- The East African Community (EAC) and the German government have signed a cooperation agreement in the areas of health, digital skills and water resources management.
- The deal worth $65 million will be allocated for the implementation of projects in the identified sectors.
The East African Community (EAC) and the German government have signed a cooperation agreement in the areas of health, digital skills and water resources management. The deal worth $65 million will be allocated for the implementation of projects in the identified sectors.
Out of the total allocation, $17 million, will go to the University of Rwanda for strengthening its expertise in the areas of digitalisation in health supply chain management, cold-chain management, and quality control and drug safety.
An additional $30 million will be released for the EAC’s immunisation programme with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The fund will be used to curtail child morbidity and mortality in all the six EAC partner states of the region. It will finance the procurement of at least four different types of vaccines – Pentavalent, Rotavirus, Pneumococcal and Measles second dose and strengthen the routine immunisation and immunisation campaigns for children.
A portion of the amount will also be allocated to the Integrated Water Resource Management Programme, under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC).
About $6 million will be given to the Centre of Excellence for ICT in East Africa based at Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Arusha to strengthen digital skills and innovation among East Africans. The centre aims at promoting embedded and mobile systems training, innovation transfer and entrepreneurship.
The agreement was signed by Dr Peter Mathuki, the EAC Secretary-General, and Germany’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Regine Hess. Ambassador Hess informed that Germany will grant additional funds of $6.6 million for pandemic preparedness and response in 2021. The programme will be implemented through the existing EAC-German programmes on pandemic preparedness, economic integration and digital skills.
