East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 16th November, 2017:
The EAC Secretariat regrets to announce the postponement of the Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health Financing and Development that was scheduled for 28th to 29th November in Kampala, Uganda.
This postponement comes following consultations and guidance from the Chairperson of the EAC Heads of State Summit, H.E President Yoweri Museveni. Convening the Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health
Development and Financing as earlier planned will coincide with the African Union Heads of State - European Union Summit due in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on 29th to 30th November 2017, where the EAC Heads of State are expected to attend.In a bid to give way for effective dialogue at both events for the benefit of the East African region, the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in collaboration with Partner States are working on rescheduling the Retreat and a final decision on the new dates shall be communicated in due course.
The papers and registrations for participants and exhibitors received will retain an active status until the rescheduled date.
We greatly appreciate your support and understanding. We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
For more information on the Joint Retreat, visit the retreat website: www.eacihr17.eac.int
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 14th November, 2017:
The African Development Bank East Africa Regional Resource Centre (EARC), and the East African Community (EAC) on Monday 13th November, 2017 signed a Financing Agreement of $1,151,515 to finance the Project Preparation Phase of three (3) key Multinational Road Sections between Masaka in Uganda to Kumunazi in Tanzania.
The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko signed on behalf of the Community while Mr. Gabriel Negatu, Director General of the African Development Bank East Africa Regional Resource Centre (EARC), signed on behalf of African Development Bank.
The purpose of the Grant is to finance the Project Preparation Phase of three (3) key Multinational Road Sections between Masaka in Uganda to Kumunazi in Tanzania. The key Multinational Road Sections covered under this Grant for preparatory works include: Masaka to Mutukula Section (89.5km) in Uganda; Mutukula to Kyaka Section (30km) in Tanzania as well as Bugene to Kasulo to Kumunazi Section (133kM) also located in Tanzania.
At the same occasion, the EAC presented a list of 18 priority projects to be supported by the Bank under its Regional Integration Strategy Paper(RISP) 2017-2021
Presence at the signing ceremony were the EAC Deputy Secretaries General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure , Eng Steven Mlote, Counsel to the Community, Dr. Anthony Kafumbe, Executive Secretary of Lake Victoria Basin Commission( LVBC), Dr. Said Ali Matano and Executive Secretary of East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC), Prof Gibson Kibiki.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 13th November, 2017:
The EAC Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) kicked off at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania today.
The SCTIFI meeting, which will run from 13th November to 17 November, 2017, has drawn participants from all EAC Partner States namely: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
The five-day meeting, which began with the Session of Senior Officials, will also include the Session of the Coordination Committee (comprising Permanent/Principal/Under Secretaries) and culminate with the Session of Ministers.
High on the agenda of the meeting are the consideration of Progress Reports on; status of the implementation of previous decision; update on the EAC-EU-EPA; AGOA Out of Cycle Review; Sectoral Committee on Investment and the Committee on Customs.
The meeting will also consider: implementation of the EAC Common Market Scorecard recommendations; Committee on Industry and small and medium enterprises sector and Withdrawal of Stay of Application on Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and use of Common External Tariff ( CET).
Speaking during the official opening session on behalf of the EAC Secretary General, Amb Liberat Mfumukeko, the Director General -Customs and Trade, Mr Kenneth Bagamuhunda said SCTIFI is one of the crucial and critical organ which sets directions and momentum of the integration agenda in the sector.
Mr. Bagamuhunda expressed the EAC Secretariat's commitment to work together with Partner States to spur efforts towards strengthening the regional integration agenda.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 11th November, 2017:
The East African Community (EAC) in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Government of Korea on Friday launched the EAC Industrial Competitiveness Report 2017 (ICR 2017) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Themed ‘Harnessing the EAC Market to Drive Industrial Competitiveness and Growth,’ the report assesses EAC’s industrial performance vis-à-vis other regions and role models in Asia and Africa and sheds light on strategic short- and long-term industrialization paths that the EAC should pursue.
ICR 2017 provides a compass to policy-makers, the private sector (in particular manufacturing firms and associations), and a wide range of stakeholders on the broader direction of the industrial development trajectory of the EAC and of the internal competitiveness dynamics among Partner States.
Speaking at the event, Uganda’s Minister of State for EAC Affairs, Hon. Julius Muganda, said that Industrialization in the context of the EAC region will depend on how the region strategically leverages itself to maximize on the opportunities created by the Common Market Protocol as a stimulus for demand, while simultaneously capitalising on other emerging markets for manufacturers.
“The realisation of a fully functioning Common Market and the deepening of regional integration through a monetary union are crucial for providing the much-needed impetus for industrialisation in the region,” said Hon. Muganda, who represented the Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, Hon. Kirunda Kivejinja, Uganda’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC Affairs.
Hon. Muganda further emphasized on the need for leaders and technocrats to think of a collective regional strategy to respond to unemployment including expanding the manufacturing sector capacity and promoting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and youth entrepreneurs.
In his remarks, the Director of Trade at the EAC Secretariat, Mr. Alhaj Rashid Kibowa, contribution of the manufacturing sector remains at paltry 10 percent, adding that the sector has been on a decline in the recent past.
“It is against this background and in recognition of the existing challenges that the region embarked on the programme “Strengthening Capacities for Industrial Formulation and Implementation in the East African Community,” said Alhaj Kibowa.
Alhaj Kibowa noted that the implementation of the programme had enhanced the region’s capacity for industrial policy design, monitoring and evaluation, culminating into the development of the ICR 2017.
“Consistent with the EAC Industrialization Policy and Strategy, the ICR 2017 has enhanced the region’s capacity to: design, manage and implement an industrial policy and collect industrial statistics and data. Further to this, it has strengthened the institutional capacity of the EAC Secretariat, Governments of all EAC Partner States and key private sector stakeholders,” said Alhaj Kibowa.
Also present at the launch of the report was South Korean Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Geum-Young Song who reaffirmed his country’s commitment to continue supporting the EAC in realizing its goal of industrialization.
Dr. Stephen Kargbo, UNIDO representative to Tanzania, Mauritius and EAC speaking at the ICR 2017 launch expressed hope that the EAC would use the findings of the report to revitalize the industrial sector in East Africa.
“While we conclude successfully the implementation of the current regional project, we are also exploring with our main counterpart, the EAC Secretariat, options for a phase II that would ensure produced diagnostics translate into concrete industrial policy processes, instruments and action plans creating significant positive impact for the industrial development in the region,” said Dr. Kargbo.
He also assured stakeholders that whereas UNIDO will continue to play its role, supporting relevant institutions in capacity building activities for strengthening industrial policy making capacities, it was the responsibility of Partner States’ governments and other stakeholders to transform the initiative into meaningful strategies for the attainment of sustainable and inclusive economic development in EAC.
Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel, the Permanent Secretary in Tanzania’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, urged EAC Partner States to foster close cooperation in order to realize sustainable competitive advantage on the global market.
Closing the one-day event, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Eng. Steven Mlote, said that East Africa was on the way to becoming a regional hub for manufacturing and a gateway to investment in Africa.
“To be successful in this venture, our industrial policies should seek to promote structural changes,” said Eng. Mlote.
Implementation of phase two of the project will switch from diagnostics to industrial policy processes and instruments. This means that the focus will be on the establishing a regional industrial intelligence and policy advisory support, enhancing capacity for competitiveness analysis of the Industrial sector, putting in place a regional competitiveness framework to facilitate benchmarking and establishing an e-Industrial information Resource Centre.
Note to Editors:
The EAC Secretariat in collaboration with UNIDO is implementing a programme on “Strengthening Capacities for Industrial Policy Formulation and Implementation in the East African Community” which was approved by the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment during its meeting held on 22nd May, 2015.
Through the Programme, specific trainings have been delivered at both national and regional levels to create, among other things, capacity for industrial competitiveness analysis as envisaged in the EAC industrialization policy and Strategy. As a result, the programme has greatly contributed to enhancement of capacity for industrial policy, analysis, design, monitoring and evaluation at Partner States and the Secretariat levels.
To ensure sustainability and full use of knowledge acquired in the trainings, the Secretariat in collaboration with UNIDO and a team of experts from Partner States took the initiative of preparing the EAC Industrial Competitiveness Report, 2017 (ICR-2017).
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th November, 2017:
H.E. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, President of the United Republic of Tanzania and H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda together with EAC Secretary General Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, East African Community Secretary General, on Thursday officially launched the Mutukula One Stop Border Post (OSBP) located on the Uganda/Tanzania border.
The construction of the Mutukula OSBP was carried out with funding of US$11.7million from the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development (DFID) while the systems and other related soft infrastructure equivalent to US$1.2million was funded by the Government of Canada, through Global Affairs, Canada.
The OSBP investment includes office buildings, roads and parking yards, cargo verification bays, scanner shed, passenger sheds, targeting booths, warehouse and canopies, ICT networks and hardware, furniture, and institutional support to the border agencies.
The OSBP ensures effective border control mechanisms are in place. It will boost trade by cutting the time taken to clear goods between the two Partner States, thus contributing to a reduction in transport cost, whilst increasing volumes of transhipment cargo through the Central Corridor. It is expected that time to cross the border will reduce by at least one third.
An OSBP is a “one stop” form of border crossing point jointly managed by adjoining Partner States, where multiple border agencies cooperate and collaborate with each other, and effectively coordinate their activities to maximise their operational efficiency. OSBP arrangement brings together under one roof, all the Government agencies performing border crossing controls procedures, doing away with need for motorised traffic and persons to undergo clearance twice at both sides of the border. This arrangement expedites movement, release and clearance of goods and persons across borders, by streamlining border procedures, automation of the border processes and simplification of trade documents.
“I want to thank the British government who have supported us through TMEA, in the construction of the one stop border post making it easy to cross the borders and also to do business with Tanzania. Trade is a means that will help us create prosperity for the people. My government is committed to creating wealth and jobs for the people through creation of enabling environment for services, Information Communication Technology, commercial agriculture and industries,” said President Museveni.
Addressing the crowd in Kiswahili and directing that only three police road blocks between Dar-es-Saalam and Mutukula are official, President Magufuli commended TMEA for its support to the government and underscored the importance of the OSBP saying
“Since time immemorial, Mutukula has been and remains an important node of Tanzania and Uganda. Its importance goes beyond the residents of the two countries as I understand that over 400 World Food Programme trucks carrying food aid for refugees go through here, so the faster clearance is benefiting not only our traders, but also persons in need, and that is important. I am happy that as a result of the OSBP in Mutukula, Tanzania is now able to collect revenue from agencies like Tanzania Bureau of Standards, who were initially not represented at this border point, but are now here because of the OSBP,” said President Magufuli.
In his remarks, EAC Secretary General Amb. Mfumukeko said that the framers of the EAC integration instruments envisioned the OSBPs and embedded them in the EAC Customs Union Protocol at the time of its negotiation.
“The first OSBP operations was at Malaba railway station between Uganda and Kenya over ten years ago. At the same time Customs Departments having realized that multiple examination of goods at our internal borders was wasteful and caused unnecessary costs to business, started joint examination of cargo of which Mutukula Border was a pioneer. These pilot programmes provided a practical justification for upscaling the One Stop Border program in the entire region,” said Amb. Mfumukeko.
UKAID has provided over US$52million to the East African Transit Improvement Programme (EATIP) through TMEA, as a contribution to the World Banks’ East Africa Trade and Transport Facilitation Project (EATTFP).
Speaking at the event, the UK High Commissioner to Uganda, Peter West said that increasing Uganda’s trade with its neighbours and the rest of the world was vital for generating growth, promoting job creation and reducing poverty.
“Increasing Uganda’s trade with its neighbors and the rest of the World is vital for generating growth, promoting job creation and reducing poverty. The UK government is proud to have contributed over £90 million through TradeMark East Africa to support Uganda and Tanzania to reduce the barriers to trade. By cutting red tape, reforming customs processes and improving roads, ports, and border posts, the UK is supporting the creation of an environment essential for businesses to grow,” said West.
The envoy added that the completion of the Mutukula border post marks an important milestone towards our goal of reducing by a third the time to import from the EAC and the rest of the world.
Over the years, delays in cross border clearance were attributed to duplication of handling procedures on either side of the border, poor institutional arrangement and cargo management systems inadequate physical infrastructures and services and immigration management. The new established OSBP has already addressed some of these challenges. Surveys indicate that since operationalisation of the OSBP early this year, the time to cross from Uganda to Tanzania has reduced by 66% from 10 hours in 2011 to 3.4 hours 27 minutes in June 2017. Whereas, crossing from Tanzania to Uganda has reduced by 90% from 46 hours to 4.5 in June 2017.
Trade Mark East Africa CEO Frank Matsaert said that the completion and operationalisation of the Mutukula OSBP is a crucial milestone in increasing access to markets and the facilitation of the movement of cargo along the Central Corridor.
“When initially investing $12 million with our donors, the United Kingdom and Canada, greater access to markets, increased efficiency that would reduce costs by reducing time and improved infrastructure were just a few of our end goals. Ultimately, our projects in physical infrastructure and automation of key government trade processes like customs, have complemented each other to reduce the cost of doing business and boost trade volumes, increasing both Uganda’s and Tanzania’s overall trade competitiveness. Most importantly, they have contributed to governments being businesses being able to expand thus creating jobs, said Matsaert.
Official data shows that an average of 542 vehicles (310 of those cargo trucks) pass through the Mutukula-Mutukula crossing from Central Corridor into Uganda.
TMEA through its donors and in partnership with the East Africa Community has since 2010 supported 15 OSBPs in East Africa including South Sudan and has invested about US$117 million in OSBPs and access roads. They are: Kenya and Uganda’s Busia/Busia, Kenya and Uganda’s Malaba/Malaba, Rwanda and Uganda’s Kagitumba/Mirama Hills, Tanzania and Uganda’s Mutukula/Mutukula, Kenya and Tanzania’s Holili/Taveta, South Sudan and Uganda Nimule/Elegu, Burundi and Tanzania’s Kobero/Kabanga and lastly Tunduma on the Tanzanian side.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The East African Community Secretariat is taking part in the ongoing 23rd Session of the Conference of Parties (COP 23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 13th Meeting of Parties to Kyoto Protocol (CMP13) and the 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, that is taking place from 6th - 17th November, 2017 in Bonn, Germany.
The COP 23 is being organized by Fiji and hosted at the headquarters of the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, with the aim of launching nations towards the next level of ambition needed to tackle global warming and put the world on a safer and more prosperous development path. The Conference, coming just two years after the landmark adoption of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, is expected to fuel momentum among cities, states, regions, territories, business and civil society in support of national climate action plans, the internationally-agreed temperature goal and the wider objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The EAC Secretariat has an observer status to UNFCCC processes and is participating in the several COP 23 sessions and is showcasing the milestones, achievements and lessons learned from the implementation of climate change programmes in the region.
As part of the preparations for the forthcoming conference and with financial support from the US Government, the EAC Secretariat organized and facilitated national and regional climate change consultative meetings. The national and regional consultations were undertaken from 12th to 31st October, 2017 with a view to identify national climate change priorities that would inform development of the regional position paper to guide negotiations.
The national consultations devised measures for realization of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and aligned Partner States’ priorities to the EAC roadmap for implementation of the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with GiZ (Uganda) organized and facilitated advocacy and capacity building workshops for the regional Climate Negotiators on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement as part of pre-COP 23 preparations.
EAC Secretariat participation is an opportunity for the EAC delegation to share experiences, success stories and best practices in implementing its Vision 2050, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
Beside the official side events and other events coordinated by the UNFCCC Secretariat, Parties and observer organizations are organizing their own events relating to the climate change negotiation process in different Pavilions and outside the conference premises.
The EAC Secretariat will take this opportunity to engage in bilateral discussions with new and existing Development Partners to assist in implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, 10th November, 2017:
A four-day training workshop of media practitioners from the Republic of South Sudan on the East African Community integration came to a close Friday at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The workshop, which attracted participation from 23 Public Communications Officers and journalists from media houses in South Sudan, is part of efforts by the EAC Secretariat to build capacity for RSS stakeholders in the integration process and ensure the smooth entry of the world’s youngest nation into the Community.
Among the resolutions at the end of the workshop was that the Government of South Sudan should urgently strengthen the communications function in its Ministry of Trade, Industry and East African Community Affairs and equip it with the tools and resources that will improve access to information on EAC by the media.
It was further agreed that the EAC Secretariat in close collaboration with the RSS Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs avails updated documents and timely information to the media for purposes of sensitizing citizens of South Sudan on the integration process.
It was resolved that media houses encourage objective, accurate and responsible coverage of EAC issues free of distortion of facts on the integration.
It was also agreed that public educational materials on the EAC integration and its benefits be developed and distributed to members of the public and other stakeholders in South Sudan.
The objective of the workshop that was organised by the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with GIZ, the German Technical Cooperation Agency, was to engage Public Communications Officers and journalists from South Sudan with a view to enhancing their understanding and appreciation of the integration process.
In remarks read on his behalf by the Director of Infrastructure at the EAC Secretariat during the closing session of the workshop, Dr. Kamugisha Kazaura, EAC Secretary General Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko said that the integration of RSS into the Community would not only bring tangible political, socio-cultural and economic benefits to the South Sudan but to the region as a whole.
“The enlargement of the Community will invariably increase intra-regional trade; cross-border investment; elimination of non-tariff barriers to trade, and; enhance economic growth within the region. Our countries stand a better chance to create a globally competitive East Africa as envisioned by the Founding Fathers,” said Amb. Mfumukeko.
Amb. Mfumukeko urged the participants to be at the forefront in promoting the EAC integration in to the people of South Sudan.
“As communication cum media practitioners, you will be at the frontline of efforts by the EAC to sensitize the people of South Sudan on the integration process. I urge you to be good ambassadors of the EAC by reporting effectively and with accuracy on EAC issues,” said the Secretary General.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th November, 2017:
‘Diseases don’t have passports – they can cross borders,' the Hon. Jesca Eriyo, Deputy Secretary General Finance and Administration of the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, reminded the participants of a three-day regional conference on ‘Lessons for the Future – What East African Experts learned from fighting the Ebola epidemic in West Africa’. The conference was the first of its kind that brought together 50 of the 500 East African doctors, nurses, epidemiologists and many other health specialists who risked their lives by volunteering to be deployed to West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016. According to the World Health Organization, the epidemic killed over 11,000 people and more than 30,000 were infected, and there were real fears that the disease could spread to East Africa and beyond.
The conference, with participation from the African Union, from Regional Economic Communities and Regional Health and Development Organizations, from the WHO AFRO office, the UN and other international development partners as well as representatives from Doctors without Borders and others bodies, was held from 6th to 8th November at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) Duduville Campus in Nairobi, Kenya.
The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat decided to host the conference so that the invaluable experiences and knowledge of these East African health experts could be heard, properly documented, and used to inform lessons for the future for preventing, combating and mitigating future outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Over the three days, participants shared their first-hand experiences, discussed the lessons learned and came up with constructive recommendations for future responses. ‘There are some things you can’t learn in a classroom – you only learn from experience,’ said Dr Monica Musenero, WHO’s Field coordinator in Bombali, Sierra Leone and one of the 500 experts from East Africa who volunteered to be deployed to West Africa to help during the Ebola crisis of 2014-16. ’Never in my life did I imagine such an epidemic. It dwarfed everything that had gone before…When I arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone I was unprepared for the horror of what I encountered.’ She compared the experience of fighting Ebola to being at the frontline of a war – ‘except you can’t see the enemy – it’s everywhere.’
Participants discussed the lessons learned from this ‘frontline’ experience and came up with many constructive lessons for improving future responses, including:
Political will is very important for timely declaration and management of epidemics.
Regional and national contingency plans need to be developed and implemented, with adequate resources to prevent and react to future epidemics.
There is a need to establish national and regional teams of experts that can be rapidly deployed in an emergency.
Community engagement is crucial if disease outbreaks are to be effectively contained.
Health systems need to be strengthened and work effectively with other sectors and areas of expertise to ensure a holistic and effective response.
The Hon. Jesca Eriyo said that the lessons learned from the deployed experts’ first-hand experiences would help to strengthen the continents’ future response to outbreaks, and their recommendations would inform the East African Community’s commitment to strengthening health systems and responses, and be presented to the forthcoming East African Head of States summit. She particularly welcomed the participants’ enthusiasm for establishing a pool of experienced experts for rapid deployment in the event of a future emergency.
Dr Zabulon Yeti, head of the WHO AFRO Office in Brazzaville, DRC, welcomed the meeting as an opportunity for deployed exerts to come together and be ‘debriefed’ and talk freely about their experiences. He said he would take five key messages away from the meeting:
Nobody can tackle infectious diseases like Ebola alone. It needs to be a team effort.
Working together leads to better coordination and synergistic actions.
Better local action and early reporting is crucial: the Ebola outbreak in West Africa started with just one case but quickly crossed boundaries and continents.
Ebola is a disease that crossed from animals to humans, so animal and human health and the effects of the environment and climate change are all closely related and need a multi-sectoral ‘One Health’ response.
The key lesson is that containing future outbreaks will need community engagement, and that entails better understanding of culture and traditions and more effective risk communication. Dr Yoti said that some community responders working in West Africa had been stoned and threatened ‘because we did not understand the community.’
Dr Babatunde Jegede from the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health in Lagos spoke on behalf of the West African experts who fought Ebola in the affected countries. During a press briefing he stressed the importance of continuous exchange and close cooperation between and among the African regions for better future preparedness. He and his colleagues present at the conference contributed their experiences from fighting the epidemic and took home what they learned from their East African sisters and brothers.
Hon. Eriyo concluded the meeting by thanking all formerly deployed East African experts present who had risked their own lives in the fight against Ebola: ‘From deep down in my heart I thank you and applaud your sacrifice … you will always be celebrated as heroes.’
The conference was organised by the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with the Federal Government of Germany through the GIZ coordinated ‘Support to Pandemic Preparedness in the EAC Region’ project and in cooperation with GIZ’s Epidemic Preparedness Team (Schnell Einsetzbare Expertengruppe Gesundheit, SEEG) and the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, KfW) supported ‘EAC Regional Network of Reference Laboratories for Communicable Diseases’.
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For more information, please contact:
Kenneth K. Byoona Risk and Crisis Communication Support to Pandemic Preparedness in the EAC Region, GIZ Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
EAC Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 8th November 2017:
A four-day INTERPOL - EAC joint training workshop for Heads of Anti-Drug/Narcotics and Human Trafficking in the EAC Partner States is underway in Nairobi, Kenya.
The main purpose of the Joint Training is to increase knowledge of Police Officers involved in curbing the two Transnational Organised Crimes (TNOCs) in the region; share experience on policy and best practices in Partner States on control of Human and Drug trafficking; contribute towards enhancing efficiency of investigators through documenting the changing dynamics in drug and human trafficking in the region; and identify constraints to the implementation of Anti-Drug/Narcotics and Human Trafficking control measures and draw practical strategies on the way forward.
Addressing the opening session of the workshop on Tuesday 7th November 2017, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Mr. Charles Njoroge disclosed that the EAC Peace and Security Sector was developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Jointly Combating Transnational Organised Crime of which Human and Drug Trafficking were some of the Key crimes targeted. He said so far the Community had completed the first set of SOPs of which the “Stop, Search, Arrest and Detention Procedures” was very relevant to the participants’ work. “These SOPs have already been adopted by the EAC Chiefs of Police as well as the 17th EAPCCO General Assembly, and you can now refer to it or use it while carrying out your duties”, asserted the EAC official.
The Deputy Secretary General commended the INTERPOL Regional Bureau for working closely with the EAC Secretariat in realising this great achievement and urged Partner States to continue taking the lead in developing such joint initiatives such as the joint training workshop, which will reinforce both personnel and institutional capacities of the Police Forces/Services in the bloc.
Mr. Njoroge reiterated that harmonization remains key in the EAC integration agenda towards the attainment of the ultimate goal of the EAC Political Federation and all the four integration stages embrace harmonization and approximation of laws and policies. “As such, the security agencies like the Police cannot be left behind since they play a significant role touching on the free movement of people, goods, and services across the region. In conducting Joint Trainings, we are harmonizing so as to proactively get rid of non-trade barriers in the integration process by having uniform standards and approaches in place that jointly guide the way we handle people, goods or even exhibits across the region”.
Notes to Editors
The EAC Secretariat has received funding through the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) Support Programme, to undertake the above joint training. The training will introduce investigators to the new investigative skills, crime trends, and investigative technologies and also take stock of the existing investigative challenges as compiled from the previous benchmark visits within the EAC Region.
The Training is being organised in line with the Directive of the 3rd Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Interstate Security to respond to the identified investigative gaps and challenges within the two transnational crime areas for purposes of convergence and harmonization of practices through training in the region.
The training will involve both lectures, group assignments, participatory discussions, presentations, brainstorming sessions and a benchmark visits to key Government Anti Human and Anti-Drug Trafficking Centres including a visit to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi as a field trip on systems and procedures pertaining to detection, investigation, and arrest and prosecution of the suspects in the two TNOCs.
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 784 835021 Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
A joint workshop for the Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) from ACE I and ACE II is underway in Accra, Ghana, from 7-10th November, 2017. The 22 Centers of Excellence from West and Central Africa and 24 Centers from Eastern and Southern Africa are meeting for the first time to learn from peers, and share knowledge, experiences and success stories. It’s an opportunity for the 46 centers to review their progress, deliberate on the challenges and collectively come up with solutions. The workshop was officially opened by the Minister of Education, Republic of Ghana, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.
Hon. Opoku said the Centers should be “models to drive changes that will entrench Higher Education Institutions as principal producers of knowledge that directly impact on socio-economic development,” he said. “This after all,” he added, “is what the mission of Higher Education institutions must be about.”
Kathleen C. Beegle, who represented Heny Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia said that the ACE project is leading ground breaking research to bring new solutions to problems in the region. “For example, the Africa Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases based at Reedemer University in Nigeria published world class research on the Ebola virus in Nature Science about where the first sample of Ebola was tested in Nigeria within a short time frame, and which strong scientific capacity was integral in battling the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria and the region.”
The Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence, an initiative of participating African governments and the World Bank was launched as a key step towards providing the higher education necessary to strengthen competitiveness and employment through production of quality skilled human resources in priority growth sectors. The 46 Centers are working in health, information technology, energy, agriculture, extractive industries, transport, education, statistics, material science and mining and water management and infrastructure. The phase one in West and Central Africa (ACE I) started in 2013 with 22 Centers of Excellence in eight countries and has advanced in implementation. The phase two in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACE II) was launched in 2016 with 24 Centers of Excellence in eight countries. Both ACE I and ACE II will be financed with $313 million dollars over the project period of five years, with $165 million for ACE I and $148 million for ACE II.
Andreas Blom, World Bank Task Leader for ACE I called on the Centers to aim for academic excellence. He revealed that from ACE I, 50 new PhD students are graduating this year, of which one third is regional students. “This is an investment that makes sense, it’s an investment that produces results. If you can keep producing those results we can keep arguing for more money for higher education in science and technology development education in Africa.”
He said that a third phase (ACE III) is in the pipeline. “We are looking at another $200 million investment but only if we keep producing results.” He emphasized the scarcity of high level skills in water, health, mining, oil and gas in Africa and how industrialists keep getting consultants from outside the region to do the work. “Real development is skills and knowledge that lies in Africa,” he said. “Step out and get your faculty and students to solve real life problems.”
Xiaoyan Liang, Task Leader for ACE II noted that while Africa can still prioritize different levels of education at different stages of economic development, higher education must be part and parcel of the reform agenda.
“The ongoing investment and economic transformation in Africa is boosting the demand for well-educated and skilled labor force. Yet there remains a large gap between the demand and supply of skills,” said Liang.
“We have done our homework to ensure that each center while catering to the needs of their respective country’s higher education arena is also conscious of the entire region,” she said, adding, “Some of these interventions include developing new and relevant masters, Ph.D. programs and short term courses, research, provision of teaching and learning facilities, capacity building of faculty, scholarship for students, motion of partnership with regional and international world class institutions as well as the private sector, and generating revenues.”
Prof. Etienne Ehouan Ehile, Secretary General, Association of African Universities (AAU) said the joint meeting will provide a platform for learning and knowledge sharing among the two ACEs, and an opportunity for guidance on improving university linkages and collaboration.
Prof. Mike Kuria, Deputy Executive Secretary at Inter University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) said, “The Centers of Excellence give us what Barack Obama would have called the audacity of hope. The Centers of Excellence are giving us an opportunity to take the destiny of Africa in our hands. They are going to become a beacon of hope, they are going to become centers against which other universities and institutions can benchmark so that we can have excellence in those serious fields.”
AAU and IUCEA are the Regional Facilitation Units for ACE I and ACE II respectively. The project is in 16 countries including Cote D’ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Senegal. Gambia, Burundi and Zimbabwe which do not host any ACE are eligible to access services offered by the ACEs in other countries and regional capacity building activities under the project.
For more information on ACE I and ACE II, visit the project websites https://ace.aau.org/ and http://www.ace2.iucea.org
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For more information, please contact:
Agnes Asiimwe Okoth Information and Communication Officer ACE II Project Mob: +256752980079 (UG) ace2.iucea.org/
