a great effect on the participants, and the Ambassador and her staff were able to form relationships with individual Ministry employees.
Ambassador Mulamula also attended the training’s closing ceremony and presented her fellow Tanzanians with their diplomas. She was so delighted that at the conclusion of her keynote address, she burst into a Tanzanian song that had the participants on their feet clapping and singing along in Swahili.
IP3 and Tetra Tech are proud to be part of this achievement that means so much to Tanzania’s future. We are excited to see how this group will put their PPP certifications into practice as they become leaders in their agencies and help Tanzania grow as an energy producer in Africa.
Learn more about Tetra Tech’s PPP services at www.ip3.org.