IRIS communications

By Sinyati Tira and Paula Ailio.

Communication is an essential indicator in the project IRIS. It is one of the key activities ensuring the project sustainability, rooting and general dissemination in the Tanzanian higher education context. The main objective of IRIS communication is to disseminate and root IRIS project results in all aspects and inspire the community to co-operate so that Universities are links of co-creation. There are several beneficiaries and stakeholders connected to the project like micro entrepreneurs, Higher Education Institutions (HEI), students, NGOs, Libraries, Government authorities, Innovation hubs and many more.  Active communications with this group is crucial for the project success. IRIS used a mix of active and passive communication methods to engage with its stakeholders. Communications was frequently done via face to face, video conference, meetings; stand up presentation, social media, emails and blog.

Additionally IRIS organised a major event on the second year of the project under the name TIPE, which stands for TUDARCo Innovation Pedagogy Event. TIPE aimed to showcase IRIS learning outcomes and experiences that have been gained from the project as well as to develop networks and identify possible areas of collaborations. The main organizers of TIPE event were IRIS team members and students from Universities, TURKU and TUDARCo.The TIPE event was designed to take place in two sessions first one as an independent side event and second one as a collaboration event together with Dar es Salaam Innovation Week 2019.