Definitions

Dear team,

The end of my first month in Tanzania approached quickly and as we’ve all recently had experiences in taking a leap of faith and going headfirst into something new, you can appreciate how defining the first month is in many ways. This past month has been one filled with opportunities that I’ve been eager to grasp with open arms. In my excitement, I have taken on (or been assigned) the following roles:

Stakeholder for eHealth in Tanzania
I attended the eHealth in Tanzania Visioning and Strategic workshop where I sat amongst mHeath leaders to develop a Vision Statement and Requirements for an end-to-end logistics management information system. This purpose of this platform is to provide insight and manage the supply chain of medicines across the country. The driver, as can be guessed, is the stock outs of vaccinations and medicines at clinics. I happily contributed where I could (the Security & Privacy of the platform) and will be involved in developing the Project Charter over the next few months. Within one month’s time, I’ve had the opportunity to shape the direction of eHealth in Tanzania.

Project designer
The jump from consulting to project design is a challenge that requires the use of parts of my brain that haven’t been frequently exercised. The projects involve many market actors and use cases, creating various layers of complexity. I’m completing the first design iteration, taking into account human agency, fraud and corruption as best as I can guess. The next step is to pilot the program is 3 regions across the country.

Deloitte Alum
Circumstances are quite amusing. I found out that Deloitte Tz hosted an mHealth workshop shortly before I arrived and with that excitement, emailed the project lead and had a great conversation with him. The project will launch in two weeks and I expressed my interest in the intersection of mHealth and security so I’ll be meeting with the project lead to see how I can get involved. I’m proud that Deloitte is innovating in this area and wish that I had known about this many months back.

M4D University Program Coordinator
My involvement with the Institute of Mobile Technologies (IIMT) in Toronto has evolved into somewhat of a Global Program Coordination – as the founder mentioned. In partnership with ITIDO, IIMT will be launching a mobile app development workshop in the next 6 weeks to be followed by a weeklong bootcamp beginning with a local university. Our local partner has expressed the need to train the next generation in M4D and I am excited to have an opportunity to talk and teach m4d.

Photo geek
My wide angle lens is a giveaway of my interest in photography and Tanzania is a wonderful place to photograph. I’ve been asked by friends working in two local NGOs if I’d be willing to shoot photos for them since I enjoy it so much.

Food lover
No matter where I am, I can always find great food. I’ve always enjoyed food tours in various cities, so I pitched the idea of a Dar Food Tour to my friend working with Dar Tourism and got a verbal commit. I’d love to introduce people (and also indulge) in the local eats of Dar es Salaam.

I guess it’s no surprise that this is my longest post to date. Team, I’m so excited about all of the above and want to learn everything I can while I’m here. My heartwork and I have found each other and together, we’ll inch closer to my long term goals. I hope that one day all our heartworks will collide and we’ll find ourselves working together, doing what we love and what we do best.

Peach and love / kris