The Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Department of Cooperatives in Zanzibar (DoCD) with the aim of strengthening and promoting the cooperative sector in the country.

According to a joint statement shared yesterday, the agreement was signed in Dodoma by TCDC Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Benson Ndiege, and the Acting Registrar of the Department of Cooperatives in Zanzibar, Zainab Abdulkadiri.

According to the statement, Dr. Ndiege said that the cooperation will focus on several areas including exchanging technical knowledge, building capacity, and providing training to strengthen the development of cooperatives in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

“TCDC will provide technical support in new emerging areas to ensure that cooperative development is strengthened in Zanzibar,” said Dr. Ndiege.

He said the agreement involves setting up relationship strategies and training on the proper use of the digital system to increase the efficiency of work in Cooperatives in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Dr. Ndiege said they also aim to focus on strategies on the use of the Cooperative Societies Management System (MUVU).

He said that effective strategies for the proper use of the digital system will help increase the efficiency of the functioning of Cooperatives and bring positive results to members of Cooperatives in Tanzania and Zanzibar

“To date, more than 6,000 cooperative unions have been registered on the digital system and are active and serving their members registered on the system,” explained Dr. Ndiege.

He said that cooperatives registered on the digital system are the ones allowed to work to bring efficiency to the Cooperative for its members because even the data of the Members is reliably available on the system.

For her part, Zainab Abdullkadiri, Acting Registrar of the Cooperative Development Department in Zanzibar said they have had sufficient cooperation with TCDC for a long time but the cooperation was not effective.

“Thus, through this collaboration, we expect to formalize our cooperation with TCDC by signing a working agreement between mainland Tanzania and the Islands where the agreement will be implemented,” said Zainab.

The Representative of the Permanent Secretary and Director of Land Use, Eng. Juma Mdeke, had emphasized the importance of implementing the agreement in practice to achieve the intended goals.

“The agreement should not remain just on paper, but should be worked on seriously. In these three days that you were in Dodoma, you have learned a lot from cooperatives. Go and work on them for the benefit of the cooperative sector in Zanzibar,” said Mdeke.

Deputy Permanent Secretary, Labour and Empowerment from the President's Office, Labour, Economy and Investment Zanzibar, Halima Maulid Salum, commended the agreement and stressed that the DoCD will ensure that it identifies existing challenges and collaborates with TCDC to resolve them with the aim of developing cooperation in Zanzibar.

“We will ensure that this agreement is implemented in practice to achieve the development of cooperatives in Zanzibar and to achieve the standards of cooperatives in Mainland Tanzania,” said Halima.

The Director of Personnel and Operations, Office of the President, Labor, Economy and Investment, Zanzibar, Mohammed Jaffar, said that the collaboration