Community Economic Development Tanzania (M.S.)

The goal of the CED master's program at OUT is linked to the School of CED's mission in the United States. However, the OUT Program is run by Africans for Africans. Projects, courses and curriculum are geared to the issues facing CED practitioners working in Africa.

The Open University of Tanzania is a single-mode institution offering certificate, diploma and degree courses through distance learning systems. Such systems are conducted through various means of communication such as broadcasting, telecasting, correspondence courses, seminars, contact programmes or the combination of any two or more of such means.

The OUT/CED Program places great value upon applied experience. Courses are taught around actual field-based initiatives. Participants often leave the classroom to visit projects and meet with practitioners. In the field, assignments are built around addressing real problems. Great importance is given to building networks and contacts with other practitioners.

Courses are offered one week per month for an eighteen-month period in Dar es Salaam and Arusha. The program is divided into three semesters. During each semester, students take three required courses of three credits each and an elective course of three credits. After being accepted in the program, students choose a community based organization to work with for their project requirement, as in the U.S. program.

The program is designed for African practitioners working, or intending to work within a community based organizations committed to carrying out highly effective, participatory and sustainable programs.

Participants leave the program with the ability to:

• have a basic understanding of accounting systems and practices
• manage small and medium-size organizations
• conduct field-based research
• design and implement projects
• provide technical assistance to community based organizations and institutions
• write proposals
• conduct strategic plans
• put together creative financial packages
• have a critical understanding of development finance
• build and manage social and economic development programs
• negotiate agreements
• develop microenterprise support initiatives including microlending schemes, business incubators, technical assistance programs and marketing strategies
• use computer-based information systems and statistical packages
• understand basic economic principles
• transfer these skills to other trainers and extension workers