Efforts by the Secretariat of the East African Community (EAC) to boost its capacity to drive the new phase of the bloc’s integration process, which aims to make its custom union and Common Market Protocols operational, have on Monday received support from the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in the form of a $1m grant.
The ACBF’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie and EAC’s Secretary General, Ambassador Dr Richard Sezibera have on Monday – on the sides of the Africa Union 25th Ordinary Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa - signed a grant agreement, which will see the Foundation’s financial contribution invested in the EAC Capacity Building Project for research and Policy Analysis. The program will contribute to strengthen the EAC Secretariat’s capacity to better carry out policy research and formulate policy that advances its regional integration agenda.
“It is our hope that the grant will contribute to revitalize the Secretariat’s policy research function required to effectively engage partner states of EAC on policy harmonization issues and thus accelerating decisions to be made by the Council of Ministers,” said Prof. Nnadozie.
Enhancing the Secretariat’s policy formulation capacity will be critical in the on-going assessment and operations of the EAC Customs Union and Common Market, and the preparation for the Monetary Union, in particular the attainment of the macroeconomic convergence needed for its achievement.
The total cost of the project stands at $2,6m, of which $1,6m will be supplied by the EAC and $1m by the Foundation. “I wish to congratulate the EAC Secretariat for the co-financing effort as an evidence of the ownership of the project as well as the commitment for the partnership between our two organizations,” Prof. Nnadozie added.
The EAC - a regional intergovernmental organization made of the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania and headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania - is among the fastest growing regions in the World. Growth rates have picked up strongly in its member countries over the last two decades—outpacing the rest of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) since 2000. During 2005–10, per capita income growth reached 3.7% a year in the EAC, compared to 3.2% for SSA as a whole.
The road map of the EAC foresees the gradual progress from a Customs Union towards a Common Market, Monetary Union and finally culminating in a Political Federation. The EAC established its Customs Union in 2005 and signed the Protocol for the establishment of a Common Market in November 2009 which started in June, 2010. The latest achievement in the integration is the signing of the Monetary Union Protocol in December 2013.
However, the region’s efforts to fully operationalize the Custom Union and Common Market Protocols are hampered by inadequate capacity at the EAC Secretariat to deliver on its mandate of policy research and analysis.
