The East African Community (EAC) is a regional economic community comprising six partner states: the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Republic of Uganda. Its headquarters are in Arusha, Tanzania. 150 million citizens live in the EAC. It has a land area of 1.82 million km2 and a combined gross domestic product of US $146 billion. The work of the EAC is mandated by a treaty signed on November 30, 1999 and entered into force on July 7, 2000.
USAID supports EAC efforts to improve the quality of life in the region through increasing trade competitiveness, promoting value-adding in production of goods and services, supporting biodiversity conservation, and mitigating climate change, enhancing food security, trade, and investment as well as building institutional capacity to establish a competitive power market.
USAID signed a five-year regional development objective grant agreement with the EAC to provide direct assistance in the following areas: trade and investment; agriculture; environment and natural resources management; and energy. USAID also provides support and investments through complementary funding to regional bodies like Trademark East Africa, International Union for Conservation of Nature, IGAD’s Climate Prediction and Applications Centre and Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development.
