East African Quality Programme

The East African Community (EAC) is the regional intergovernmental organization of Kenya,...

...Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi and Republic of Rwanda with its headquarters in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania. The EAC aims at widening and deepening cooperation among the partner states in, among others, political, economic and social fields for their mutual benefit.

One common problem faced by all African countries is to produce goods that meet the stringent standards imposed by importers in Europe and elsewhere. Although in the EAC countries, most of the basic national capacities for food safety and quality have been established, they still need to raise substantially their capacity if they are to meet the increasingly stringent requirements in terms of quality, productivity, safety, health and the environment and their work force. Their inability to do so could be very costly in terms of economic and social costs.

The Trade Capacity Building Project for Agro-Industry is a three year initiative funded by Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) and implemented by UNIDO in theEast African Community. The programme was launched by the Secretary General of EAC in December 2006. The main development objectives of the programme are to enhance the capacity of enterprises to produce according to international market requirements and to strengthen export-oriented support services mainly relating to conformity assessments.

The programme is managed by UNIDO through EAC Secretariat, a Regional Steering Committee with membership drawn from partner States and National Steering Committees at national level. The first Regional Steering Committee meeting was held in Arusha in June 2007 to establish work plans for the regional project. The meeting was attended by delegates from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda as well as development partners from NORAD and UNIDO and the EAC Secretariat.

The project will contribute to realising the EAC development strategy for 2006-2010, that aims to promote value addition, productivity and competitive agricultural supplies for cross-border and international trade and sustainable food security within the East African Community.