What You Need to Know
The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) celebrated Africa Standards Day by awarding winners of a national essay competition. The event aimed to promote the significance of standards in enhancing product quality and public safety. TBS received 522 essays from students across 33 institutions, with top winners receiving cash prizes and recognition for their contributions to the discourse on standards.
Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Tanzania Bureau of Standards has underscored the critical role of standards in boosting product quality, trade competitiveness, and public safety as it marked Africa Standards Day with the awarding of top winners in the 2026 national essay competition.
The event, which also featured cheque prizes for winners, aimed to promote the use of standards in improving goods and services while safeguarding health, safety, and the environment.
Director of Standards Development at TBS, David Ndibalema, said the commemorations brought together students and youth from higher learning institutions across the country to raise awareness on the importance of standards in socio-economic development.
“This initiative nurtures innovation, positive thinking and youth participation in quality and standards issues, which are key pillars of sustainable national development,” he said, while congratulating winners for their outstanding performance.
Chief Judge of the essay competition, Dr Jalia Muna, said the awards form part of broader Africa Standards Day activities coordinated at continental level by the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), which has 44 member states.
She noted that the annual essay competition was endorsed in 2023 during ARSO’s 49th meeting in Kenya to build awareness among university students on the application of standards in trade and development.
According to Dr Muna, TBS received 522 essays from students drawn from 33 higher learning institutions nationwide, including 230 female and 292 male participants. The essays were evaluated by a panel of six judges in line with ARSO guidelines, resulting in 10 national winners who were announced and awarded during the event.
The top winner walked away with 1.7m/-, the second-place winner received 1m/-, while the third-placed winner was awarded 700,000/- while all other winners received 300,000/-.
Additionally, she said that the top five essays will be submitted to ARSO for continental competition, where the best entry will be published on the organisation’s official platform.
On behalf of the Director General, TBS Director of Compliance and Enforcement, Candida Shirima, said the day also serves to remind producers, service providers and the public of the importance of adhering to standards in daily operations.
She stressed that standards are essential tools in ensuring quality and safety, and in enabling Tanzanian products to access regional and international markets without barriers.
“The government continues to prioritise harmonisation of national and regional standards to ensure our products meet required quality and safety benchmarks,” she said.
She further urged local manufacturers to obtain TBS certification, noting that compliance enhances market access, boosts consumer confidence, and contributes to sustainable trade and economic growth.
Africa Standards Day commemorates the establishment of ARSO and highlights the importance of standards as a driver of fair trade, industrial growth, and economic development across the continent.
As this year’s theme states “The role of harmonizing standards and reducing technical barriers in trade and promoting fair and just trade within intra-African and global trade the Director said it broadly aligns with government efforts to harmonize national and regional standards, as well as to verify the quality and safety of products, in order to enable Tanzanian goods to be accepted in various regional markets without barriers.
“Likewise, local manufacturers are being encouraged to produce goods that meet established standards so that their products can be accepted in both domestic and international markets across Africa,” she said.
Africa Standards Day is observed annually to emphasize the importance of standards in trade and economic development across the continent. This initiative, coordinated by the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), aims to foster awareness among youth and promote adherence to quality standards. The TBS’s essay competition is part of this broader effort to engage students in discussions about the role of standards in socio-economic growth and safety in Tanzania and beyond. The event underscores the commitment to harmonizing standards to facilitate trade and enhance product quality.
