At a time when discussions about the Danish Governments’ decision to close the Danish Embassy in Tanzania by mid-2024 is still heating, NCG has been commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evaluate the Denmark-Tanzania development cooperation during the last six decades (1962–2022).

Tanzania is Denmark’s longest standing development partner. Since the enactment of Denmark’s first law on Development cooperation in 1962, Tanzania has been Denmark’s first, and, subsequently, biggest bilateral development cooperation partner. The end of such a historic bilateral cooperation obviously calls for an evaluation that takes stock of Denmark’s contribution to Tanzania’s development journey. Therefore, the overall purpose of this evaluation is to learn what difference the 60 years of Danish development cooperation has made for Tanzanian institutions, organisations and people.

In view of the evaluation’s complexity spanning Denmark’s long-term support to economic- and social development, governance, civil society and human rights as well as public financial management across different partnerships, aid channels and modalities, NCG has composed an evaluation team of strong international and national experts, including a core group of NCG Partners:

Carsten Schwensen, who is the Team Leader for the evaluation; Lars Christian Oxe as Private Sector Development Specialist; and Louise Scheibel Smed as Governance and Human Rights Specialist. Two other NCG partners, Jakob Kjærtinge Faarbæk and Cecilia Linn Hansen are also supporting the evaluation work. In addition to this, the evaluation team includes John Rand, Senior Researcher and Professor at the University of Copenhagen University;  Per Tidemand as Public Financial Management Specialist; Notburga Timmerman as Social Development and Health Specialist, as well as four Tanzanian thematic consultants. Ted Freeman and Per Kirkemann will be in charge of quality assurance.

The evaluation work has just been initiated and is planned to be completed in the last part of 2024.