BIOGRAPHY

Sebastian P. Sanga is a policy research fellow (2006) with the International Policy Fellowships of Budapest, Hungary. In 2006, Sebastian won an IPF of the Hungary-based Open Society Institute (OSI). Apart from OSI, the program is also managed the Central Europe University (CEU) and its Department, the Center for Policy Studies (CPS), which are under the Soros foundation networks. Under this one-year fellowship, Sebastian has been trained in the area of combating the Resource Curse, Governance Issues, Managing resources for the development, writing policy papers and advocacy. His research project is titled; “The Role of Poor Governance in Tanzanite-Al Qaeda Link Controversy and Policy Option for Tanzania to Restrain from Curses in the Mining Industry.” Under the project, Sebastian has involved in project formulation, field research, policy review and policy paper writing. 

Background Information

Sebastian (B. A in Economics and Postgraduate in Journalism) has been a Tanzanian journalist. He graduated in 1994 from the Dar Es Salaam University. Then, because of his interest in journalism and his postgraduate studies in the sector, he became a journalist. Besides specializing in economic reporting, Sebastian, is also a columnist since 1997 publishing his weekly commentary mainly focusing on social and economic policies.

Sebastian has worked for various local and international press institutions including the Business Times, The Guardian and served online international newswires, the AllAfrica.com of United States of America (AllAfrica.com) from 1999 and the MiddleEastWire of the Middle East. 

Being an economist-cum-journalist, Sebastian has a wide experience in journalism, research and training on reporting development and international trade. In the media industry, Sebastian has demonstrated huge interests on reporting policies. He monitors and analyzes social and economic issues as they happen locally and at international level, trying to convey to his readers the value of free market economy and globalization. He has published several articles including investigative features, in both local and international publications. 

One of his investigative articles is titled “Dubious Deals along the Dar Es Salaam-Johannesburg Road” which he published in The Guardian newspaper back to 2003 following his investigative work along this road which cuts across the SADC bloc. The article exposes corruption related-games involving passengers, traders, drivers, customs and immigration officers in the border points along this road. The border points are   Tanzania-Zambia border, Zambia-Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe-South Africa. He spent a couple of days along this road investigating in the dirty games which tend to distort the inter-state trade in the SADC region.

In addition, Sebastian has an intensive experience in international journalism and development issues. He has gained exposure in various countries in and outside his continent (Africa). He has been visiting various countries for training and international reporting orientation since 1998, just four years after he had joined the media industry. Countries visited for study and international reporting orientation include SOUTH AFRICA (2003), for a course on REPORTING AFRICA, JAPAN (1998) and USA (1999) for orientation and international reporting study, BELGIUM (2004) for training on the EU-ACP partnership and EU Policy on the ACP bloc. GENEVA in SWITZERLAND (2005) is the other country which Sebastian has visited to study the WTO and the Globalization process.

 Sebastian is also working as independent consultant involving in training, research and in documentation of different papers. He is a trainer for journalists in reporting development, regional integration and globalization. He has been conducting the training organized by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) since 2004. In the area of research he has produced several research papers and they include the paper titled “The Nature and Causes of Crisis in the Coffee Sector in Tanzania,” tracing the impact of trade liberalization on the agricultural sector in his country. Sebastian has been producing market intelligence documents for various clients. They include the Japanese Trade and Investment Intelligence organization (JETRO), to which he has produced two documents, namely investment and trade system in Tanzania for the Japanese investors/traders wishing to do business in Tanzania. With UNIDO, Sebastian has been producing promotional articles for its projects. Sebastian has also managed to prepare and present various papers for different groups including for the members of East African Trade Parliamentary Committee, the East African Business Council (EABC) and for Non-State Actors (NSAs) both in Uganda and Tanzania.   

In leadership, Sebastian is a Chairperson of the Journalists for International and Development Agenda (JIDA), which is a Dar Es Salaam-based association for journalists reporting on development and international issues. He is also a board member of various organizations including JIDA, Recyclenet Tanzania Limited, Tanzania Research Education and Environmental Care (TREE CARE) and the TOMRIC News Agency.